How to be a Good Critique Partner

As a writer, I think perhaps the hardest thing about writing is not the writing at all--it's the critiquing.  Letting another person critique your work is like leaving your newborn infant with a babysitter you do not know.  You want that babysitter to tell you if your baby has a fever, but you do not want that babysitter to tell you your baby is ugly.  It's hard to let someone else read your work.  You've labored over this thing.  You've got a real emotional attachment to this thing--it's a part of you, like a kidney or something.  The last thing you need is for someone to bash in your kidney.

You also need a critique partner (heretofore referred to as a CP) who has strengths opposite of your own.  For instance, I am a grammar nut.  I don't catch everything.  I am not a professional editor.  I do, however, catch most grammatical mistakes--more than your average bear.  That's my strength.  I am not good at showing not telling. I need someone who can point out when I am telling instead of showing.  If you can do that, and you suck at comma usage we might be a good match.

There is a huge difference between constructive criticism and negative judgment.  Learn the difference or lose CPs. 

So what makes a good CP:

• Constructive Criticism.  The goal of constructive criticism is improvement.  If a remark you are about to make will not help the author improve then you should probably keep your trap shut.  Critique should be learning experiences. If you are not helping a person learn then you are not critiquing properly.
• Be Kind and be Tactful.  This manuscript is their baby!  They love it. It's a piece of them.  You know this. You write.  How would you feel if someone told you your story sucked?  How would you feel if someone told you they weren't 'drawn in' to your book?  Remarks like 'this sucks,' 'I'm not drawn into your story,' 'I'm not emotionally connecting to your characters,' or 'I just don't like it' are not helpful--they're hurtful.  Don't judge. Provide constructive criticism. It really is that simple.
• Know the Genre. If you do not read the genre the other person writes then you aren't likely to be a good CP.  I write fantasy.  If you don't read fantasy then you are not going to like my work, and you are not going to have useful feedback.  If you don't know the genre, then you can't critique it. I don't read much romance, so I'd never try to crit romance.
• Be Honest. Being kind doesn't mean you can't be honest.  If something sounds wonky to you then say, "X sounds strange to me because Y." 
• Don't just criticize, PRAISE. Always, always, always comment on the things you see that you like!  No one wants to see a million red comments all about mistakes.  There are parts that make you smile--say so.  If there are parts that made you laugh out loud--say so.  

 I could use a good CP.  I have had some great, trustworthy people look over my work.  My friend Amanda has a degree in English and she provided some excellent constructive criticism.  She didn't avoid being honest.  She didn't beat around the bush either.  If something sucked then she told me, but she never said anything hurtful.  She said here is a mistake and here's how you can fix it.  Or she said here is a mistake you keep making so you might want to look into it.  She didn't avoid pointing out mistakes, but she wasn't negative. 

If you'd like to be my CP then I expect you to be honest without being judgmental.  I expect you to provide constructive criticism.  I expect you to be able to point out the things I do well.  I expect you to be know my genre (fantasy) and I should know your's.  I have these expectations because I meet these expectations.

If you'd like to be my CP I will provide constructive criticism. I will be honest, but tactful. I will only agree to be your CP if I know your genre (and you should know mine).  I'll do my best to make your writing better and to make you a better writer.  I want you to do the same.  I don't think that's too much to ask.  Do you? 

My Twitter friend Natalie (whom I do not know in 'real' life) recently posted critique partner classifieds. If you'd like to be my CP then please shoot me an email or comment below.  Maybe we can be CPs and lifelong friends :)  Happy editing!

My Editing Plan (or How Not to Pull My Hair Out)

When I wrote this blog entry the only plan I had was to stuff my completed manuscript in a drawer and come back to it in one month.  I didn't really think past that because I was still trying to process the overwhelming thought that I had actually completed my first book. I mean holy freaking cow I wrote 300+ pages of a book and I did it all by myself! That's pretty huge.  Right? 

My month of don't-touch-the-ms-don't-read-the-ms-leave-the-ms-alone is coming to a close.  I have followed Stephen King's advice and I have left my manuscript alone for an entire month. I have managed not to look at it.  I have held my flash drive in the palm of my hand and I have told myself no! Don't look. Leave it alone! And I did leave it alone.  For a whole month. Talk about willpower! Man, that took some major willpower! But I did it.

In 4 days my don't-look-month will end, and I can start editing.  I suddenly realized that I really do need a plan.  How do I approach this?  It's going to be difficult.  I'm a planner.  I need a plan.  So I came up with this:

Step 1:  Edit entire manuscript for major grammatical mistakes and glaring errors: 14 days

BREAK: 5 days ---> Why?--->So I can begin the next step with 'fresh eyes.'

Step 2:  Edit entire manuscript for big stuff that's hard to see: active vs passive voice, overused words/phrases, point of view, showing not telling, etc:  this part requires attention to detail and will take the longest--no time limit but I'd like to be done with it in about a month.

BREAK:  5 days

Step 3: Revise! Revise! Revise! This is the part where I cut unnecessary bits out of my story and change stuff.  This part could be fun.  I hope it's fun!

Step 4: Read over it.  Edit revisions. Catch mistakes I might have missed the first time.

Step 5: Edit format.  Make sure ms is in the correct format.  Eliminate double spaces after periods (apparently you aren't supposed to do that in fictional works), etc.

I plan to give myself 3 months to complete this.  Of course I'll be working with critique partners and teen focus groups somewhere in there.  I'll be looking for feedback and making this manuscript that absolute best I can make it without an agent's/editor's input. 

I anticipate frustration during this process.  I hope my step by step plan will keep me from pulling my hair out. If you'd like to be considered as a critique partner or would like to become a new member of my teen focus group please let me know (comment here or shoot me an email at jenniferwelbornwrites(at)gmail(dot)com).

This is it people.  I'm rounding home base! Okay--no I'm not.  I'm rounding second and I'm running to third, but I'm making it damn it!  There are a lot of next steps to go before I can round home: finding an agent, editing what the agent wants me to edit, agent finds publisher, editing what publisher's editor wants me to edit, planning marketing (I've already started on this--yep, way to count my chickens before they hatch), and probably a whole bunch of other stuff I don't even know about. 

This part, however, this last bit of personal editing--this is the last part of the process where the manuscript is all mine.  It's the last part before other eyes see it and before other people expect anything of it.  I'm going to try to enjoy this part.  I'm going to try to appreciate this last bit of the all mine stage of publication.  Wish me luck!

Writing Scared

Lots of people think getting published is easy.  Lots of people think they could write a book and get it published.  Lots of people say, "You know I have this idea for a book" and then finish that sentence with some lame excuse like, "but I just don't have time to write it."  They think writing a book is easy.  They think publishing a book is easy.  They think selling a book is easy.

It's not.  It's not easy.  It's hard and it's scary.  I've worked for more than a year to finish my first novel.  I wrote the last page.  It's done.

Except that it's not done.  Now I have to revise it. I have to edit it.  I have to erase parts of it.  I have to chop scenes I loved into little pieces.  I have to kill pieces of my baby, and that's what this manuscript is--my creation, my baby.

Perhaps that sounds overly dramatic to some of you, but I can assure you it's not.  Writing a book is fun.  Editing a book is downright painful.  I've been told to put it in a drawer and forget about it for a month, then come back and edit.  Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary Agency (whom I shamelessly follow and talk to on twitter and who has an awesome blog) told me to do it.  Stephen King (in On Writing) told me to do it.  So I'm gonna do it.  I'm putting my story away for a bit and then I'll come back to it.

But what if I don't want to come back to it? Okay, okay.  So I want the book to be published.  I want my book to end up on a bookstore bookshelf like the one in the photo at the top.  I think that photo is of a Borders (I stole it from Jill Corcoran's blog--which you should also follow), but I don't just want my book on shelves at Borders.  I want my book on shelves at Books-A-Million and Barnes and Noble. I most especially want my book on shelves at independent booksellers across the country (c'mon--inde bookstores are AWESOME people). And I know that in order to see my book on shelves, I first have to edit it (and find an agent and a publisher and a whole slew of other little details. I also know I shouldn't start sentences with 'and' but I just did so sue me.).

I know what I have to do.  What's the problem then?  I'll spell it out for you: F-E-A-R.  If I edit my book then it really will be done.  It will be finished.  I'll have to send it off for other people to accept it or reject it.  I won't have any excuses left, any other ways to avoid sending my baby manuscript off to more critical eyes--eyes that might not like it.

What if it doesn't get published?  What if everyone I send it to hates it?  What if I suck?  Worse yet, what if my writing sucks?  That's scary.  I am ashamed to admit that my heart has stopped beating (yes, literally) and I find the idea of rejection more frightening than that was (Yes, I know.  That's ridiculous.  I can't help it.  That's how I feel.).

But I'm going to do it.  All of it.  I'm going to wait a month and then I'm going to start editing.  I'm going to murder my babies--slash scenes that don't further my story, kill words that are unnecessary, get rid of the amazing description of this one thing that I thought was so awesome but is really kind of pointless.  Then I'm going to send that edited manuscript to the prying, critical eyes of literary agents whom I respect and fear.  I'm going to do all of it--in hopes that my dream of publication will be achieved.  In hopes that conquering this fear will be worth it.  In hopes that one day a teenage girl will read my novel and squeal with delight and cry with sorrow and laugh with joy and pass it on to her friend because omg you just have to read this great book!

2011: New Year, New Blog, New Posts

This year I hope to bring a lot of new and exciting stuff to the table, er blog, and to you dear readers.  I am hopeful that 2011 will be a year of positive change for me.  I plan to embark on many new pursuits, some of them writing-related, some not.

I am excited to begin the year with some happy writing news.  Investigation Discovery  has asked me to preview their new series James Ellroy's L.A.: City of Demons.  I will be reviewing this series sometime before January 19th (when it is set to premiere). 

I am also happy to announce that I have finally hit the 200+ follower mark on twitter!  Thank you for following me @wordsmithjenn and thank you for reading my blog posts! You can also check out my facebook page ;)

What's New in 2011:

1.More ed posts!  I am going back to school (yes, again!).  I have decided that I should be a teacher.  I am hoping to return as soon as this summer.  I will be pursuing my M.A.T--likely in secondary social studies (grade 9-12).  As a result, I will probably be posting a lot more about education.  As a YA author, I feel that education is very important and therefore issues related to education are relevant to this website and to my readers.

2. I will be submitting my manuscript to agents by April 1st.  Cross your fingers for me.  I'm sure my pursuit of publication will be both exciting and frustrating. Wish me luck!

3. I am going to *try* to post more stuff relevant to teens.  If you're a teen reader then please feel free to send me emails with ideas, questions, or comments.  I love your feedback, so keep it comin'!

4. I might finally invest in a digital camera.  If I do then you're going to be inundated with picture posts ;)

What are your plans for 2011?  Anything exciting?  What are you looking forward to?  What do you want to read this year?

Pub News, Stephen King, and Other Stuff...

Pub News:

This week I read quite a few articles that (as an aspiring author) scared me half to death.  Among this news I learned:

1. The market is inundated with fantasy.  I write fantasy.  Apparently some agents are getting "fantasy fatigue"--i.e. getting tired of reading it.  Nathan Bransford, who tries to stay positive, wrote a blog about it.  You can read it here.

2. I just wrote my first picture book.  I submitted it to one agent.  I got a rejection letter.  She said she really liked it but it didn't "spark" for her and she needed it to "spark" in order to be able to market it "in this very difficult marketplace for children's fiction."  Then I read this article about how picture books aren't selling and picture book authors are doomed.

3. Apparently ebooks are destroying the publishing industry.  I've seen multiple articles about this in the last few weeks.  That's scary.  I always dreamed of eking out a living with my pen and paper.  Articles like this make me feel like that dream is utterly hopeless.

Stephen King

Stephen King wrote this amazing book called On Writing 10 years ago.  I had never heard of it (of course I was only 16 ten years ago).  Simon and Schuster just published a 10 year anniversary edition.  It looks like this:

I bought it earlier this week and I've been reading it in what spare time I have.  It's amazing.  He has some really great advice (and why shouldn't he....HE'S STEPHEN FREAKING KING!).  King also narrates with a frankness and a sense of honesty that I appreciate.  If you're an aspiring writer like me, you should read it.

Other Stuff

I did a Kid Craft post earlier this week.  Lots of people sent me facebook messages about how much they liked it, so I'll be doing that one again. 

I finally figured out Twitter (I think).  It only took like a month (hahahaha).  I'm loving it.  I had no idea Twitter offered such a rich writing community.  If you are following me on twitter then I want to say thank you.  All of the twitter writers I've met thus far are amazing and supportive.  I am so very grateful for that!

Could you let me know what you thought of Stump the Writer?  Do you want me to do it again? Did you like the story?  Did it just suck and you never want to see it again?  This blog is for my readers so LET ME KNOW!  If you hate it then I won't do it again.

I'm thinking it might be time for another contest.  What do you think of a $5 Starbucks giftcard?  Get your next cup of joe on me? 

And finally:  What do you want to see/read that you are not seeing/reading on this blog?

Thanks for the input!

Pulling My Hair Out

See that lady? That's what I feel like doing right about now. When I decided I was going to write a novel I had this image in my head of a book that is so good it sells itself and makes me a household name. Nieve much?

The novel writing--not so hard. I like to write. It's work, but it doesn't feel like work. I am, in fact, nearly finished. I still need to edit, but I am ok with that. Everything else--a little harder than I thought.

First, as an author you are responsible for a huge chunk of your own marketing. To get published you need to have a marketing plan. I have great ideas. Now I need to figure out how to make those ideas happen.

Idea #1: My author friends (who shall remain nameless) said, "You need a website! Start a website and get followers!" I approached this with enthusiasm. I thought, Yay! A website! I can totally do that! Followers? Yeah, I can get some of those. Ha! Easier said than done my friends.

So I started this website not having any idea what I was doing (by the way, I will be cross-posting this entry to that website). That in itself was a real adventure for me. I am tech-challenged, and that's putting it mildly. But I did it. I have also somehow convinced 21 people to follow me. I LOVE ALL OF YOU! No, really--I do. I need followers and you lovely people heard my desperate plea and responded with kindness. I am grateful for that.

Despite those 21 people, there are tons of other people who aren't following. I don't know how to get them to follow. I don't know how to market the website. I don't know how to entice people to click the damn button on the right hand of the screen that says "follow." I don't know how to build an internet presence. Apparently these are all things I need to know. So now I am trying to learn them, all of them, quickly and with great skill. And I feel like pulling my hair out.

I dropped all of my courses--all of them--to do this. Crazy much? Maybe. For me, this is the height of insanity. But I did it. A successful author aquaintance of mine told me over coffee, "Look Jenn, if you want to do this then just do it. Don't talk about doing it, don't plan how to do it, just do it. Jump in head-first and give it all you've got. It will be frustrating. It will drive you nuts. But you're good, damn it. You're good. So just do it." So I did it.

And here I am, with a website and a dream and a nearly complete novel. And I want to pull my hair out. I have officially hit the frustrating part of this journey. I am battening down the hatches, digging my heels in, and doing this thing. Frustration City here I come! But I am not giving up. I will get more followers. This website will be worth the money I invested to get it up and running. This dream will not die. I will overcome difficulty and I will persevere. I do, afterall, have plenty of experience in that department. So dear readers, wish me luck, and for goodness sake's PLEASE follow my website!
 
This post is also posted on my other blog.  Don't worry about that one, it isn't important :)