Say Something Good-

I’ve been seriously pursuing this writing thing for about six years now. One of the first things I did when I decided to take my notebooks from under the bed, was to join a critique group. I guess I was lucky in that my first experience was positive.

I remember how nervous I was the first time I brought a short story to a meeting. I had no idea what Point of View was, but evidently I had messed it up pretty bad. Someone did say the title was amazing, another person wrote that my sense of place was strong and someone else said my historical detail was woven in very well. At the end of the pages another person recommended a book on POV and even though it stung a bit to hear what I needed to work on, I left feeling pretty happy with my story.

Since then I have heard the horror stories of aspiring authors who have had their stories so torn apart they wanted to throw in the writing towel and never pick up a pen again. Now that I’ve learned a few things about craft, and been asked to critique pages I try to make sure that I am not one of those overzealous writers, who with good intentions, accidentally crush the dreams of any newbie in the group.

I start with something good to say, whether it’s, “Great title!” or “I love Civil War stories!” I draw nice big smiley faces next to the comment. J Then I make sure I put them all through the pages I’ve been given. Even the little things matter, like “Fantastic verb choice!” J next to word like amble.

What is the author looking for from the critique? If they have specific questions, like, “Do you like the characters?” or “What do you think of the plot?” those are the issues I stick to. Unless the author is looking for a clean copy to send to an editor, I don’t worry about every punctuation and misspelled word. In a general critique try to stick to the characters, the plot and the pacing. If I’m reading along and hit a passage I naturally want to skip I might write something like, “This section seemed slow to me.”

Sometimes I might offer a suggestion like, “I had trouble keeping track of the characters in your fight scene. Is it possible to cut the number from five to three?” I’ve also found that phrasing things as a question rather than a statement make them seem less dogmatic. Using phrases like “I wonder…” instead of “You should…” also softens any suggestions I might write. My intention is to make the writer think about why they chose to write their sentence or paragraph the way they did and how they can make it better.

I try to write my comments and suggestions politely, in a friendly tone, that doesn’t come across in an, I’ve-written-X-number-of-books-so-I-know-everything manner. When I write my comments at the end of the pages I try to start and end with the positives so that my suggestions are sandwiched in the middle.

Sometimes it’s easy, especially in a new writer’s work, to see the excessive back story, the POV issues, and the long paragraphs of telling. These larger issues may tend to overshadow an interesting premise or intriguing character.

I try to take what I’ve learned and pay-it-forward. After all the purpose of a critique group is not to mark up everything that’s wrong with the pages you’ve been given, but to give enough feedback to help the author make their writing stronger and to keep them motivated to keep writing. J

Here is an excerpt from the first short story I brought to my critique group.

Blurb: Trying to redeem himself for the death of his fiancee's brother, Wesley Cole has put himself in the front lines of every battle he's fought in the Civil War, until hours before his next major battle when he accidentally meets the one woman who's love and forgiveness can offer him peace.

Excerpt:

"Stop right there.” Though she tried to sound tough her southern drawl softened the hard edge of her command. “Put your gun down and leave this house.”
“Ma’am, I mean you no harm. I don’t know why you’re here but it isn’t safe.”
There was a long pause then from behind the door came an incredulous question. “Wes?”
Nonplused he stared. “Who are you?”
Slowly the barrel lowered, and the door swung inward. A young woman stepped out from behind it.
His mouth dropped open in shock. “Abby?”
She wore her wheat blonde hair pulled back into a simple long braid. Her dress was faded and patched, and hung loose on her too thin body. Her eyes were the same soft brown, but a few tiny lines around the corners lent her an aura of maturity he found more appealing than the bright-eyed innocence she’d had at sixteen.
He almost reached out to embrace her, but checked the impulse. Instead he latched onto the memory of Manassas, flogging himself with haunting images of the battle, grinding them like salt into his wounded soul, making certain he would never forget that what he’d done that day had torn their love apart forever.
She took a hesitant step forward, her brown eyes searching his face. “You’ve been well?”
“Disappointed?”
She gasped and stepped back as though he’d struck her. “Oh, Wes, can you ever forgive me for writin’ that hateful letter? We were all so young. We didn’t understand what war was. It was all supposed to be so glorious. Our boys were goin’ to fire their guns and send the Yankees runnin’ back north. No one was supposed to die. It wasn’t your fault. Matthew would have died even if you had been standin’ right beside him.”
“But I wasn’t was I?” Self-loathing laced his words with bitterness. “No, I ran to the rear and hid behind a tree snivelin’ like a Goddamn baby.”
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Meandering observations on Critique Groups

Almost all writers join a critique group at some time during their career. I personally have been in five. I’m no expert, but I do have some idea of what kind of group works best for me.

Deciding to find a group should start with what you expect to get from it. A number of new authors will say seek out a group to improve their writing. In reality they come expecting to hear how good their work is. They have trouble listening to criticism, even the softest time. These authors rarely return. In my experience two out of three new members will quit the group—some within the first meeting or two, others later when they find they’re not getting what they want, of they can’t take to see the errors in their work pointed out.

Groups all have their own way of operating. Some have authors hand out copies and read a short piece of work. Then the others comment on it. This type of group can be very good or useless. The good ones look for more than grammar mistakes, they look for story arc, character development and conflict. They can help point out flaws in structure, unlikable or dull characters and dialog that doesn’t move the story along.

A bad one is often inexperienced and not used to examining a manuscript for what works or doesn't work. They will focus on minor things like grammar, spelling and other inconsequential matters—inconsequential for early drafts. A novice misses that what’s being read is raw. It has a lot of errors that the author will find on rewrites. What an author wants—if they’re serious—is a critique that delves into the heart of the story.

Another type of critique group is one that passes out copies of the work, sometimes ahead of time, sometimes at the meeting and everyone goes through it without talking. The readers mark up the manuscript, then they talk about it in a round robin fashion—though some will open the floor to anyone and the critiquing is a back and forth effort. This can work very well, if the participants are good at finding out flass.

Some critiques are strictly online. No physical group exists. Chapters are swapped and critiqued, then sent back. I’ve seen some that have a strict set of rules. There will be a time frame, there can be instructions on what to look for, even sheets that lay out the requirements for every critique. A group I’m in asks for a critque—a full read through, a quick one, a final draft read, etc. In these groups it is often done on credits owed. You earn so many credits depending on what kind of crit it is. When you request a crit, you need X-amount of points. This type of critiquing is usually labor intensive.

There are online critique groups where manuscripts are swapped. Those tend to be more casual.

My favorite type is a one on one. Two authors at a similar level of skill sit and talk. A good group like this will brainstorm ideas and search for the best phrase. These can be fairly intense and the only way for it to work, each author has to be open to accepting what the critiquer is saying. This does not mean you need to do any of it. In the end you are the final decision make on what to change and what to leave alone. And trust me, it is painful.

In a good critique group the author cannot interrupt and explain something. The author has to realize that there will be no one standing over the reader telling them what you meant.

Bad groups can do more than disappoint. Some can be destructive, without any merit. Some can be ignorant. Or insist they’re only one way to write a scene. Others have an even worse character. The one who is nasty in their words and actions. They will attack the writer as opposed to dealing with the work at hand. I quit one group when one member laughed at everything. He was very juvenile and would laugh like a ten-year-old at the most infantile words that ‘sounded like a gay man.

Finding a good group can be rough. It’s best to sit in on a meeting or two and judge what you hear in terms of how it can benefit you. Entering a group whose members all write non-fiction, or fantasy and you write historicals like I do.

I highly recommend checking out some critique groups and give them a try. Some places aren’t big enough to have a regular group. In such a place, you may need to find one online. Or start one. Some people feel strongly that groups should be divided by genre. SF/fantasy, historical, romance, etc. I find I can learn as much from criticizing another author as I learn when they critique me.

Find a good group and it will pay you back four-fold

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