“Compromise need not mean cowardice.”
John F. Kennedy
Although it has nothing to do with writing, that quote reminded me of how a lot of writers react to critique. Tell them anything other than “submit it,” and they get their hackles up. Maybe they can tolerate a few minor changes, but nothing big.
If this describes you, then you do not want to be in my critique group — not that everyone is looking to pick you apart. In fact, I’ve been told that I’m the biggest pain simply because I have no qualms about pointing out structural problems. To make it even more fun, often I have no idea how to fix it. I’ll just know that the pacing is slow, the character motivations aren’t big enough or I don’t feel the setting. Fixing it is, after all, the writer’s problem.
Some critique groups have the rule that you aren’t allowed to defend yourself. Just sit there and take it. Then go home with it and think it over.
That’s not how things work in my group. We discuss things, not necessarily defending ourselves but explaining what we were trying to do and why we did something a certain way. That makes me think that this is why our group works so well. In discussing it, we often figure out why something doesn’t feel right and several different ways to fix it.
While this is hugely helpful, there was something else that helped me even more at our last meeting. Recently, they told me what was working in my story. I am doing a re-write from the ground up. Because my antagonist is all new, much of the original plot doesn’t work. This is a whole new book and I’m having a heck of a time wrapping my brain around it. Find out more about how my group helped me out by reading my post, What Every Writer Needs, at the Muffin.
–SueBE
Funnily enough I just posted about how I react to critique last weekend. I get excited when there’s a problem I can fix, so when I get heavier feedback I tend to be keen to get back to work and feel highly motivated.
My critique group works with the system that while the feedback is being given the author says nothing, but they have right of reply once the feedback has been given by all parties. Generally the right of reply leads to a discussion, but sometimes they spontaneously burst out before right of reply.
Comment by Kirstie — February 11, 2013 @ 8:57 am |
Our group is fairly “rule light.” It seems that every time we try to establish a hard fast rule . . . it just fades away. That said, I’ve been in groups that needed rules of various kinds. You just have to do what works and it sounds like your group works very well!
–SueBE
Comment by suebe — February 11, 2013 @ 8:11 pm |