I offer myself for review

#writingadvice

From dictionairy.com

Critique: an article or essay criticizing a literary or other work; detailed evaluation; review.

From vocabulary.com/dictionary/critique

Critique: As a verb, critique means to review or examine something critically. As a noun, a critique is that review or examination, like an art essay or a book report

From Wikipedia.org

Critique is a method of disciplined, systematic study of a written or oral discourse. Although critique is commonly understood as fault finding and negative judgment. It can also involve merit recognition, and in the philosophical tradition it also means a methodical practice of doubt.

In this week’s blog, I want to underline a fundamental aspect of my writing process that I believe is crucial for every aspiring writer—the critique group. Remember when you turned in your essay or short story in elementary school and hoped your teacher would judge it well enough to get a good grade? Whenever I write anything, I put myself through it. This time, however, the stakes feel much higher. As a writer, you want everyone who reads your work to give it an A.

Brandon Sanderson, a well-known and probably the most successful current fantasy author, teaches a class at Brigham Young University on writing speculative fiction. As of a couple of years ago, the class is free and available on YouTube. If you have read my blog, you know that I am a fan of his books and have occasionally referenced him as an inspiration. So, when I stumbled upon his video series when I was starting my journey as an author went to school. He has given our community a great gift; I highly recommend his ten-class course if you are starting that path. For that matter, some of his other help has been made available to the community, like his podcasts and other weekly updates on YouTube. I’ve gleaned much from them.

One of the best pieces of advice he gives in those ten hours of instruction is “Get a critique group.” He may have called a workshop group or another name, but it is the same thing. He also lays out some rules to follow, which I believe align with what I will spell out below, based on my personal experiences.

In my very short career or hobby for now, as an author, I belong or have belonged to three critique groups. The first was when I lived in the Philadelphia suburbs, and now that I’ve moved to Michigan, I’m in two. All three are set up differently. The setup doesn’t matter much; they all have provided valuable gifts to me that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.

I’ve been fortunate enough in my career to receive executive coaching and attend one of the best business schools in the country. During both forums, I’ve learned that feedback is a gift. The best feedback is honest, unfiltered, raw, and sometimes brutal. Still, it is a gift and must be treated as such.

When I was learning to write, I did what everyone does: I wrote. And I wrote, and I wrote—nearly 300,000 words. It was a great story, and I poured my soul into it. I loved it like a child. I imagined that someday, my name would be recognized with Tolkien, Lewis, Jordan, Martin, and Sanderson. I was born to do this. Then, I found a critique group.

This first group was a big group of local writers who met every Tuesday night in the basement of a church. They consisted of writers of all genres and skill levels. There were even <gasp> poets in the group. The rules were simple. You sign up for a review slot, often weeks in advance. You send your copy (20-page double-spaced limit) to the leader a week before, and he distributes it to the group. They go into the file, print a copy, and rip it to shreds… No construct their gifts.

The critic had to be professional. “To critique how you want to be critiqued.” They would mark up the copy with line edits they’d pick out. They would provide a section of everything they liked and where they felt the work needed improvement. Up to twenty people would do this during our weekly two-hour meetings on that week's two submissions. The person being critiqued was not allowed to talk during the process until everyone was done. Then they were allowed to ask a few questions, not provide defense, but ask clarifying questions. Usually, there wasn’t any.

My first week they killed my child. But, they also found much to like about it. I went through the grieving process, and I improved. I almost quit. I would never be good enough, but I didn’t quit. I improved. Getting to know this group of disparate people with different tastes and attending a retreat with them helped me grow, and their influence two years later still impacts the things I write today.

One of the things I hated most about leaving Pennsylvania was leaving this group. I went to church with a friend who is an author, and she mentioned an online community of Christian Speculative Fiction that she belongs to of writers I should check out. I am a Christian, I am a Speculative Fiction writer, a perfect fit. So, I joined RealmMakers and found, or was placed, in a group.

This group has an online format, where each of us is assigned a week to submit an up to 10,000-word submission. The process is similar, though the output varies differently. There is no hard and fast structure on the summary feedback, though it is encouraged to show the submitter what you like and what you think could be improved. But the gifts are the same. I’ve found that they have helped me calibrate to a target audience. We have met in virtual meetings a few times since I’ve been there, but almost all of our interaction is through the community site and in the files we submit. The plus of this group for me is that we share the same worldview through slightly different lenses and that worldview provides a forum for honesty and feedback given with the best of intentions. I still strived for a group where I could grow close, one that an online forum doesn’t really work for, so I went looking for a local, in-person group.

I visited the local Barnes & Noble, but nothing came up. I also searched online for a group in the area, but either my inept searching skills failed me, or nothing was published. Finally, I checked my local small-town library. Every Wednesday evening, a local group of authors review each other’s works for an hour and a half. Again, the format is different. Every week, each author reads four double-spaced pages aloud to the group, and they offer feedback. Written comments go on the page the author provides, usually these are more copy-edit stuff. But the discussion was great.

Though the formats of the three groups have been vastly different, I’ve received great gifts from each and my writing has improved far beyond that first 300k novel I wrote. I am so thankful for each and every person who took the time to do it for me.

My advice to any who starts this process is to go into the process with the expectation that a reader will never know the backstory or motivations if they aren’t on the page. Neither will these critics. As a third party who has witnessed misunderstandings between the author and critic, the critic is often in the right. Having your work reviewed and critiqued can be a very humbling experience. You are vulnerable. But, if you receive that feedback, process it, and change, you will be a better author. More readers will appreciate your work, and you will be much happier with the finished product.