Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Importance of Critique

Right Now: It's a rainy day, warm and muggy. Kids should be home from school soon. Listening to Fireflies by Owl City. Oh yeah, just finished my rewrites!

All I can say is WOW! I just finished my rewrites and edits, and I feel fine... And, grateful that I found the right critique person to help me get where I need to be. You know who you are, my own personal sensei, and all I can say is THANK YOU!! I feel better about my writing than ever before!! So, with that said, I want to pass on the lessons that I've learned in the hopes that I can help someone out there.

First, don't send out any queries until your MS is perfect! I don't mean until you think it's perfect, because we, the writers, are so in the thick of things that we can't see the forest through the trees. So, when you think your MS kicks butt, then it's time to find a critique group or partner. Please do not skip this step. Repeat: please do not skip this step.

Your critique partner and or group should know your genre, know how to write well, and have the ability to be honest with their critique. This might hurt, but it's necessary. And if you really want to improve, you will listen to what they have to say!

Then, take this info, and fix your MS. Then, get that query the best that it can be. And have your synopsis ready to roll.

Whew...this process has taken me A YEAR! Yes, that' right, a year. The actual process of writing my story only took about six months. The rest of the time I've been editing, tweaking, revising, and sometimes just plain leaving it to the side. But it's been A YEAR!

The good thing? My MS rocks. My story has angels in it, which, as you may know, is all the rage right now, and on an upswing. (When I started writing, I had no idea this would be the new thing) Good for me. Now I just need to get this story in the right hands. Wish me luck!!

1 comment:

  1. The best of luck, Rose. I just don't have the drive to be a professional writer (except briefs and appeals).

    ReplyDelete