Critiques [drusillas

For the past few years I've been part of a local critique group. We meet every 2 weeks and about 8-12 of us give our feedback to 2 authors who submit either a short story or a chapter of a longer story. Tonight I'm up.

Last January I submitted a short story that I couldn't go back to to until about a month ago. The comments were all valid - the members are very good about giving praise as well as what needs to be fixed - but it's just so hard for me to figure out what to do with the feedback once I receive it. It's also incredibly crushing to hear that many people tell you that you suck. Well, it's not that they do that, it's just what I hear and what I'm left with.

I've learned a lot about writing over the past year, and over the past month I went back and completely rewrote what I submitted last year. Tonight, the new draft is being re-critiqued.

I really thought I'd be fine, but I have the feeling that tomorrow I'm not going to be ok. It's like today I love the world, but tomorrow everything will be more gray. Part of me doesn't even want to show up. Another part of me is curious what they'll say.

I want to be published. I want this to be the best story I can write. I know that the only way this is going to happen is if I get feedback on it, because inevitably I'll have missed something (or a million somethings). I just don't know how to be ok with the process.

Part of it is that it's in person. Part of it is information overload. And that not everyone in the group reads or likes fantasy. The group is also of varying levels - some are published and others (like me) aren't. Some have a really good sense of how to fix a manuscript, others are clueless. I know all these things, yet, last time I went through this process (and the other 2x I've submitted things) I found it incredibly difficult to separate out the good feedback from the useless.

Tomorrow, I want to be ok. I don't want to get depressed and mope and stop writing, which is what happened last year. I don't want to leave this story for another year and not submit it anywhere. Or not even be able to look at it. I'm tired about thinking about writing and not actually writing. I want to be ok with what I've written. And with myself.

I've already decided that my mantra for this year is to keep on fighting. I guess tonight is my first big test.

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It sounds like you've got two pretty important/big things at stake here. That can't be good for the digestion.

I think you could benefit from actually deciding what it is you want more -- being good, or being published. Being published doesn't actually require you to be good, just good enough. A lot of amazing writers will never be published beyond the occasional small-press anthology because their amazingness has no commercial appeal. (A lot of crap writers will also be published in small-press anthologies, too, because nobody else wants their crap! Irony.)

Keeping on fighting is awesome -- it's just easier to fight for one thing at a time, rather than two things at once. *flees*

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I never thought about it that way. I don't think I'll ever be the kind of commercial writer who's a MAJOR success (at least based on lj as a testing field although I haven't really written and posted anything in 2 years). I know I'll also never be the kind of literary author where the writing itself is praised. I'm good with imagination, so I'm sticking to fantasy and scifi.

If I had to pick, last year I was definitely more focused on writing better. Although my holiday fest fic could have used 1 more beta (and after the reveals I might end up asking someone to look over it again before I repost it), I was actually pretty happy with it and with what I was able to do with it. This is completely the opposite of my previous fest fic, where I loved parts of it but loathed other parts I couldn't fix in time.

So, this year I'd like to focus on trying to get published.

In conclusion, I'm a waffle ;)

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Well there's your answer. If your focus is on getting published, and your critique group gets all hoity-toity about ~literary value~, just ignore 'em. :D

lol thankfully there's only a few like that (and they're newer members that I don't really know that well anyway).

It's funny - there's a member of group who's also a poet, and she writes the most beautiful stories. I'm seriously jealous of her talent. A few weeks ago we were chatting and she said she's jealous of me and how many ideas I always seem to be working on >.< (Seriously, that's the face I made - I was like wtf are you talking about!)

Also, your icon is mesmerizing.

Good poets are so amazing!!! They don't always make the best fiction writers, though, because fiction requires more than imagery and metaphor, and prose relies pretty heavily on sequential structure (I mean, it's not always temporally sequential, but cause-before-effect works better in prose than effect-before-cause, at least from a reader's perspective).

Isn't it? I got that one and this one yesterday and I can't stop using them today! When I remember, obviously. XD

Speaking of, what are you working on these days???

Seriously expending effort on? Just the CYOA HP fic. I'm usually picking away at various ideas all the time, but mostly in outline form -- fic is thinner on the ground lately than original, but still lots of fic, because I can't seem to stop acquiring new fandoms with pretty anime people in them. :D

*hugs* Good luck, hon.

Thank you *hugs back*

Ooh, furiosity has a good point! (think Twilight)

Personally, I'd love to be shitty and famous, but that's probably not gonna happen either. ;)

Is this crit written down? Or oral? Perhaps you could ask the group (beforehand) to write down one good thing and one thing that needs to be improved. That way you'll get good AND bad crit. Also, having it written down might help you be able to digest it at a better pace.

Also, perhaps one or two people in the group could get together with you in a week or two, when you've had a chance to think stuff over, and then help you actually put some crit to work.

HTH hon. And don't get too down on yourself. Keep in mind that even good writers can give shitty crit and vice versa.

Also, perhaps one or two people in the group could get together with you in a week or two, when you've had a chance to think stuff over, and then help you actually put some crit to work.
That's actually a fantastic idea. I know a few ppl well enough in the group to ask them for this.

We receive the comments verbally and then at the end of the night everyone's pre-written notes, so it's all there.

<333

I'm with everyone else here - pick "literary value" or published and get moving. Yes, these people will be criticizing, but they're beta readers. Only in person. Sometimes their ideas will have merit, sometimes not.

Ultimately, I want to read books by YOU, not them, so I want to hear YOUR voice in teh writing, even if it's not the perfect story.

And, um, I spent my bike ride this morning thinking about my story for the month. I felt doubly virtuous.

*HUGS*

I'd love to hear tomorrow how the crit group goes!

Stasia

If I don't end up drowning my sorrows at a pub afterwards, I'll probably need to write about it here on lj. Jeff is sympathetic, but ultimately doesn't see what the big deal is.

Ultimately, I want to read books by YOU, not them, so I want to hear YOUR voice in teh writing, even if it's not the perfect story.
I always think of betaing as the part where people point out the things that I completely missed and that I need to fix before the story is readable. It's why I never post anything (with the exception of a few drabbles) without at least Jeff looking it over first. I'm bad at thinking something and then not actually writing it (though I've been told I'm getting better at that).

<333

Right, but isn't this crit group something like betaing, only in person and without the "support" of fandom?

Stasia

I'm adding to the chorus here. Yes, what they said!

I also think you should also keep in mind that even when fiction is amazing, everyone won't think so. And even when you love a story, you often think of ways you wish it were different too. You'll need to pick and choose which criticism seems worthy of your consideration because even if they're operating under good intent - it won't all be useful to you.

It is your story and you really are the best person to tell it. While you don't want to be the writer who always thinks their work is AMAZING!! no matter what, you have to trust you can create amazing work too. Even if this draft isn't it. ♥

ITAWTC.
That is all.
♥

I will give you a pretty boy making a pretty fistpump as encouragement.

drusillas_rain

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August