Critique Groups – Feedback Sessions for Authors

Do you belong to a support group for writers or speakers? Belonging to a collaborative critique group can be both and boon and a bane for authors and speakers. They are a boon because of the incredible insight you get into your work from various perspectives of others. They are a bane because you may not like what they have to say or how they deliver it. Author critique groups provide the system of checks and balances that are necessary for producing useful content related feedback.

Feedback – Feedback can be a powerful source of inspiration that provides new direction for work you are currently slugging with on a daily basis. Critique groups can be virtual, coffee shop, or home-based with a wide variety of structure and organization.  On Bainbridge Island, WA there is a wonderful group called Field’s End that promotes authors by providing workshops, presentations, and other events. Like minded people tend to gravitate toward each other in the framework of the organization and many of them go on to form critique groups.

Some people prefer small intimate affairs, others prefer large group settings where they can remain more anonymous. A new version of the critique setting is emerging on line inspired by authors like John Kremer. He has founded an author/agent/publisher social network that is now over 1000 members strong that harbor among other things critique groups.

Making the Most of Your Time – Whether you pursue traditional publishing or self-publishing, a critique group can be invaluable to your work’s overall success. Think of it as an inexpensive way to “road test” your work before it goes to an agent or editor to be eviscerated.  How do you make the most of your critique group’s time with your work?

• Be specific in what you need.
  • Don’t say, “Help, I don’t know where to go next!”
  • Say instead, “I am struggling with getting the protagonist’s inner conflict to be evident to the reader in a seamless method.” 
  • Or, “Does the humor in this scene fit with the character’s later development?”
• Have clean copies for the group.
  • Run spelling and grammar check prior to distributing to your group

A good critique will help you remove the clutter in your writing, indicate your weaknesses, and valuable insight to your work. If you only get feedback that is glowing, filled with nothing but praise, and make you feel like the next Stephen King…then run! Feedback is only effective if it is balanced and has value that benefits your work and not just your ego. 

Find a critique group that fits your style on line, in a round table forum or in a small intimate setting. Good critique groups are instructive, inspirational, constructive and promote positive community building between authors. Like a good pair of boots, find the right style and fit for you…

Why Should Authors Blog?

Blogging is a quick way to generate excitement, stir up controversy, and get people talking about a variety of topics in a short space of time. Why should you as an author blog?

Simple answer: To create a ready made audience for your book.

Complex answer: To create a ready made audience for your next book.

 Wait a minute! That is the same answer! Yes, but if we peel it apart there are many layers that could be examined.

Blogging creates excitement and gets people interested in what you have to say. As you the author begin to generate the excitement and stir the waters you begin to be recognized as a possible authority in the field you write about both in your blog and in your book. A made to order audience begins to develop for your book.

The more complex answer is that as an author we truly never know what the fickle audience wants at any given time. We can make educated guesses based on studies, surveys, etc. The world of information has become so fluid with the accessibility of the web that we as authors would be foolish not to use it as a medium for testing the waters. 

What if you as an author began to blog about the different chapters of your next book? Could you get immediate feedback for content development? You bet you can! Fiction or non-fiction, you get to create and collaborate with the very people who will be in your book audience.

Put blogging on your author “to do” list. Schedule it. Perhaps it can be your warm-up activity for your daily writing sessions. Begin with a short personal paragraph or two and build out from there. You will find your voice just like you will find an audience.

Now get out there and start blogging!

How to Prepare Your Final Non-Fiction Draft for Your Editor- Part 2

Prior to sending your manuscript out for editing, preview it for ”tightness” with a critical eye to detail. Do you have a general outline for your book? Go back to that and review it then look at your work chapter by chapter to see how well your work sticks to the original outline and premise for the work.

Go to the first chapter of your book and find your thesis statement. It should be relatively obvious and in the very first paragraph of your work. After you find it, underline it. Then go back in the rest of the chapter and highlight ONLY the parts that are directly related to your thesis in that chapter. How much of the work is thesis centered? How well do you communicate the supporting details to prove or expound on your thesis? How much fluff is there?

The fluff has to go! Tight writing requires an economy of language and a straightforward approach to the topic discussed. Sentences that are more than 17 words should be re-evaluated for unnecessary verbosity. Remove any fluff or unrelated material (save it for another section of this book or for another book – even for a handout or workbook when you start speaking in public on your book). 

Then take what is left and organize it according to the outline you used earlier to craft your work. Turn some of what you wrote into bullet statements, some into supporting paragraphs, etc. Your work should fall more naturally into place if you do this. The writing will be more cohesive and the entire work will be logical and easy to follow.