Category Archives: Writerly Words

Good critique should help the writer enhance her vision, distill his voice, sharpen her wit, and coax the writer’s taste and talent into story.  But without that clear intent, it can degenerate into a write-like-me session, where the writer no longer command’s center stage on his own page. I liken the process of good critique to a garden consultant.  You can’t tell someone what to plant.  You might suggest beets, but if someone doesn’t like beets, the garden must remain strictly beet-free.  Apply too heavy a hand and the writer’s voice is lost in the jungle of conflicting prose.  The …

The writers that show up on your critique group doorstep will be at varying points on their individual journeys.  Some published, some working on it, and some with the dream yet a glisten in their eyes.  Not everyone is ready for the same level of critique. The published author, theoretically, wants to hear every single comment you have.  What you love.  What resonates.  The character that needs more life. What goes clunk on the ear. Anyone who’s been through the editorial process ought to be able to handle the full range of critical discussion. Any respectful opinion will likely be …

Nobody cares if you don’t write. Sorry if you weren’t clear on that point, but unless you’ve already signed with a discriminating agent, have a looming deadline, or a reading club awaits the jackets with your name, the only reason to write is that you must.  However a good critique group can be the angel on your shoulder urging you to press on when you’d rather listen to the one with the pitchfork digging into your deltoid. Is it done yet?  Have you hit your word count?  How many queries did you send this week? Accountability is a valuable thing.  Good critique …

Not everyone wants to see his name on the New York Times Best Sellers list.  I do.  But I’m not everyone.  Many of the people that come to critique groups are there to have a third party confirm that they can write,  they’ve lived a fascinating life, or the tragedy they’ve suffered is more universal than the individual tale. I’ve seen countless people come to a meeting once.  Whether they got what they wanted or were scared off like a bag of cats at the Iditarod, I’ll never know.  I do know that not everyone comes in with the same expectations. The critique …