{"id":826,"date":"2018-05-28T10:59:20","date_gmt":"2018-05-28T14:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/dremadeoraich\/?p=826"},"modified":"2018-05-28T10:59:20","modified_gmt":"2018-05-28T14:59:20","slug":"wanted-murderers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/28\/wanted-murderers\/","title":{"rendered":"Wanted: Murderers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Go ahead. Murder my draft. Slash its prose to ribbons. Get stabby with a red pen and make it bleed.<\/p>\n

No, seriously. I know you think I\u2019m flexing my sarcasm muscle, but I\u2019m not. If there are weaknesses in my work-in-progress, I want\u2014need<\/em>\u2014to know what they are. That\u2019s why critique sessions are my friend. To sit at a table with other writers who\u2019ve read my work and have them point out flaws is exactly my idea of a fun Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong. It\u2019s sometimes hard<\/em> to sit and listen to people rip my \u201cbaby\u201d apart. My first instinct is to defend those words on the page, to fight tooth and nail and justify the value of their existence. \u201cNo, you don\u2019t understand! I meant<\/em> to show my antagonist in a cliched way; it\u2019s a spoof, don\u2019t you get it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly not. And if the reader doesn\u2019t \u201cget it,\u201d then the work doesn\u2019t stand on its own merit. Because I won\u2019t be there to defend the story to every other reader. (If that is even remotely possible, then I haven\u2019t sold enough copies of the book, have I?)<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard it said, and it proves true in my own experience, that a writer cannot remain objective about their own work. Hell, I can\u2019t even proofread my own pages beyond a certain point. Because I\u2019ve seen it so much I can quote it by heart, I completely miss errors that leap off the page for a fresh set of eyes. And if that\u2019s the case with typos or extraneous words, how much more so is it true for plot flaws or flat characters or\u2014worse than that\u2014continuity errors, where in chapter 4 the protagonist has access to a valuable resource but in chapter 20, when that resource might save her butt, she suddenly forgets all about it or can\u2019t get to it or it no longer exists.<\/p>\n

Beta-readers and critique sessions are an invaluable fix.<\/p>\n

I have taken three 6-week fiction classes now, in which the participants take turns reading and critiquing each other\u2019s work. Most of the time, I submitted short stories, works that could be reviewed from beginning to end in one session. Each time, applying the input offered by my fellow writers made the story so much better! Three of those stories have now been accepted for publication so the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. I\u2019ve also mentioned my search for a local critique group. While I haven\u2019t found exactly that, my Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writers Group ventured into the critique arena at our last meeting, with outstanding results.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spoken about this before, here<\/a> and here<\/a>, but I want to point out that it isn\u2019t just the critiques I receive on my own work that benefit my craft. Reading the work of others is every bit as valuable. I frequently see glowing examples of a technique or skill I\u2019ve been trying to master myself (like one writer\u2019s seemingly effortless eloquence in poetic description and turn of phrase), and can take a moment to break it down for myself and compare what they\u2019re doing right to what I\u2019m missing. But it\u2019s also much easier to see clear illustrations of things we are told not to do in someone else\u2019s writing. A flat protagonist stands out more because we don\u2019t know the character\u2019s quirks and flaws and strengths as well as the author does. We need those blanks filled in for us. A passive voice surfs across the page without raising any excitement in me, the reader. Wordy descriptions or awkward phrasing snag me out of the story and leave me blinking in my living room, rather than shadowing the protagonist as she works through the conflict in her world. Spotting those issues connects lessons I\u2019ve heard to the \u201cAha!\u201d recognition in my head of where, exactly, I am committing those same mistakes in my own work.<\/p>\n

Remember that old saying from grade school? \u201cTell me, I forget; show me, I remember; involve me, I understand.\u201d It\u2019s one thing to be told \u201cdon\u2019t do this\u201d with your fiction. It won\u2019t work. If I take a class and am shown examples, I remember it more completely. But as a reader who is fully participating in the creative process by experiencing the work of another writer, completing the circle as it were, I am involved. I experience the reasons<\/em> flat characters or passive voice or Professor McWordy descriptions fall short. In that moment, understanding dawns.<\/p>\n

If you have yet to participate in critique sessions with other writers, I urge you to do so. Just remember: it isn\u2019t personal. All the other writers are there for the same reasons you are\u2014to improve their craft. If we can help each other along the way, that\u2019s icing on the cake.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"