Beta or Bust

Critique partner? I’ve never had one. I have a few beta readers that I rely on to keep me from making too big a fool of myself, but it is a one way street. Sure, I’ve helped a few friends from time to time, but it is most always for a chapter, two at most. I must admit, those requests are few and far between.

So, am I missing out? Probably. Will I lose sleep over it? Not a chance. My beta readers are a Godsend and I trust them to a fault, but just to make sure I don’t get to complacent, I usually pick a person to read my near-complete works for a different point of view. Nine times out of ten, they don’t come up with anything my two favorite betas don’t offer up as well.

They do a bang up job and pull no punches. I usually get the MS back within a few days and it often looks like it is bleeding to death. I’ve had them catch everything from simple typos to lackadaisical character development. In short, when I right shit, they have no qualms about telling me how bad it stinks. Having said that, they also let me know when a passage really moves them. I really feel that if I’m going to grow as a writer, I need both and me betas seem to realize this as well.

Someday, I may take the plunge and at the very least, join a crit group, but for now, this is the system that works for me.

He does what? With who? Is that supposed to be a comma?

First off, since several of my critique partners read this, I have to be nice. Snicker.

Right now I have two sets of critique partners who are each invaluable in their own way. I have an on-line group, including Anny and former Grip staffer Regina Carlysle, who are erotic romance authors, with not only my primary publisher, but my same editor. They read the kind of stuff I write, so they know the genre and the business. So if I do something that doesn’t work from a romance point of view, they are there to catch it. And if I need help with a hero, a situation, or yes, a sex scene, they’re there to provide ideas. Gotta love a group that can have a conversation about finding a unique position for sex in a faculty office, or whether a given angle is physically possible. Finally they can be turned to when I’m feeling crappy about my writing, to tell me to quit whining, yes, I can write, and to get my fingers back on the keyboard.

I have another group, a local gathering of authors, that is not primarily a romance group. This is the one I turn to for technical advice and face-to-face social interaction. Both are extremely useful. I read a lot of SF&F so I enjoy reading their stuff, and as a few of them are making inroads into the paranormal romance arena, I think I have something to offer them as well. What I can’t get from them is a heads-up when I’ve broken one of the unwritten rules of the romance genre, or when I simply have a hero or heroine who doesn’t measure up. They also don’t quite get that in, especially in short romantica (TM), plot is a very secondary thing. I love working with this group, which is split between men and women, because they refuse to let me get lazy and they force me to be a better writer. We also laugh ourselves stupid, and sometimes you need that.

Are critique groups always good? Nope. One thing I urge is that, even if you don’t write exactly the same genre, you have to be willing to read the others’ stuff. One of my very first critique partners was a lovely woman and an excellent writer, but she wrote emotionally intense women’s fiction of the very grim variety. Frankly it was painful for me to wade through every month. And my sex scenes had her picking up the manuscript by one corner and going, “ick.” This was not a critique relationship destined to be helpful to either one of us. After about a year, two of the women moved away and the group quietly and rather relievedly, fell apart.

Finally, if I have doubts about a manuscript, I have a couple of other friends I can call on to say, as Dakota put it, either “Great, send it in,” or “Really? You sure this is going to work?” It’s not the same as critiquing, but it has its place as well.

One caveat. It IS very easy to over-critique a manuscript and lose your own voice. Be wary of that. You can’t please everyone, so you have to please yourself. Catching typos or plot holes isn’t the same as turning your story into a generic piece of dreck. My first book for Wild Rose Press, The Cowboy’s Christmas Bride, suffered heavily from this. Many of the changes my editor made were thankfully to put it back the way it was in the first place. A good critique partner has to be very careful not to impose her own voice on her partners’ manuscripts.

Writers come to their critique partners for many reasons, and it’s important to connect with a group, or groups, that meets those individual needs. Mostly? I think sometimes we need to be around other people who understand what it’s like to have voices chattering away in your head.

Critique...Me? Um....

I am a terrible critique partner. Or I would be if anyone asked me to help. I've had requests, but I've had to respectfully decline. I am a better beta reader. I can do broad perspective, an overall "Good job" or "Maybe take a look at chapter three." But I cannot point out specific problems with someone elses work.

This is a little odd, because I want someone who will do that for me. I have never once been offended or hurt by big red notes in the margin about parts of my MS that don't work, don't make sense, or just don't belong at all. I trust my friends/partners opinion and almost always take it.

But to do that to for someone else, makes me squig a little. Maybe it's because I am not confident enough in my own writing to feel comfortable telling other writers they are wrong. How the hell do I know? I don't. So best to send me something when you want to hear how wonderful it is. Or if you are curious about something specific, I might be able to choke out a yes or a no as to how it works. But other than that...I'm probably not the last person you want to look at your work before you send it to an editor.

However, if you are looking to try out your new red Sharpie any time soon let me know...I'm sure I've got a few stories waiting to be critiqued within an inch of their lives.

XoXoXo
Dakota Rebel

Partnership

I had a hard time starting this piece. My critique partner is sleeping. Let’s be truthful, I can’t live without her. When I think my writing sucks and that this time the magic isn’t going to happen, that I’ve lost my ability to write, just the word ‘more?’ will encourage me. No, she’s not a cheerleader or a crutch. In fact, she can be pretty hard on me. She’s a brave woman.

Why? Well, I don’t take criticism well. Okay, see, now it’s out there. I get cranky at myself when I’ve missed words or misspelled something, but tell me a scene isn’t working…I’ll pout. Yeah, I’m such a baby. So then I’ll stomp back to the drawing board and fix it. She’s never steered me wrong, and I hope she can say the same back.

Because we’re partners. We take it to a little higher level than Anny mentioned yesterday or than she’d want. Not only does my critique partner comment on story flow, but she marks structural problems. She’d be horrified if I turned in a manuscript that wasn’t clean. Same here.

But that’s what’s expected of our partnership. I would never try to rewrite her story, but I will point out errors. When setting out in a critique relationship, it’s of the utmost importance to know what’s expected—just like in any relationship really. For example ‘this is good’ as a comment alone won’t cut it for me when I’m looking for a critique—but I won’t complain if I hear it. I expect to be flayed and have the words cut to the bone. Thankfully, painful flayings are much less frequent than they used to be.

My critique partner and I have been together since 1992. That’s as long as I’ve been married. In fact, we hooked up two weeks before my wedding. I’d be willing to go out on a limb and say we know each other well. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I think that’s important, too. You won’t get a feel for each other’s writing in just one session. It takes several. Patience is important, as is communication. If you don’t like the way a critique is done, you should tactfully say so—and not because you’re pouting (like me) or because you don’t take criticism well.

Anyway, 1992…that’s a long time. We were together for fourteen years before she was published and fifteen for me. Ironically, our books were accepted mere months apart. Since we essentially learned to write together, we’re at the same writing level and it seems just. Time together aside, I could have been bitter or competitive because she got an acceptance first. I’m a very competitive person, but let me say and be very clear, there is no place for competition or bitterness in a critique relationship. There just isn’t. Neither is there a place for superiority. Both of those things will kill the partnership in short order. Even if your partner is published first or more frequently published, she still needs you. She trusts you to be there for her.

For the record, my critique partner is Bronwyn Green and I couldn’t be more proud to have her at my side as I write and to stand beside her as she pens great books.

Fix This... and this... and this

Writing is a solitary profession. So solitary, in fact, that it's easy to get lost in the forest of words. If the writer is lucky, very lucky, he or she will have a few critique partners. Some authors never use a critique partner and that's all right. If a writer is going to successfully write without a critique partner, they must be both confident and meticulous. I confess that I'm not that confident. I want someone to read my story or chapter with a critical eye. What could I do better? What words do I use over and over and over?

I once sent a scene off to a partner for a quick read. She wrote back... "lovely scene, so well written I could feel the tension, smell the sweat and tears. The critical necessity to reach their destination in time was clear. I just have one question. Where are they going?"

Well, I knew where they were going! Unfortunately, I didn't tell the reader where they were going--not in the scenes before or after this scene. As a matter of fact, I went back to the chapter before... and no, I never shared that information. I didn't notice the information was missing because I knew the destination.

The difficulty with having a critique partner or two or three is that it's hard to find a fit. By that, I mean that it's hard to find someone that meets several criteria.

a) You must trust their writing skills. Sadly, an individual may be a published author, yet have poor grammar and spelling skills. They might even be like me--a head hopper. I never heard that term until I started sending my work to critique partners.

b) Your critique partner must be comfortable enough with you to actually point out your problems. Unfortunately, our critique partners are often our friends and fellow writers. They hesitate to hurt our feelings or put down our writing. In truth, I want them to say, "Hey Anny, this is waaaay over the top. What the heck are you doing?" I would much rather have a critique partner privately point out those things I need to improve rather than a reviewer underline them in a public forum.

c) Critique partners must be committed to your partnership. Life does happen. Yes, it certainly does. But when it's your turn to critique your partner's work, you just have to be committed enough to do it in a timely fashion. And do it well! Rushing through the job and sending back a note--"Hot, very hot!" isn't a critique. It's especially not a critique when you receive that note three weeks after the critique was due. In three weeks time, I've moved six chapters further in my story. If my partner has detected a flaw that's going to materially affect my story, it's possible that much of that work will have to be discarded.

d)Know the difference between a critiquer and an editor. I once received a critique back where every single typo, grammar mistake, and misspelled word was corrected--in red. That's fine. It seemed a bit time consuming, but I was okay with that. What I was not okay with were the actual changes in my manuscript--some over a paragraph long. A note in the margin would have sufficed. You know, something like, "This is a really awkward or clumsy paragraph. Please rewrite." As for the other corrections, a note would have sufficed for most of them, too. One critiquer I had used to just mark them with a red X. That's sufficient. If you have a suggestion about rewording an awkward sentence--great!

I just want to add a bit about beta readers. I know some people have them. It must be very nice. I've had offers from friends and even relatives. What they don't understand is the time constraint. Once a book is finished, I will most likely submit it within two weeks. Sometimes I don't even have that much time if the piece has a deadline. Being a beta reader does not mean that I just like you so much that you're going to get a free read. It's a job. Your payment for doing the job is the free read. And just as in critiquing, time is everything.

I've been incredibly lucky with my critique partners. Probably they get the short end of the stick with me because I'm just learning. But I do my best. I read their work several times over the week that we have. And I give my honest opinion of those things that could use a tweak or two. That's really the best we can do. Honesty and commitment.

Anny Cook

Death Dealer

Someone once asked me how I could possibly spend so much time writing about death and the animals who bring it to the unsuspecting masses. After all, I appear to be quite the friendly, stable person. I have a smile for most everyone and I often go out of my way to help those in need. In short, it seems I just don’t fit the image of a person with such horrible characters running around in my head.

I suppose I should feel flattered… I think.

I do not write about these things because I’m a dark person. I have no brooding soul. The things I write about come with the mother of all safety nets…they are purely fictional. I get to create an environment with all of the adrenaline rushing thrill (if I’ve done my job correctly) of jumping from a tower. The ground comes rushing at you. You see each object below with growing clarity. You are in the moment…lost to the sound of your pounding heart. Doubt tugs at the edges of your soul. You see the point of impact; you’ve marked your spot, but before you splatter and bounce, the tension on your left leg increases. Slowly at first, the grip of the bungee cord becomes incessant before you jerked back through the air and out of harm’s embrace.

No, I write what I do, because it offers an escape, a glimpse into a world I have no desire to be part of in real life. If the things I wrote about were true, I would surely end my days by dining on a bullet. Whose sanity could remain whole under such conditions? It’s just entertainment.

Are you not entertained?

Show Me the Money

Okay, here's one for all the writers, readers, and writers-to-be. Contests. We are in a very strange industry, boys and girls. One of the main criteria on which our works are judged by readers, publishers, editors, and each other are contest wins. Big, little, and in-between. Now actors have the Oscars, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Golden Globes, etc, but writers? we have literally HUNDREDS of contests. And you have to pay an entry fee to enter almost all of them. I'm speaking mainly to romance, as that's my genre, so those of you in other areas may not know these names. But I'm thinking that a lot of the same applies throughout the publishing industry.

To start with there are the RITA's. Big splashy award given every year to romance novels at the RWA National Conference. They claim to be the best of the best, honoring the very cream of that year's romantic fiction. My problem with this? You don't even get considered if you don't shell out the 40 or so bucks for each and every book you enter. AND you have to hand over 3-5 copies of the finished book. With a 15 dollar trade paperback, that's a lot of cash. Not the publisher, either. The author. This is a nice way of limiting the number of small-press entries. You know how everyone loves it when a little indie film beats out the big boys at the Oscars? Don't see that a lot in romance. There also is NOT a category for erotic romance, though inspirational gets its own. But I wasn't even planning to get into that debate. And yes, they only accept books available to the public in print. So no e-books.

The same goes for the innumerable chapter contests...all kinds of names familiar to most of us. Each requires several copies of the book and 25 to 50 bucks. There are a few authors of small press who can afford this. One of my publishers dotes on one particular author who has won or finaled in several. I suspect she is independently wealthy, and though the book is, in fact, excellent, it is far from the only excellent book at that house. But because she is able to enter so many contests, she is able to win, while other books, perhaps just as wonderful, are utterly ignored.

Partially for this reason, I treasure my "finaling" in The Romance Studio's Cupid and Psyche award (CAPA). Curses was one of the top five erotic paranormal romances of 2007, in their reviewers' opinion. It didn't win, but the coolest thing about it was I didn't have to "enter." The nominees were pulled from all of their reviews throughout the year. So it was a surprise as well as a pat on the back. And yes, almost every review site now has annual awards, so it's become quite diluted, but it's still nice to be put in a category with Jory Strong and Charlotte Boyett-Compo. Kind of takes the sting out of losing. There are also those that require reader voting. Honestly? Those bug the crap out of me. I go nuts when everyone is on-line begging for votes every week. It seems getting the masses to go vote from every possible email address is far more important than the book itself, and that just stops holding any validity for me.

So that said, do I enter contests? Quite rarely. I did support my home RWA chapter by entering theirs--and found out afterward about the FIVE copy thing. Won't again, unless I have money to burn. I am entering the EPPIES: The Electronic Publishing Internet Connection's (EPIC) annual contest. There's still an entry fee, but at least I can submit the pdf and not have to fork over another sixty bucks for copies. I can't enter all of my books, but maybe one or two of my favorites. I also like to support this organization as I think it is really there for ebook authors. So I can tell myself the money is well spent.

What are your thoughts and takes on contests? Do they matter when you choose a book to read? Do you enter them? Judge them? Am I the only curmudgeon that has issues with the way this industry works them? Let us know!