Beta Readers Can Strengthen Your Novel

Finishing a novel is like giving birth.

It's messy, painful, and something you can't put back once it's done. That bad boy is out there, waiting in all its afterbirth glory to be read by the masses!

However, giving birth doesn't have to be messy or painful--at least, giving birth to a novel doesn't! After all, they say that if you've done it once, you know what to expect the second time around, right? You've learned so much from Baby No.1!

When you're an indie author, you have to really pay attention to feedback and figure out how to refine your processes for the next book. One of my favorite little tricks is to employ the help of Beta Readers!

Beta Readers are those special people who love to read. They often can be convinced to read an early draft of a work and provide you with feedback. Some authors hate sharing their early drafts with anyone, but I disagree. I think once you've gotten your manuscript up to the 3rd or 4th draft, it's time to let someone else take its temperature and see what's going on.

Here are a few reasons Beta Readers can strengthen your novel:

1. Another set of eyes. We all make mistakes and sometimes skip things that should be obvious. A misspelled word, a badly written sentence or gasp!--an unresolved plot point. I'd much rather have a Beta Reader catch that than some Amazon reviewer who is all set to tear me apart.

2. Too much back story! Don't you hate it when you send your work to an agent or small press and they say things like, This was good but there was too much back story. Back story can be the kiss of death on a novel. It slows down the pace and takes the reader out of the tale. Having an early reader make you aware of this can save a lot of time for you and future readers.

3. Different Point of View. Authors get so immersed in their work that they can only see things in one way. Sometimes just having another person point out a different idea or direction for a particular plot point can trigger a new stream of creativity and strengthen a story line.

Who should you ask to be a Beta Reader? As I mentioned earlier, choose people that love to read and read a lot in the genre you're writing. After all, that will be your target audience eventually. When I'm scouting for people, I usually send something out on Facebook or even Twitter telling people that I'm interested in a Beta Reader for whatever genre novel I'm working on. They should private message me if they are interested. Goodreads also has several forums where Beta Readers gather and you can post your genre and book info for them to peruse.

Be careful about only choosing family and friends as Beta Readers. Those are the people who make good cheerleaders, but also want to protect our feelings. It can be harder for the ones closest to us to be honest. Try to get people you don't know as well for an objective opinion.

Nothing Sucks Worse Than An Editing Scam!

It’s like a stab through the heart. Just when you thought it was safe to plunge into the publishing waters, your literary masterpiece—the great work you’ve slaved over for months—becomes shark bait. In a conscientious effort to produce a polished manuscript, you’ve become a victim of fraud. Editing fraud.

How did it happen? The scenario usually goes something like this:

You revise and proof your book until your eyes glaze over. Your first readers—friends and relatives—hardly unbiased, praise it. But deep inside is a small niggling of doubt. Something doesn’t feel right, but you can’t quite put a finger on it. You need a professional opinion. To avoid submitting “sloppy copy” to an agent or publisher—or embarrassing yourself with a self-published blooper—you take the next step: Hiring a private editor who will help polish and perfect your work. You Google “private” or “independent” editors. Hundreds of names pop up. You narrow your search to the classifieds of writing magazines. Not so many. You shotgun emails to a bunch who advertise cheap rates and promise—no, guarantee—your publishing success. Responses pour in. You jump at the cheapest with the quickest turn-around. Because, after all, how hard can it be to give your 400-page magnum opus a quick read-through, fix your typos, and offer a few tweaks? Many weeks later, after much delay, unhelpful suggestions, and a significant outlay of cash, the process stalls. Your emails go unanswered. Like a thief in the night, the so-called editor has cashed in and slithered away. You’re worse off than when you started. And you’re kicking yourself for being the world’s biggest doofus.

Like any business, publishing has its share of scammers. How can you protect yourself?

1.     If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. It’s been said a million times but suckers still fall for perceived bargains. Editors advertising “Cheap rates!” or “Quick turnaround!” or “Publication Guaranteed!” are yanking your chain.

2.     Don’t fall for ego stroking. Beware of editors who flatter you with outrageous praise, comparing your book and style to best-selling authors. We all love to hear compliments about our work, but smooth talk and sucking up are only tactics to lure you in and take your cash.

3.     Talk about the work first. A legitimate editor is more interested in what your book is about, the intended audience, word count, and your skill level. Before taking you on, an editor should ask to see a sample of your writing, or a synopsis and a few chapters. No professional editor wants to waste time and energy working with amateur writers who lack basic grammar, punctuation, and sentence construction skills. No matter how much money is involved.

4.     You get what you pay for. The going rate for a professional private editor is currently about $40 – 50 per hour. (Copy editors generally charge per page.) After reviewing the details of your project, the editor will give you a rough estimate of the amount of time involved. You might be required to upfront some cash as a “retainer,” as you would when hiring an attorney. Some editors work with clients on a pay-as-you go plan, with installments payable at intervals. You should be allowed to terminate the working relationship at any time. This assures that you will never exceed your budget.

5.     Check out references and edited books. Ask the editor to provide links to edited book samples. Or ask for a satisfied client’s contact info in order to verify and discuss their editing experience.

Not all private editors are out to take advantage of you. But how do you find the good guys? Your best bet is through a professional writing organization like the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (www.scbwi.org) which publishes a Freelance Editors directory. LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) also categorizes freelance editors and posts their endorsements. Check out names on Preditors and Editors (www.pred-ed.com) for fraud activity and general bad-mouthing. And you can’t beat writing listserv groups for word of mouth contact info.

Before you entrust your masterpiece to a stranger, do your homework. Use reliable sources, name check, and ask for references. Stop the sharks from taking a chomp out of your wallet.   

Jacqueline Horsfall is the author of over 20 books, a college-level writing instructor, and a 15-year freelance editor (not of the shark variety). Visit her booklist at http://amazon.com/author/jacquelinehorsfallbooks

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Relax Into Your Writing--then Raise the Bar by Katharine Thorpe

“I think I can write a nice sentence, and a nice paragraph, and a nice chapter, etc. [but] I am also afflicted with perfectionism. […] I become aware that a sentence or chapter is not rolling along as well as ever it possibly could, and that awareness sort of rears up and blocks out everything else.”

            --Laini Taylor, YA novelist

“I dictate my first draft into a tape recorder. Then I transcribe it and edit the copy. When I’m dictating, I do it as if I’m speaking to a very bright college student. I envy people who write easily. I enjoy the process, but it’s not easeful for me.”  

            --Charles Krauthammer, nationally syndicated news columnist

“I'm always pretending that I'm sitting across from somebody. I'm telling them a story, and I don't want them to get up until it's finished.”

            --James Patterson, novelist

“Write in your own voice. Write as if you're talking to your sister. Unless you don't get along with your sister. Or don't have a sister.”

            --Ree Drummond, blogger, cookbook author, and children's book author

What happens when you sit down to write?

I'm not a very accomplished writer, but I've done a good bit of writing, reading about writing, and editing both my own and other people's writing-- and through all of it, I've come to one conclusion. Most writers fall into one of two categories: a), the ones who sit down and let their imaginations take flight, and b) the ones who sit down and struggle to produce what they think others expect from them.

Both of these techniques have benefits. The freewheeling, “imaginative” writer is usually more in touch with the subject of the piece and how to describe it, while the cautious, careful writer is usually more adept at meticulous revision.

Of course, both attitudes also have their pitfalls. The careful self-editor may have difficulty actually communicating, because of his desire to “get it right.” The imaginative writer can get so caught up in the moment that she loses the logical flow of the piece, overwrites, or fails to clear away errors in grammar, spelling, and style, leaving her reader confused.

Having observed this dichotomy, I now believe that best writing practice-- in fact maybe the only writing process that will reliably produce good work from nearly anyone-- is to pit these two writing methods against each other in order to augment their strengths and counteract their weaknesses.

Of course, there are as many ways to write as there are writers; I'm not talking about things like paper vs. digital, night vs. morning, spare time vs. full time, coffee shop vs. home office-- as important as these things are. What I am advocating is a two-pronged approach to getting your material down, whether on paper or in a cloud, and to refining its presentation.

I believe that regardless of the type of piece you're writing, when you first sit down to write your rough draft, you should do your utmost to give yourself freedom. You may have already done some freewriting or brainstorming, and that's great. But don't lose that easy, open attitude just yet. As you move into your first draft, keep the technical and stylistic demands of the project at bay a little while longer. Write, or as Charles Krauthammer does, dictate, freely-- as if you were talking to someone familiar.

This may take time and patience, especially if you're prone to editing every sentence as soon as it's written. And it's probably best, if you're doing a large project, to take small editing breaks, perhaps after each chapter. But the overall idea remains: let the draft come first, and then the revisions.

Once the first draft is done, it's time to step out of your mind. Some of you are liking this step because you feel like you're already there. But I mean it seriously--try to look at your writing through someone else's eyes. Note the places where you've taken the reader's knowledge for granted, failing to fully explain something. Look for the pesky grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes that trip the reader up. Ask someone else to read the piece and tell you the places where they lost track of your meaning.

For especially imaginative writers, this may be intensely challenging. Once the impetus of creativity is exhausted, slogging through the revision becomes a dreaded task to be hurried through or avoided. But don't let yourself down. If you went through the trouble of dreaming up the piece and tussling with its unruliness as you transcribed it, then put yourself through the trouble of sanding it down and polishing it up.

Above all, be ruthless. Be so ruthless that you can cut out your very favorite paragraphs if they don't add to the overall piece. Be so ruthless that you would rather start over than keep going on a piece that can't be edited out of its poor quality. Be so ruthless that, when it comes to your professional work, you won't accept less than your best work.

I wish I was more this way, but I loathe editing after the first couple of drafts. This has led me to the embarrassing position of having transform a blog that is equal parts portfolio and journal, and liberally sprinkled with errors, into a more coherent site that has been fully edited and corrected, even as I call myself a writer and write for other publications. Still, it will be worth it in the end, when my freely written pieces have been built up into freely readable pieces.

All in all, it's not a complicated process or an original idea: write freely, edit mercilessly. But it works; it really does. And you can't ask more of a “writing technique” than that.


You can learn more about Katharine Thorpe at her website  katharinethorpe.wordpress.com or check out her poetry book Distil.

Indie Writers: 10 Steps to Proofing your Proof!

As someone who has put out the occasional indie book, I think one of the most important steps is proofing that final copy. I know how it feels to be holding your book in your hands--at last! Your name stares up at you in big bold letters, and it feels like all the hard work you've put into creating this baby is finally going to pay off.

But let's not be too hasty. You still need to check that proof over with a fine tooth comb. Nothing is worse than publishing your baby and having people slobber all over it with comments about typos and weird fonts.

So what should you look for?

Everything!

But if that seems overwhelming try these tips to help:

1. Reread the whole thing and have a highlighter handy. When you spot mistakes, highlight them. It makes it much easier when you're going back through to catch that bright bold color than using a black pen or pencil.

2. Check your chapter title placement. Does every chapter start with the same spacing? It should. That makes it look more professional and uniform.

3. Do you have weird spacing in the book? For example, is there too much white space between a sentence? Is your print too small or too big? Is it the same through out the book?

4. Use italics the same way in the whole book. If one person is thinking and you've italicized their thoughts, it should be that way through out for every character. Once you've established to the reader how you are showing thoughts, don't break the pattern by doing something different that will cause confusion.

5. If you italicize building names, books, movies, do it for every building name, book, or movie in the book. Again, this makes your book look more professional and provides continuity.

6. Be sure to include your name in the header of the manuscript. On the opposite page should be the book title. However, you can swap those two. Depending on what type of book you are publishing, it's also acceptable to put the subtitle on the opposite header instead of the author's name.

7. Make sure any art you use is yours or that you've paid the royalty on them. The last thing you want is a mad artist sending you hate email!

8. Double check your synopsis on the back of the book. This is what many readers look at first and nothing tells them more about the quality of your writing than misspelled words. Look it over with a fine tooth comb!

9. Have a trusted friend look at the proof. Even though you are seeing your novel in a new format, it never hurts to have one more pair of eyes looking it over. You'd be surprised at the things people catch that you've missed completely.

10. Enjoy your success at being an indie author. It takes a lot of hard work to get there!

Anthology Writing: It's all about teamwork!

Putting together an anthology with a group of writers is not easy. When you write a novel, it's all on you. When you put together a collection of stories, you have to rely on others. Deadlines, editing--all of that is crucial to getting your work in a coherent form everyone can agree on. If you are considering undertaking this kind of project, here are a few tips to keep in mind.

1. Figure out your theme. This is tricky if you have writers who write in different genres. Come up with a common them and work with that. Otherwise, your stories may feel a little out of whack, something that can turn off a potential reader.

2. Have a word count goal and assign the number of stories each writer will undertake. The count and number of stories may grow or diminish depending on the project, but at least have a starting point.

3. Set deadlines. This is probably one of the more crucial pieces of advice! Deadlines help keep people motivated and provide an end goal. Of course, we're talking about writers. Sometimes life happens, and you have to change deadlines. Be flexible, but do your best to stick to them.

4. Read each other's work. This is a great time to make sure every story fits within the theme and to give constructive criticism. Once all stories have been critiqued, allow for revision time.

5. Hire an editor.  I think this is the most important part of putting together an anthology. Good editing makes your work look polished and professional. An editor will catch all the technical stuff that's been overlooked and can guide you on the order of the stories.

Mary Ann Loesch is the moderator for All Things Writing. She has published several fiction novels, including Nephilim and Bayou Myth. An active blogger and ghostwriter for hire, Mary Ann also works as an elementary theatre arts teacher. Learn more about her at MARY ANN LOESCH.

Tired Of Printing Out That Manuscript???

I'm a writer. That means I write. But there are a lot of other things that go into writing a novel. Sure, there are the long hours of typing it all in, but there is up-front work that comes before the writing, and back-end stuff that follows the writing. I tend to do most of this on my MacBook Pro making changes as I go.

One of the things I've found the most difficult, however, for reasons I don't fully understand, is reading my own novel cover-to-cover without fiddling with it. There are plenty of reasons that this is important. For one thing, doing all that editing tends to take your mind off the flow. Instead of reading it as a reader would, your mind is stopping and starting all the time, switching gears between editor, typist, and reader. It isn't how readers are going to ingest your stuff, at least you hope it isn't, and unless you read cover-to-cover you're never going to know if your product is really ready.

It is also important to get your work in a format close to what it will be in the product stage. When consumers read a book they turn pages, the size of the page is different than a manuscript page, and they aren't scrolling. All these things subtly change the way a story enters your head. There is even the fact that reading on a computer is a "lean forward" activity and reading a book is a "lean back"activity. After a lifetime of leaning forward to study, and leaning back for leisure activities, our body position cues our mind up for either work or play. For enjoying a novel, you want to press PLAY.

And then there is printing the darn thing out. It is expensive and time consuming. I must have printed out my first novel twenty times. I had stacks and stacks of paper and empty toner cartridges all over the place. And carrying around a loose-leaf manuscript is anything but convenient. Plus, when you're done it all has to be thrown away. But writers like to know their work isn't going to fall into the wrong hands. Do I shred it? Burn it? Wallpaper my house with it? It's just an inconvenient mess that does nothing positive for the environment.

I decided to try something new with my current work in progress. The title of this novel is Viridis and I feel it is my best work yet. It is a classic boy meets girl story except this one happens in a dystopian universe that is unlike any you've ever read. It twists and turns all the way to the end. I'm in the end game now but hated to print it out because of the expense and the waste. Maybe it is because the story is set in an ultra-radical eco-Utopia?

Having become adept at building eBooks, I decided to turn it into a quick .mobi file and use my Kindle for the job. That way I get actual static pages that 'turn', I get to lean back, and I am unable to do any real editing so I can just read. The Kindle does allow me to highlight words and make simple notes, so I can flag typos and inconsistencies, but that's much different than more traditional editing - which is impossible in this format.

I am happy to report that it worked beautifully. Very, very pleased with the results. Not only was I able to enjoy the story a lot more (and was happy that I did) I caught and captured those typos without cutting down any more trees. If anyone is interested I would be happy to follow up in a later blog post with my recipe for creating a quick and dirty .mobi or .epub. It takes less time than printing it out, produces no waste, and is highly portable. You don't even need a pen. Plus, it is totally secure and if you own a reader, costs nothing. While generating publication quality ePubs takes a bit more time and training, if you can write a novel, you can definitely do this and you'll be glad you did.

Until next time,

John C. Brewer

John C. Brewer is the author of Multiplayer an MMOG YA SF novel, and The Silla Project, a North Korean nuclear romance. You can learn more about him and what he is doing at his website, JohnCBrewer.com

Six More Steps to Improve Your First Draft

 A few weeks back I posted a piece called Writing in Layers: Six Steps to Improve Your First Draft.  Often, writers are filled with self doubt when they review their work in its early stages. Don't let negative mind chatter get you down! Keep working. Here are six more steps to try as you work towards creating a powerful second draft.

1. Look at you scene and ask yourself what typically happens in a scene like this? What do we expect to have happen? Then...do the opposite and keep us on our toes!

2. If you are writing a specific genre such a romance, put yourself aside and think about the reader. Who are they? What do you think they would want to see happen in this scene? Romance readers expect specific things in their novels. Once you've figured out what the reader wants for this genre, give it to them or cut the scene.

3. Do you have humor in your story? Every now and then your reader needs a high note, a moment to relax from the situation. Give them something to laugh at or relate to while you're preparing them for the next dramatic scene.

4. Let's look a those scenes again. Are they the kind of thing you'd jump on Twitter or Facebook and tell you friends to read? Do they make you excited? If not, revise or cut them.

5. What is something you might never expect from your character? Reveal that. You'd be surprised at how much depth it can add to this person. Just make sure it's relevant to your story and makes sense.

6. Give your character a catchphrase or mannerism. What is something they do at least three times in the story? Is their a specific phrase they rely on? This is a technique that can be really helpful when building a character, but be careful about over doing it. No one can flush beet red a million times in a book without coming off as silly.

Hope these tips help and allow your first draft to grow!

Hire an Editor!

As many of you know, I like to review books. I'm willing to read almost any genre and this is one of the reasons I enjoy being a tour host for Innovative Online Book Tours.

I also enjoy supporting Indie authors. This is a tough time in the world of publishing. Getting an agent, getting your book published by a major house--these things are hard to come by. But there are so many talented authors out there! It's good to see them rise up and do well as Indie authors.

However....

A message to all authors who choose to pursue their dream of being a published author and self publish their work: hire an editor.

Suck it up and pay the money to have someone who knows what they're doing look over your manuscript. Nothing is more annoying than seeing beginning writing mistakes in a book you've paid for. It's one thing to have a crappy story line, but a whole other thing to have sloppy writing, too. While both can be fixed, the easiest to work on is the basics.

Cut the word "that."
Don't argue with me. Just do it.

Stick with "she said" versus "she said loudly."
Let your dialogue explain how loud it is. Make your reader work their imagination a little bit.

Watch out for things like, "he stood up." Drop the up. The only way you can stand is up so it's implied.

I guarantee if you start with those three things, you'll clean up a lot of things and make your writing tight.

Then hire an editor. An editor's job is to catch the pesky mistakes like the ones I just mentioned and to make sure your story is going in a believable, solid direction. The story shouldn't wander around like the muddy back roads of the Texas Hill Country, nor should your characters switch emotions every two paragraphs.

Indie authors get a bad name when they don't take care of the basics.

National Novel Writing Month

It's that time of year again! Time to write that 50, 000 word novel that's always been in your head. Welcome to National Novel Writing Month!

Many of you are probably already familiar with NaNoWriMo. For you newbies, you basically sit down and write down a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. You don't edit. You don't plan. You just do it.

I've participated in this event several times and always benefited from it. I'm at a point where 50,000 words doesn't even seem like such a huge milestone anymore. Heck, I think I write that every month anyway in one way or another.

What I like about Nano is that you hit the ground running. You don't need to worry about spelling or grammar, or  for that matter, plot. Writing whatever comes into your head about a story is very freeing and a good way to challenge yourself if you are a micro-manager.

At the end of it all, you have a little manuscript that may or may not be a diamond. Sometimes it's just a lump of coal that really stinks. But hey, it's a start!

Even though this post is going up on Nov. 2, it's not too late to start! Go to the link below and check out all that National Novel Writing Month has to offer!

National Novel Writing Month

Hosting an Online Book Tour--Welcome Innovative Online Book Tours

Last week I blogged about how successful my virtual book tour was for Nephilim. As fate would have it, All Things Writing is now going to be a host for Innovative Online Book Tours. What this means for our faithful readers is that in addition to the crazy ramblings of Kaye George, Steve Metze, and myself, you will also be getting access to new author interviews, book reviews, and guest bloggers who represent a wide variety of genres. Also, for the next day or two, you can follow the Blog hop going on and check out lots of other great blogs. Just click on the link to the right of this page.

 Yep, they sure have a pretty banner don't they? But just who is IO Book Tours? What can they offer an eager author who wants to promote but can't afford a publicist? Here's the direct quote from their website:

Are you an Indy writer, a newer author or and established author just looking for a new way to market your book? Maybe you are self published? Or you desire to participate more actively in promoting your work? Enjoy the excitement of readers experiencing your book for the first time while we do the promotion piece for you.

Why Innovative? We bring our deep enjoyment of books and a passion for the written word to promotion. We appreciate that this world is a melting pot of diverse people with a variety of interests in many genres and styles. We endeavor to accommodate both you and your readers in every way possible.

Innovative online blog tours offers you an easy friendly way to promote your book and meet your readers without traveling the country. Not only will we promote your book by getting reviews posted on assorted blogs but we also strongly encourage all of our blogging partners to post reviews on Goodreads, Amazon and B&N. Another unique tool we offer is a click-able Link to purchase your book at many of the main retailers including Amazon, B&N, and any other you may be utilizing. We offer a variety of packages for you to choose from and are excited partner with you in promoting your book.

Curious about their pricing and who else is hosting book tours for them? Click on their link to find out more information! INNOVATIVE ONLINE BOOK TOURS

5 Best Pieces of Editing Advice

As a writer, I find the editing process a royal pain in the you-know-what. My wish is to one day write perfect prose in the first draft. No need for spell check or the grammar tool in my Word doc. Just sheer perfection. Every word a gem.

Like that's ever gonna happen.

Actually, I've come to terms with this. After you've been rejected by superagents, editors, magazines, and ezines as many times as I have, you start to take away a few things from the experience. I've discovered a common thread in some rejections and have tried to use them to my advantage. Hopefully, this strengthens my writing. I have to admit I do find myself correcting things that in the past I might not have caught. Editing has become a bigger part of the writing process for me whether I like it or not.

Today, I received a request from an agent to look at a partial for my young adult novel, Bayou Myths. Two years ago, I would have been thrilled, excited, bouncing off the walls. I still feel that way, but I'm a little more contained about it. I know the pitfalls of being too wound up about this. Writing is incredibly subjective. We all know how easy it is for an agent to read a few pages and then pass on it altogether. Pessimistic or realistic--call me what you will. However, as I started to prep the partial request, I tried to remember the best writing advice I'd ever been given in the hopes I've applied it to my manuscript.

1. Economy of Words--less is more. Just say what you need to say. Hmm...sounds like a song or something.

2. Cut your ly words. You probably don't need them.

3. By page 100, the stakes should be clear. This advice came from a super agent, and I really try to abide by it.

4.  Its and It's--yeah, I finally figured this one out. I know, I know.

5. Leave out the back story or find a way to weave it in later. This gets your reader to ask questions, and hopefully stay with the book.

These are the things that really stick out for me.

What's the best piece of editing advice anyone's every given you?

Become a Better Writer Through Critique Groups

Today I want to talk about a subject that for some reason has become too complicated for writers to handle--the critique group. Everyone wants feedback on their work, but the idea of participating in a critique group has become too overwhelming. Among the excuses I hear are:

• I don't have the time
• I don't know anyone
• I don't know how to critique
• I wasn't happy with my last experience

I understand these issues, having participated in many failed critique circles before.Still, nothing beats having another set of eyes go over your work and its much cheaper than hiring an editor. So, if you don't have thousands of dollars to spend on a professional, critique groups are a great alternative and they can help you become a better writer if you find the right group and honestly assess their feedback.

There are several groups available on the Internet, but I suggest finding writers that you find writers that you connect with on a personal level first. Here are some general tips for starting or finding a critique group:

1. Be realistic about what kind of time you are willing to commit: Do you only want to swap shorts, or are you willing to share and read a full length novel.
2. Stick to your genre: I used to think that it wasn't a big deal working with others outside my genre until I realized how many conventions and standards are ignored or misunderstood because of a mis-communication between writers of different genres. It's just easier to work with someone who knows what works and doesn't work and who is aware of the trends and writers you are competing against.
3. Keep to groups of 3-5 people: Just swapping with one other person is enough to get the ball rolling, but 3-5 gives you many perspectives without a heavy time commitment. I find three to be the best for time reasons.
4. Use Review Tracker: Review tracker in Word is so easy to use and saves paper so you don't have to print and send full manuscripts. Plus, this way you can work with anyone anywhere in the world. 
5. Like begets like: Find critique groups that cater to writers of your same caliber. If you are a newbie, stick to a newbie group. If you have been published and studying the art, you may be frustrated working with a young or aspiring group of writers. Keep  that in mind when reviewing groups. 
6. Loosey goosey with a purpose: If you are starting a critique group or joining an existing one, you want to make sure there are some systems in place but you don't want something so rigid that its uncomfortable or difficult to work with.

  Now I want to talk about etiquette and methods when it comes to critiquing. This is so important. A critique groups should be a supportive environment for writers to learn and grow, not a bashing session. When you are critiquing someone else's work yo should:

1. Remember its THEIR work, not yours: You should not rewrite their work in your voice or style, or completely overhaul it to the way you would produce it. Each writer has a unique voice, perspective, and style that should be respected at all times. Do point out what works for you as a reader though. Knowing what works is just as important as knowing what one is doing wrong.
2. Use the "sandwich" approach: Present your comments as "compliment-constructive criticism-compliment." This softens the blow of the critique, because lets face it, we all hope we are perfect and its hard to hear when we are not.
3. Focus on the big picture: Unless you make a living as a copy-editor, its best to focus on big picture issues when assessing another's work. This means looking at such questions as character development, plot, setting, style, etc instead of nitpicking word choice or grammar.
4. Critique the work, not the person: It's about the document, not the person writing it so stay focused on the task at hand.
5. Practice tolerance for differing viewpoints: Not everyone shares the same views on religion, relationships, politics, philosophy, etc. Respect the other person's beliefs and the beliefs of their characters. You don't have to agree with their point of view, just be able to see it unfold visually. If it bothers you that much, find a different critique partner.

Receiving critiques can sometimes be hard, especially for a work yo have put a great deal of time into. To make the process as beneficial and pleasant as it can be, when receiving critiques:

1. Distance yourself: It's not a critique of you, its an honest opinion about the work in front of you.
2. Maintain veto power: You don't have to accept every suggestion or change made. It is ultimately your work and should reflect you and be something you are proud of. If you truly want to keep something, then keep it, but do consider their reasons for suggesting changes.
3. Recognize patterns: If more than one person says the same thing, take notice. If on every critique you hear that your characters are flat, you may have to accept that your characters are flat and strive to correct it. The point here is to improve as a writer.
4. Respect their opinion: Show the one who critiqued you the same respect you expect by acknowledging and thanking them for their time and feedback. 
5. Even Steven: This actually goes both ways. If someone takes the time to honestly and thoroughly look at your work, you'd better be willing and able to do the same in return. It's just as frustrating to receive little to no feedback as it is to receive too much, so don't send back one or two comments on fifty pages and think you've done your job when you're receiving more than that in return.

These are just some base guidelines. Becky Levine goes into greater detail on how to give and get critiques in her book The Writing and Critique Group Survival Guide. It really isn't that complicated, and even if you just create an arrangement with one writer, the rewards are so worth the time.

It Makes Sense

For the last two months I have been taking an awesome creative writing course through author Jeremy Shipp (he has another one starting--check it out here). During that time he had us do some great exercises and gave us feedback on many aspects of writing. Among the lectures and assignments, he focused on the importance of incorporating the senses into your work.

Just to recap. The five basic senses are:

1. Sight
2. Sound
3. Smell
4. Touch
5. Taste

You can also have a sixth sense, private thoughts, and other extrasensory perceptions, but the big five are the main way most people perceive their world. As such, you have to make sure they are in your work. You don't have to put all five in every paragraph, but you do need to sprinkle them throughout the entire piece if you want to create a vivid and believable story.

Jessica Morrell in her book Thanks, But This Isn't For Us, has a great tip for making sure you have incorporated enough sensory detail. She recommends printing off your manuscript, getting at least five different colored highlighters (one for each sense) and highlighting each sensory reference with the appropriate color. You'll be able to easily identify which senses are lacking and where to incorporate them.

It may not seem like much, but since I have been using this method I have been able to create richer more vibrant scenes. It makes SENSE to use all the SENSES (bad pun but I had to!)

Happy Writing!

Quid Pro Quid

I am unsure how many authors, new and old, are asked to edit another person's work. These requests may annoy or stress us to the point where we feel like rejecting communication with the person or people asking. For others, the request may flatter, but we reject it anyway because, as is true for many writers, we do not have the time to devote to editing someone else's writing. We are too busy on our own project.

In between starting a new congregation of my faith in my hometown, marriage, diapers, and my own writing endeavors, I took on the challenge of editing a friend's full length novel. He did not ask, I volunteered. During the self-editing of Islands of Loar: Sundered I realized that I did not have a perspective removed enough from the work to do justice to the process.

Those of you who have taken the time to edit another person's work know what happened. On top of helping out a friend in a very meaningful way, I gained the perspective I needed to properly edit my own book. Though the work took a couple of months, I now feel refreshed and ready to delve back into self-editing.

I am not suggesting you take up a full time editing job, though I am considering doing so myself on top of writing. I am suggesting that you do it at least once for someone you can be honest with. That honesty part is important because if you hold back from constructive criticism, you hurt them instead of help.

If you have never done so before, perhaps the next time someone asks for help editing their work you will consider it. It may shift your perspective enough to get over that block or through the morass of your own writing.

In helping others you may just help yourself.

Happy editing!