Lo, the high priest lit the candles, hung them over the cracked and yellow paper, and read from the laws, “Thou shall set the scene…”
Shame on me for comparing critique groups (CGs) to arcane gothic orders, but heaven help me, it’s just too much fun. I can justify the introduction to my posting though, because it’s also an old teacher’s trick of piquing curiosity and activating schema. And I’m supposed to hook my reader, silly.
Anyway, take any organization and they will more than likely have some revered document. This written record is what makes them organized. In the 2nd installment of this series, I mentioned that a CG whose members don’t typically cite some kind of book on the art of writing is one of which to steer clear. The good news is: I’ve never sat in on a CG that didn’t have at least one or two members that were well versed in some of the common publications on the craft. So in this posting, I’m going to play nice and point out how most feedback forums are doing the right thing and conspire to help you by using good how-to titles.
Previous books on writing mentioned were The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler and Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain. Here are a couple of more: Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card (bet you’ve heard of him!), Stein on Writing by Sol Stein (Even though he keeps saying ‘show don’t tell’ when it actually should be ‘show when you can, tell when you have to’), and Writing the Fiction Synopsis by Pam McCutcheon. The last listing is outstanding because it also sneakily shows you how to outline a novel. Oh, and believe me, if you’re kind of new at attacking novel writing, you’ll definitely need a course in drafting a synopsis.
Whereas there is no singular ‘parchment’ that a writer’s organization hails as the quintessential learning resource, when your CG gives you pointers, they need to sound like something you’ve read in a respected book that teaches writing. Here are some common techniques: an author should show the reader where the story is taking place within the first few paragraphs. Varying degrees of tension should persist throughout the pages. Dialogue between characters will be at least slightly opposable if not outright defiant.
The newcomer to writing must gobble up many books on the craft, apply what he’s learned in his current project, and take it to the CG to compare notes with his colleagues—a test per se to see if he’s getting the hang of all those. Good critiquers will acknowledge specific progress.
If, God forbid, you crash into some dark, dank chamber full of bloated writers who seem to be making their feedback up as they go along, run. Run for your life.
The ever opinionated E.C. Stacy
Shame on me for comparing critique groups (CGs) to arcane gothic orders, but heaven help me, it’s just too much fun. I can justify the introduction to my posting though, because it’s also an old teacher’s trick of piquing curiosity and activating schema. And I’m supposed to hook my reader, silly.
Anyway, take any organization and they will more than likely have some revered document. This written record is what makes them organized. In the 2nd installment of this series, I mentioned that a CG whose members don’t typically cite some kind of book on the art of writing is one of which to steer clear. The good news is: I’ve never sat in on a CG that didn’t have at least one or two members that were well versed in some of the common publications on the craft. So in this posting, I’m going to play nice and point out how most feedback forums are doing the right thing and conspire to help you by using good how-to titles.
Previous books on writing mentioned were The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler and Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain. Here are a couple of more: Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card (bet you’ve heard of him!), Stein on Writing by Sol Stein (Even though he keeps saying ‘show don’t tell’ when it actually should be ‘show when you can, tell when you have to’), and Writing the Fiction Synopsis by Pam McCutcheon. The last listing is outstanding because it also sneakily shows you how to outline a novel. Oh, and believe me, if you’re kind of new at attacking novel writing, you’ll definitely need a course in drafting a synopsis.
Whereas there is no singular ‘parchment’ that a writer’s organization hails as the quintessential learning resource, when your CG gives you pointers, they need to sound like something you’ve read in a respected book that teaches writing. Here are some common techniques: an author should show the reader where the story is taking place within the first few paragraphs. Varying degrees of tension should persist throughout the pages. Dialogue between characters will be at least slightly opposable if not outright defiant.
The newcomer to writing must gobble up many books on the craft, apply what he’s learned in his current project, and take it to the CG to compare notes with his colleagues—a test per se to see if he’s getting the hang of all those. Good critiquers will acknowledge specific progress.
If, God forbid, you crash into some dark, dank chamber full of bloated writers who seem to be making their feedback up as they go along, run. Run for your life.
The ever opinionated E.C. Stacy
