Browsing All posts tagged under »critique«

The Five Stages of Critique: A Guide For Beta-Readers

November 4, 2016 by

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So the writer in your life asked you to read something and give them your opinion. It’s all going well until you mention something that didn’t quite work for you. There’s a faint frown. This is the writer entering the first stage of response to critique. The first stage is always defensive: Let me explain […]

If I Was the Whiskey…

September 24, 2013 by

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Yesterday one of my readers* came over and we worked through the notes they’d given me on Drink Me. I kind of love doing that in person because it gives me the opportunity to wave my arms and roll my eyes and stick my tongue out at them when I disagree. Which I think helps […]

A Matter of Definition

August 20, 2013 by

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So I finished the book last week, as promised.* And I’m now in that annoying, fuzzy in-between time where I wait for a new set of readers to tell me I’m brilliant/an idiot/hilarious/funny in the head/tragically misguided as to my ability to string sentences together. Arkem: I could… but I have a book to read. […]

Reassurance and Validation: These Are the Things That Publishers Are Made of?

August 13, 2013 by

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I spent four days last week at the SCBWI Summer Conference in LA (writers, agents and publishers, oh my). It’s a conference I always enjoy. In large part because it’s one of the only places I can stare at the twelve hundred people surrounding me and mutter, My people. (I mean, obviously, I could do […]

This is Why Critique is Important. Excellent For the Ego. No, Wait…

April 26, 2013 by

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I wasn’t going to work this week. I was going to do admin stuff, nap, make cookies… It was the Week of Letting My Beta Readers Do Their Thing. And then on Saturday — Me: I promised one of my beta readers a new chapter every time she emailed me with comments on the last. […]

Neil Gaiman’s Asides Are Better Than Most People’s Advice

April 15, 2013 by

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So… How’d the Manuscript Consultation Go?

August 14, 2012 by

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Oh. Well. Hm. Good? So Jen (the agent in question) thinks my writing is hilarious and darling (glee!), and in the sections on the advice form that are like ‘what to do next’ she wrote ‘send Jen more’ and put smiley faces and her email address, which… AWESOME. But. We talked about the book. As […]