Critique Group Doesn’t Equal Group Beating

Kena here!  One thing my mom always spoke to us about as kids was the importance of respecting others.  It’s one of the first lessons we learn in daycare when the whole “sharing” and “no hitting” and “be nice to your neighbors” things come up.  It’s even taught to us when we’re older (Remember that good old rule that’s supposed to be golden?  Anyone?)  So why is it that when it comes to critique groups people feel the need to forget this basic concept?

Just because you’re “critiquing” doesn’t mean you have to be ugly about it.  Corporate America has a few tips for giving performance reviews that are useful here.  Before saying anything negative, try to start with what’s good about the piece.  As writers we all start somewhere and are at different levels of excellence, but despite this everyone has something good about their work – so emphasize that first.  It’s also important to carefully phrase your words when delivering a critique.  Said correctly, the right comment could really uplift members and give them good insight on where they’re getting off track.

In Writer’s Ink we’ve developed a few ground rules to keep everything honest and civil.  We don’t use red ink for one thing.  Sure, it stands out, but seeing their hard work all marked up in red doesn’t really do much for group members, other than make them want to jump out a window.  So we keep it simple in black, blue, and even occasionally a nice soft green.  We also make sure that when something doesn’t work for us, we explain why – if possible.  It’s better to be specific when critiquing so the writer can have a better sense of what isn’t working, why it isn’t working, and how s/he can fix it.

It’s all about being honest and polite, people!  Remember, what goes around, comes around.  And you want to treat others the way you expect to be treated.  You get what I mean.  Happy writing!!!

The end of the year visit-thon

Barbara here, thinking of how many times we writers are dragged from our writing caves and forced to travel during the end of the year, possibly to visit people we don’t even like. And how many of us leave our laptops or manuscripts at home because we just don’t think we’ll have the time?

Don’t leave them. Take them. Smuggle them in your suitcase wrapped in something else if you have to. Make up a reason if your spouse or traveling companion asks you why you’re taking a laptop to his family’s Thanksgiving extravaganza. Say it’s just to check your email. Barbara has been sick (and I’ll back you up here) and you just want to make sure I don’t die without blogging about it first.

You can sneak a little writing. In the morning before no one else is up. In the night when everyone else has gone to bed. When the turkey’s still cooking but you’ve finished with the yams and asked, “Anything else I can do?” and Aunt Bess has said, “No, I think that about covers it.” Run like hell for that manuscript! Fifteen minutes or so every now and again will be all you need to save your sanity and make sure you don’t get out of the groove.

Everybody

Sarah here. I’ve been thinking about our group, and how important our Tuesday night meeting is to me. When I was listening to Annie Lamott’s “Word by Word” she said, “Nobody wants this as much as you, and nobody will be as sorry as you if you don’t get it.”

The thing about writing is that it doesn’t look like much from the outside, and so “Everybody” might think you’re being antisocial, or lazy, or something when you go off to write. They might prefer that you clean the house, or get a real job, or answer the question they just asked you three times. Even the people who love and you and want you to be happy and successful aren’t that invested in your writing. If you suddenly took up Mexican Hat Dancing or Weevil Collecting or Intricate Sock Knitting, they’d be just as supportive and might even attend the recital where you dance around that Mexican Hat in your Estonian Lace Socks with a Weevil in your hand (ugh!). Sometimes at work or playgroup or church you might feel like “no one” else writes and “Everyone” wishes you would either give them a copy of your published book or get a life.

There’s a huge emotional payoff in going to a place where “Everyone” writes, and “Everyone” expects that you do, too. The act of writing may be a solitary endeavor, but living a writing life shouldn’t be. Can’t wait to see you all tonight!

Melting Pots and Critique Groups

Kena here!  I wanted to talk about how important diversity is to any successful writing and critique group. Now before the moans and groans start, hear me out. When talking about diversity within a critique group that can mean a lot more than the good ole’ fashioned race card. The basic idea is that you want your group to contain individuals with different experiences, so that many types of viewpoints can be represented.

In Writer’s Ink we have a good group of women with a variety of ages and races. We all majored in/studied different topics in school, and I’d go out on a limb and say that we each had an array of experiences growing up. And what’s even better is that we write a variety of things! We have horror, sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, and teen lit all stewed together in one amazing melting pot of a group.

So, why is this so important? Because we all see the world in a different way. There have been so many times when I’ve given pages to my group and they’ve gotten something from them that I’d have never imagined. Now, sometimes it’s thrilling when it happens (“Yeah, sure. I meant to make that amazing reference to a deeper theme with that passage.” *smiles sheepishly*), and other times it’s a bit scary. But even when your group seems to be on another page, one thing’s for certain – it’s all helpful! That’s what a good critique group is all about. They help you sculpt and mold your works of art into a finished, polished, and publishable product.

Eye of the Tiger

So I (Sarah) was watching “The Big Bang Theory” this week, and there was a moment that made me laugh out loud. Two physicists (one an astrophysicist, one a string theorist…whatever that is) were getting ready to roll up their sleeves and solve a problem of dark matter. The equation was on the board, our heroes were ready, “Eye of the Tiger” started to play and the montage started. They stared at the equation. From different angles. One sat on the desk. They stared at the equation. One took an aspirin. And I thought, “That’s exactly what writing looks like from the outside.” Thrilling music, intense concentration, very little visible activity.

So one reason (not the most important, just the one for today) to join a writing group is to surround yourself with people who know what writing feels like from the inside. Thrilling, scary, action-packed.

“Risin’ up, straight to the top. Have the guts, got the glory. Went the distance, now I’m not gonna stop.”

A Thin Line

First blog post ever for me (Erin), so forgive its essay-like quality.  Promise to work on that for next week!  I guess what I want to reflect on is a topic that has been well hashed as Google-ing it will prove.  Plagiarism.  I can’t tell you anything new or brilliant about how to avoid being plagiarized, but I can give you a few tips on how to keep it out of you own work.

When there is nothing “new under the sun,” it becomes harder and harder to be a unique voice rising above the din.  If it has all been done before, how do you differentiate between creative license and plagiarism?  In academia, the rules surrounding what constitutes plagiarism are so strict that common sense is no longer a safe way to judge.  In the world of fiction, plagiarism seems to be determined by whether the victim has the means or the motivation to do something about it.  My point is, the morality keeper for plagiarism in creative writing is the threat of being sued.  I think that’s why many writers fear putting there work out there.  Court is a lose lose situation and proving that something was ‘yours’ originally can be tricky.

Plagiarism can creep into many author’s creative works by accident.  Copy pasting material that you intend to go back to but overlook; taking just a line or phrase you liked; taking entire sections and rewording them, but keeping the same meaning and spirit; all of these things are technically plagiarism.  I know it sounds pretty self-explanatory but you’d be surprised how easy it is to trip up.  Here’s an example that is more blatant than accidental, but the pure hilarity of it craves mention.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/94543

Basically, the best things you can do for yourself is to copy source material into a separate document so it won’t be lost in a larger work.  If you’re using any source material, even if you’re not directly quoting, remember to sight.  Lastly, there is not way to avoid other works having similar ideas or themes, it is simply your duty as an author to expand and grow those ideas.

Man, this blogging thing is hard, maybe I should just copy the definition of Plagiarism from Wikipedia to fill space.  Let me know what you think.

Writer’s Ink is alive!

And blogging!

To me, Barbara, writer’s groups were always an important piece of the writing pie. The entire pie represents people who want to write. Cut off some, and you’re left with people who do write. More, and there are the people who finish. Still more, and those are the people who show their writing to other writers. I think a lot of people skip that step. They go straight from finish to submit, and I think that’s a bad idea.

No matter how skilled, every writer forgets to tie a character’s loose ends or cuts and pastes the same paragraph twice or something equally boneheaded. A writing group can not only spot those things, it can help you see things you never even thought about like if a plot twist is too convienent or too predictable, or if you have a thirty-six hour day hanging around in your manuscript, and you never even noticed. ^_^