Summary: The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide: How to Give and Receive Feedback, Self-Edit, and Make Revisions

Becky Levine, Writer’s Digest Books, 2010, 293 pgs.


The book is divided into several sections. The first and last sections deal with questions that arise in looking for and/or being part of a critique group: start your own or join an existing group; in-person or online; frequency, structure or format, expectations and responsibilities of members of a critique group; etc. A relatively minor section towards the end sketches a plan for the writer to utilize critique comments in revising and/or rewriting his work. But the bulk of the reference deals with critiquing a writer’s submission; there are separate sections for critiquing fiction, non-fiction (magazine articles, non-fiction book proposals, how-to/self-help, memoir, travel writing), and children’s books. Each section, save the last, concludes with worksheets and examples that also serve as a summary or highlight of that particular section.

Regardless of genre, Levine starts off each chapter within the various critiquing sections with a call to the critiquer to pay attention to his feelings or impressions about what he’s reading; e.g., areas of boredom, lack of tension, disconnectedness, hero passivity, confusing dialogue, etc.: something that either frustrates, confuses, or bores you as a critiquer/reader. Such impressions are basically symptoms that generally signal weaknesses in the writing. After listing the possible feelings you might experience, Levine discusses probable root causes for such symptoms and suggests not only remedies, but ways to “soften the blow” and provide constructive criticism in a positive light. By way of illustration, Levine shows us actual excerpts that “get it right,” followed by a fictitious negative example of writing that falls flat, along with possible critique comments.

The critiquing fiction section seems to have the lion’s share of the book, as there are separate chapters on the different foci of critiquing fiction: critiquing for plot, character, point of view and voice, dialogue, description, and scene structure. The critiquing non-fiction section has a chapter on each of the types of non-fiction writing, and the section on critiquing children’s books has a chapter each on picture books, beginning readers, and chapter books. Irrespective of one’s particular genre interest(s), the reader would benefit from reading all sections rather than skipping the ones pertaining to other genres.

I think this book will prove helpful not only for the person interested in learning how to give a worthy critique, but also for anyone who wishes to improve his writing. Knowing in advance some of the common writing weaknesses can assist the writer in avoiding these pitfalls in the first place. I am looking forward to implementing some of the tips and suggestions I’ve gleaned from reading this book.

New Year 2011: Resolutions

Every year I make resolutions (which I prefer to think of as "setting goals"), with a track record of limited success. This year is no different: I have been thinking about what sort of things I'd like to accomplish this year, and have written them down in a rough draft. What's new (and hopefully improved) for this year is that insofar as possible, I am appending to each goal specific, actionable steps to help me achieve that goal; e.g., if one of my goals is to complete my writing projects, I have under that goal "Write a minimum of 1000 words a day."

For some, this might seem like a no-brainer, and, indeed, I have heard before the advice about being specific in setting goals. But the "a-ha" insight for me lies in not only being specific about the goals themselves, but in getting specific about the steps necessary to achieve those goals. It forces me to think more clearly about the goals - thus, the goals are more realistic, giving me a better chance at success.

NaNo 2009: Lessons Learned

Well, NaNo has come and gone. I didn't make it to 50K, but it was a worthwhile attempt for me even at ca. 17K. I managed to write a hefty (for me) chunk anyhow, one that gives me a good start on a potential novel, and I plan to keep on plugging away at it. If nothing else, it will give me the opportunity to improve my writing as I slog my way through the story.

Things I've realized as a result of this intensive (!) attempt at writing:

• Discipline: The key to reaching the goal is discipline. You can have the best plan on the books, but unless you have the discipline to carry it out, fuggedaboudit. In this particular case, that translates to writing daily and achieving your word count goal for that day.


• Don't worry about perfection: As I read on another author's website, the writer's "enemy" is not the badly written page, but rather the blank page. If you have something scribbled down on the page, at least that gives you something to work with. On the other hand, a clean, white sheet stares back at you, mocking you and defying you to sully it with letters and words. Before you know it, your mind is as blank as that page, and creativity is out the window. Just start writing. Get the big picture, and flesh out the details later.

So, these are the two lessons I need most to practice; hopefully by the time next November rolls around, they will have become second nature to me.

NaNo Update: Broke 10,000!

So, I am still behind - November is half over, which means that by rights I should be somewhere around 25,000 words. At least I'm not as behind as was earlier with my slow start. I need to close out this day with at least 12,500 words and then average 2500 words a day to meet the goal of 50,000 by the end of the month. Definitely doable, but I have to be diligent about writing each day, as this schedule leaves me no margin for error.

On the positive side: I'm definitely learning about forging ahead and writing stuff down without regard to how euphonious it sounds or how logical the plot elements are (or aren't, as the case may be). That stuff can always be fixed later; that's what rough drafts are for.

Here's to diligence and discipline in writing daily!

NaNo Update: Finally Finished Chapter 1

It's about time, too. I'm only about a week behind schedule - ha! Behind enough, but not impossibly so, if I can just manage to be more consistent in writing every day. It's now the 9th, which gives me 21 more days to reach the goal of 50,000 words. Since I'm now at a word count of 2502 (unofficial), that means that averaging a little over 2200 words a day will get me there (and getting 3000 words a day will push me quite comfortably over the finish line). Not at all impossible, so no need to concede defeat yet.

I must confess that I am amazed at the people who can crank out several thousand words a day. Some have already surpassed the 50K goal. As for me, I do happen to have a life outside of this NaNo lark, so I'm going to focus on consistency (think: "tortoise" rather than "hare") and enjoy myself.

Cure for Writer's Block?

I just discovered this page, and decided to give it a try. I set a goal of 200 words in 10 minutes; I managed 208 words in 6 minutes. Here is the fruit of my inaugural effort. (Ignore the misspellings and lower case - the idea behind the software is that it makes you focus on output. The spelling, etc. can always be cleaned up later.) It's a silly little story, but who cares? Enjoy!

once upon a time there was a little girl who never liked to eat broccoli. she hated it so much that she would scream every time her mother brought some home from the store. one day, her mother brought home some brocolli that was colored red instead of green. the little girl was so surprised that she accidently ate the red broccoli. to her surprise, the brocolli actually tasted pretty good. after that, she decided that she would make her own red broccoli. she did this by slathering ketchup all over the green broccoli that her mother cooked. the strange thing was that it tasted exactly like the red broccoli that her mother had brought home from the store. she didn't know it, but her mother had only pretended to have bought red brocolli from the store. what her mother actually did was take regular, run-of-the-mill brocolli and boil it in ketchup. that way, the broccoli turned red as it cooked and the flavor was changed so that it tasted more like ketchup than it did brocolli. From that day forward, the girl never hesitated to eat brocolli as long as it was boiled in ketchup.

the end.

NaNo Update: Behind Schedule :(

Well, my original plan was to average 2000 words a day - then I could be finished w/50,000 in 25 days, giving me a few slack days. Right now, however, I am up to the grand whopping total of 878 words. Less than impressive, I know, but the good news is that if I finish off today at 3000 words and do 3000 words every day for the next five days, I'll be back on track by the 9th. Not impossible, I think - if I write 100 words in 5 minutes (which I am assuming is a fairly reasonable timeframe, given that we are talking about organizing one's thoughts and then recording them, as opposed to merely copying the words of someone else), then that would translate to 2 1/2 hours per day.

One of my biggest mistakes has been waiting for the muse to strike, and looking for sizable chunks of time to sit down and write. Waiting for either one of those conditions to be fulfilled (not to mention waiting for both to happen simultaneously) will virtually guarantee that nothing (or precious little) will get written. So I am coming to the realization that any progress to speak of will have to be accomplished in dribs and drabs. That 2 1/2 hour chunk of time just ain't gonna happen - not for writing, at any rate.

So, here's to making use of what would otherwise be "down time" !

Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon!

That's the motto of NaNoWriMo, an annual (international!) event for would-be writers to try their hand at writing that book that they've always thought about writing but never got around to it. NaNoWriMo stands for "National Novel Writing Month," and participants are encouraged to write a 50,000 (or more) word novel within the month of November. Anyone who meets or exceeds that word count goal is a "winner." (There is a junior version for kids under the age of 13.)

This year I'll be giving it a shot for the first time, so we'll see how it goes. If I "win," that's great, but my chief aim is to learn to shut off the "internal editor" and focus more on creativity and the flow of output. Anyone interested in my NaNo novel and its progress can follow along here. Hopefully by December 1, I'll have a diamond in the rough that (when edited) will be the hottest thing since Harry Potter ;)

Feel free to drop a line of encouragement now and then during the month of November!

Speaking of the Revolutionary War...

...I just finished re-reading Johnny Tremain. I recall having read it when I was in the third grade (or thereabouts), but honestly the only part of the story that I actually remembered was the accident that resulted in his having to abandon his dreams of becoming a silversmith.

Favorite quote (p 283):

Robert Newman, suspected of having hung the lanterns in Christ's Church the night before, was thrown into jail, and John Pulling, merely suspected of having helped, was forced to hide in his grandmother's wine butt.

Now it turns out that in context, "butt" is nothing more than a large cask, or, alternatively, a unit of volume equal to two hogsheads (ha! more weird words: a hogshead is about 63 gallons).

But to contemporary ears, "wine butt" conjures up a whole different image ;)