I’m so thankful for friends like Beth Vogt and Edie Melson who took the time to answer my “newbie writer” questions on craft/critique partners.

Here’s the first question for this segment. Click the link if you want to watch it. Alena Blog segment 3.

(AAT) Now we’ve got this fast draft and we have a craft partner. We have an established relationship with a craft partner. When is a good time for someone to look at your work-in-progress?

(BKV) When I fast draft I usually like to set it aside for a couple of weeks. I’m usually worn out and it’s good to give distance for a couple of weeks. Then when I get together with my craft partner, I usually let them know what I’m looking for.

As far as I’m concerned there’s two ways to critique a book.

You can be looking for big picture edits. You just want to know; Is this scene working or are you feeling the emotions? Or you can be looking at fine-line edits, where you are really trying to polish a scene. You have to let your critique partner know what you are looking for. There have been times where I’ve gone into a critique group and said, “Your welcome to read this scene. I want you to know I’ve had a rough week, and I really don’t want feedback from you all.” I have been that honest with them, because I couldn’t even handle them telling me a word was misspelled. It was just that bad of a week. I think that in a really good critique group you can be that honest with them.  They’ve gone ahead and read it and said, “Loved every word of it Beth.” They just left me alone for that week.

(EM) I like to be able to brainstorm before I start a book and get things laid out. I generally have an idea and it sparks my creativity to do that. When I’m in a midst of a first draft, its not a time I want craft partners chiming in. I have to have a big picture of the whole book before I start listening to other people’s suggestion, even good suggestions. I need to get my arms around it first. I do what Beth does and let it sit for a couple of weeks before I go back in. Yes, there have been times where I’ve said. “Look guys, if you can’t say something nice don’t anything at all.

(AAT) Do you think you should have two partners, one person to help brainstorm your plot and someone to help with critiquing? What does your process look like?

(BKV) I’m and editor. Edie is an editor. Often when we think of critiquing, we are thinking of editing and were thinking of grammar, punctuation and spelling. Believe me that is an important part of polishing your manuscript. But quite honestly that is the final phase of editing your manuscript. It cannot be overlooked. If you are a lousy speller, find an editor. Make sure you hand that manuscript up. You can’t ignore that and say, “I’m a lousy speller.” You have to do everything you can to make your manuscript the best possible manuscript before you pitch it to an agent or turn it into a publisher.

There is more to a critique than grammar, punctuation and spelling. Like I said, it’s the final phase. There’s craft. One of the things Edie mentioned, it can be brainstorming. Walking in and saying, I’m stalled out on a scene. Help me figure this out or ask for some options on what can happen next. It could be, help me layer in the emotion, or I need a symbol for this scene. Just some of the things we talk about at My Book Therapy.

There are so many other things you can talk about with your craft partner besides spelling, punctuation and grammar. We have to remember that when we think about craft partners. When we talk about editing, what we are really talking about is helping one another as we re-write our manuscript.

(EM) I agree completely. I think it’s so important to make sure we are with a group or partner who comes from the same viewpoint. It would not do for me to find a fiction critique/craft partner who doesn’t understand the My Book Therapy lingo because that’s the way I put together a book. If I have to explain what I’m trying to say or try and define words, it wastes time. There are a lot of different ways to put together a book out there.  There is a lot of different verbiage to make a book come together well. I think it’s so important to pick your favorite language and find a group that speaks that language.

What makes your editing process goes smoothly?