"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
~Eleanor Roosevelt
I work hard as a writer. I write everyday. Journals, articles for various publications, and on the books I’m readying for publication. I enjoy writing. I like the creativity of choosing the right words for something, or picking a great introduction for the authors I promote.I was lucky, I suppose, in that I’ve always been encouraged to explore my creative side for as far back as I can remember. I have oral storytellers in my family. There’s a tradition and a style with telling oral stories as opposed to writing the stories out. A different emphasis and description choices—part of it is in the sound of the words, the tone and voice inflections used, and the flow is a bit different. Certain words are used as a memory points.
As a kid, my siblings and I would entertain us with stories. Sometimes we’d do a round robin sort of thing where each would take over the story at a certain point and continue it. Some we wrote down some we didn’t. As I was the family chronicler guess who did most of the writing? We created elaborate ‘let’s pretend’ scenarios and then play them out either that day or over the course of a week or so. It was always fun.
In school, all my writing projects were partly creative in writing style. It didn’t matter if it was a science project if words were used I was creative—I could never just slap words on the paper. As you can imagine, History and English projects received the most attention from me. I had teachers encouraging me to pursue creative writing—especially English teachers. “Why aren’t you writing stories? You have a gift you should pursue it.” In second grade I won my first writing contest and over years won others with stories that were published in Weekly Readers and various other school sponsored things. While it was fun and I enjoyed it, I was also looking at other things I wanted to do or to be. Career choices were based on a certain amount of creativity, radio, newspaper, and promotion. The career choices got in the way of serious writing although I was always scribbling something—poems, family history; you should see some of my journals. I’d see something interesting and create a snippet of a story around it, or rewrite the romances of those in my family that were unfortunate enough to breakup or divorce. I got into a bit of hot water over a few of them, I can tell you.
My sister and I discovered Harlequin romances. They were so simple yet were entertaining. We figured, well heck, we could write romances just as good as what we were reading. We did, too. Today we were visiting and talk turned to some of our attempts. I pulled out some of our earlier efforts and oh how we laughed. Some were just awful full of passive voice and lots of exposition. We picked out phrases and descriptions and laughed ourselves silly. There were a few that actually were promising and only needed some editing and critiques. We just never had anyone to show those stories to that could do that.
When I got serious about my writing, and wrote my first novel, I made a cazillion mistakes. I was such a newbie. What saved me was entering a contest and in the course of that contest, I came into contact with real creative writers. That was my real prize—feedback and serious critiques, that and learning terms. What the hell did they mean when writers and judges would say ‘good bones’ and ‘need to work on POV’? Keep in mind, I hadn’t taken any writing courses in at least ten years and fiction-writing styles had changed considerably in that time. I didn’t win the contest (which was a romance writing contest where you also received critiques from other writers and contestants) although I finished in the top 20% out of about 1200 entries. Not bad, considering the mistakes I made.
I like to receive honest critiques. If something isn’t working, I’d like to know that. I take my work seriously. I don’t hand my work to just anyone. I tend to pick those who know what they’re doing, whose opinion I value, and who write the same genre or similar genre. I like suggestions, questions, and I also love it when someone reads something that they really like or makes them laugh and they mention it. The contest taught me the need for a tough skin, which was reinforced by the first serious critique of my manuscript.The poor thing about bled to death with all the red lining. CPR was difficult but it survived and so did I. But you know what? She was right. She wasn’t harsh, but she was to the point and honest. She’s a published author and one for whom I have a great deal of respect.
I’ve always said if you want someone to tell you your writing is wonderful, hand it to your family or your mother. I call that blowing sunshine and butterflies. You want honesty then give it to a fellow writer you respect. And then listen to what they say. Give yourself think about it a bit—once you get over the shock.
When I critique, I’m never brutal or critique to hurt. I don’t believe in destructive critiques at all. There’s no point to them. Constructive critiques improve your writing or style. That’s what we want, suggestions or pointers on how to make the story stronger, make the characters more realistic, or how to plug those holes in our manuscript big enough to drive a Mack truck through.
I’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t and why, by doing critiques. Contest entries were quite an eye opener. Not just in just what I could see, but by reading the comments made by others which trained my eye both in what was being critiqued and how to look at my work with a more critical eye.
If someone is really bad…that’s a harder one. I’ve read a few that were really bad. Should they scrap it and start anew—oh, absolutely. I look for the good things that are working and I usually ask questions to see if they’re serious about writing or this piece or just playing at writing. I might say, this is a good idea but the way you’re presenting it hides the idea. Have you thought about…? I ask questions, why, what, where, and how.
I may have been writing all my life and won contests but that doesn’t make me a great writer. Critiques do that and the willingness to listen and learn. A willingness to sharpen your craft and be willing to put your manuscript on a strict diet to trim away the excess fat so you can see those great bones in your writing.
What has been your writing experience? How do you feel about critiques? What have you learned?
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Sia McKye has spent over twenty years in marketing and promotion. She's written and published various articles on writing, marketing, and promotion. She's a Marketing Rep by profession and also writes fiction.
Sia McKye has spent over twenty years in marketing and promotion. She's written and published various articles on writing, marketing, and promotion. She's a Marketing Rep by profession and also writes fiction.Sia is married to a spitzy Italian. She has a ranch out beyond the back 40 where she raises kids, dogs, horses, cats, and has been known to raise a bit of hell now and then. Aside from conducting various writing discussions and doing numerous guest blogging engagements, each week she promote and share authors’ stories, on the laughter, glitches, triumphs, and fun that writers and authors face in pursuit of their ambition to write—Over Coffee
