Who should read your novel and give you feedback? I know there is a big contingent of writers out there who swear by writing group comments. I'm not so sure though. My experience with writing groups is that there is a group dynamic happening that is not about the writing, but more about the people in the group. So they're a great way to meet other kindred spirits questing for publication, but not such a good way to get valid feedback.
That said, I admit that only one person has made it through all 95,000 words of my tome -- a friend from my writing group. But she read it as a personal project, so it escaped a "group" critique.
Stephen King, in his excellent book "On Writing" says to write the first draft "with the door shut" and then let readers (he has his wife read his work) take a look. Its a fine line you walk as you sift through the comments and decide which ones you accept and which one you don't. At some point though, the time for revising is complete. I just wish I was at that point with this book!
Katy's comment to my previous post on NOT having friends and relatives as readers makes sense. I'm sure they wouldn't want to hurt my feelings by suggesting the book could be improved by making changes.
1 comment:
I have been writing with groups that employ the Amherst Writer's Group methods for more than a year now. Comments on pieces that are written in real time are limited to the positive. Sometimes things get damned with faint praise, but the method seems to work pretty well for me, in keeping the writing flow streaming and the writer's block away.
I heard Anna Quindlen talk this summer and she told the audience that she always has to rewrite the first fifty pages of her novels.
Never give up. Never surrender. (To quote Galaxy Quest) You should hear Dumas, a local author, talk about her contortions to get her book, Funny in Farsi, published. It's a regular stand up comedy act.
Post a Comment