Before you begin to submit your finished novel for publication, you should first have it critiqued. A neutral pair of eyes can do wonders for your manuscript and make positive suggestions that you had not even thought of. Getting your novel critiqued is taking it to the next level. After all, you want it in the best shape possible when submitting it to agents in today’s highly competitive market. If you are unable to afford sending it to a critiquing agency – and they can be pricey – then look no further than your own writers’ group.
Aside from supporting one another, one of the most important functions of a writers’ group is critiquing a fellow writer’s work. Who better to look at your book than a fellow writer? After all, if you were a dentist and needed a tooth pulled, you would not do it yourself.
Do not be put off by the fact that some of your fellow writers may write in different genres. Regardless of the genre, we all have to fine tune our plot, characters, story, setting and dialogue.
If you have offered to critique, I would suggest the following:
- Give them a time frame upfront as to how long it will take you to read their manuscript. You could start out small with the first chapter or the first three chapters and turn it around in 1 to 2 weeks. If you are reading a whole manuscript, give yourself 4 to 6 weeks, because life does get in the way. If there is going to be a delay, let them know as soon as possible as a courtesy.
- Ask them to send it to you as a Word Document. This way you can mark up the document as you read it without having to keep separate notes. In Word, go into tools and click on ‘Track Changes’ and a 2nd bar of icons will pop up at the top of the document and you’ll be able to highlight and insert comments in the document.
- Look for any typos, grammatical errors, omitted words, crutch words and misspellings.
- Do not be afraid to point out what does not work. This is the purpose of a critique – to tell us what is working and more specifically, what is not. If the writer does not want an honest critique, then he/she should have given it to his mother to read. Point out confusing scenes, characters acting out of character or crutch words that are distractions. Tell them if the descriptions are too long causing you to doze off. Are all the loose ends tied up? All of this can and should be framed in a positive way.
- Point out what does work. If something makes you laugh or cry, let them know something is working. A piece of beautiful prose? Let them know. Great dialogue? Let them know. A character that you can identify with and root for? Let them know.
With critiquing, the important thing is to remember is that you are trying to help a fellow writer improve their work. That means presenting in an honest, constructive way of what is working and what is not. The best critique scenario will provide a enjoyable learning experience for the writer being critiqued and the writer doing the critiquing.
Leave a Reply