After-Critique Part II: What's Next?
An afterthought post by Ruth Logan Herne...
So maybe you played with our online critique party last week and we gave you advice about how to proceed, what we thought, what we liked, didn't like....
Or maybe your critique partner red-lined your work until it's unrecognizable in its current form.
Or it could be that your critique group said that while your writing is beautiful, ten pages of telling is really better than Melatonin to put you to sleep... (guilty, first book ever!!!)
And now you've had the allowed 24 hours of pouting, whining, thinking, grumping...
And you're back to work.
The first book I got revisions on, I panicked. I thought "Can they take the contract back? Are they firing me? IS IT OVER SO SOON???"
Which is hysterical newbie stuff because I write and revise all the time now and I don't blink an eye, nor do I lose any sleep over it. And my 50th book releases in 8 weeks and will go out to thousands of readers through the Harlequin Reader's Service in three weeks... which means I've revised a lot of work in nine years!
And you know why I don't panic, darlings?
Because the story always comes out better!!! Sometimes we're so entrenched in our own 'vision' that we fail to see where that outlook becomes monocular.
A MOST INCONVENIENT LOVE
My newest indie book and first long historical, edited by Beth Jamison, Jamison Editing
Fresh eyes help.
Fresh eyes in an editor's chair aren't just targeted toward the book's well-roundedness, but also toward sales. Trust them to understand who the customer is for that particular line of books and how to reach them. I have taken so much new knowledge away from every editor I've worked with, from Penguin/Random House (Waterbrook) bestselling award-winning series, Amazon's Waterfall (best-selling series) Love Inspired (bestsellers and award winners) Guideposts (crazy hot-selling mystery series "Mysteries of Martha's Vineyard" 2017-19) Harper Collins, Summerside Press, Jamison Editing (for my indie work) and several others who've helped shape stories.
Wishing Bridge Stories From Amazon's Waterfall press, Faith Black Ross, editor
So when you have people critique your work, take a little time. Step back. See what they're saying.
Sometimes something will jump right out at you and you'll have an aha! moment.
Sometimes you need to think things through and see how you would re-write to fix certain elements.
Her Secret Daughter, Love Inspired Books, Christy Award Finalist, Melissa Endlich, Editor
I re-write all the time.
I love it. Because my first draft and second draft (done together daily) are the "getting words on paper" drafts... but then that's where the creativity begins in my house. How to parse, and simplify and plant foreshadows and thoughts and I am STILL KICKING myself for what I see as a glaring mistake in a book because I forgot to go back and foreshadow something... and two hundred and fifty pages later, that little foreshadow would have supported the point I was making.
OOPS.
Don't be afraid of the rewriting process. We all face it, do it daily, and move on... It's part of the gig.
Wishing you all well!!!!
And hoping those tips pay off in making you a better, stronger, faster writer.
Citius. Altius. Fortius.
(I was a track-and-field and cross-country mom. And a soccer mom. And a tennis mom.)
Faster. Higher. Stronger.
Go for the gold and polish until your work shines.
You both deserve it.
Multi-published, award-winning and bestselling author Ruth Logan Herne loves God, her family and her country along with an odd assortment of animals who win and lose favor on a regular basis... kind of like kids do. She writes in the wee small hours of the morning so that no one bothers her and then has the rest of the day to eat bon bons and leaf through quaint ladies' magazines... or help run a pumpkin farm and her sprawling large family. She loves chatting with readers and writers. Email her at loganherne@gmail.com or friend her on facebook and stop by her website ruthloganherne.com. She'd love to swap stories with you!
So maybe you played with our online critique party last week and we gave you advice about how to proceed, what we thought, what we liked, didn't like....
Or maybe your critique partner red-lined your work until it's unrecognizable in its current form.
Or it could be that your critique group said that while your writing is beautiful, ten pages of telling is really better than Melatonin to put you to sleep... (guilty, first book ever!!!)
And now you've had the allowed 24 hours of pouting, whining, thinking, grumping...
And you're back to work.
The first book I got revisions on, I panicked. I thought "Can they take the contract back? Are they firing me? IS IT OVER SO SOON???"
Which is hysterical newbie stuff because I write and revise all the time now and I don't blink an eye, nor do I lose any sleep over it. And my 50th book releases in 8 weeks and will go out to thousands of readers through the Harlequin Reader's Service in three weeks... which means I've revised a lot of work in nine years!
And you know why I don't panic, darlings?
Because the story always comes out better!!! Sometimes we're so entrenched in our own 'vision' that we fail to see where that outlook becomes monocular.
A MOST INCONVENIENT LOVE
My newest indie book and first long historical, edited by Beth Jamison, Jamison Editing
Fresh eyes help.
Fresh eyes in an editor's chair aren't just targeted toward the book's well-roundedness, but also toward sales. Trust them to understand who the customer is for that particular line of books and how to reach them. I have taken so much new knowledge away from every editor I've worked with, from Penguin/Random House (Waterbrook) bestselling award-winning series, Amazon's Waterfall (best-selling series) Love Inspired (bestsellers and award winners) Guideposts (crazy hot-selling mystery series "Mysteries of Martha's Vineyard" 2017-19) Harper Collins, Summerside Press, Jamison Editing (for my indie work) and several others who've helped shape stories.
Wishing Bridge Stories From Amazon's Waterfall press, Faith Black Ross, editor So when you have people critique your work, take a little time. Step back. See what they're saying.
Sometimes something will jump right out at you and you'll have an aha! moment.
Sometimes you need to think things through and see how you would re-write to fix certain elements.
Her Secret Daughter, Love Inspired Books, Christy Award Finalist, Melissa Endlich, EditorI re-write all the time.
I love it. Because my first draft and second draft (done together daily) are the "getting words on paper" drafts... but then that's where the creativity begins in my house. How to parse, and simplify and plant foreshadows and thoughts and I am STILL KICKING myself for what I see as a glaring mistake in a book because I forgot to go back and foreshadow something... and two hundred and fifty pages later, that little foreshadow would have supported the point I was making.
OOPS.
Don't be afraid of the rewriting process. We all face it, do it daily, and move on... It's part of the gig.
Wishing you all well!!!!
And hoping those tips pay off in making you a better, stronger, faster writer.
Citius. Altius. Fortius.
(I was a track-and-field and cross-country mom. And a soccer mom. And a tennis mom.)
Faster. Higher. Stronger.
Go for the gold and polish until your work shines.
You both deserve it.
Multi-published, award-winning and bestselling author Ruth Logan Herne loves God, her family and her country along with an odd assortment of animals who win and lose favor on a regular basis... kind of like kids do. She writes in the wee small hours of the morning so that no one bothers her and then has the rest of the day to eat bon bons and leaf through quaint ladies' magazines... or help run a pumpkin farm and her sprawling large family. She loves chatting with readers and writers. Email her at loganherne@gmail.com or friend her on facebook and stop by her website ruthloganherne.com. She'd love to swap stories with you!
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