Often the best part of a long-awaited event is the anticipation and excitement before the actual occasion. I’m so thrilled this wasn’t the case for our writing group weekend. We had an amazing time.
Our group has been together for almost five years. In that time one has moved to Australia because of work, and another down to Christchurch. They skype into our critique meetings, and if either are in town for any reason we rearrange or add meeting dates.
Like some others of the group, I hadn’t been to Christchurch since the big earthquakes, and I was interested to see what has happened since then. There were two things that struck me. One was the feeling of space. In the city centre a huge number of buildings were completely destroyed, or so badly damaged they were dangerous. Over time the rubble and buildings have been removed and while there is now building going on there are still many empty lots, hence the feeling of space.
Christchurch is flat, so it’s always been a little difficult to get your bearings, and when we first arrived in the city I wasn’t sure where I was until we came to Cathedral Square. Suddenly everything slotted into place, and I was utterly shocked at the change. Yes, I was expecting it as I’ve read a lot about the work and changes going on and friends had told me their reactions, but nothing quite prepares you for seeing something yourself.
The other aspect you notice is the ingenuity shown by people. We often glibly say that life has to go on, and it does. You need somewhere to live and if your business premises are destroyed you still need to earn money. Much of the city centre and shops were destroyed and in their place is the Container Mall. Amazing!
Really glad to see a bookshop.
After the city centre we visited Sumner and Lyttleton, both badly damaged in the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 on our way to Diamond Harbour.
The sightseeing was both sobering as well as fascinating, and we also had an opportunity to talk with each other and catch up on news. In addition the weather was wonderful, a beautifully clear and hot Canterbury day.
This was the amazingly creative view from the house at Diamond Harbour.
Over the weekend we spent time on writing exercises and critiquing our current works in progress. As this was a weekend jaunt, we decided that everyone would have a critique rather than taking it in turn with two or three per meeting.
Our format is to email our extract (usually around 20 pages) to the group one or two weeks prior to the meeting. This means we are able to have a longer piece of work critiqued, and everyone has time to read and note comments before the meeting. However, as we were all having a critique this time, we agreed to a maximum of 5,000 words, which is still about a chapter of a WIP.
The weekend was such a success; we've decided to make it an annual event!
If you are part of a good writing group, I'd certainly recommend this kind of weekend. Here are some of the reasons why:
- We were fresher for giving and receiving feedback as we hadn't just finished work and struggled through commuter traffic.
- We did some writing exercises rather than working on current stuff which gave us a different creative outlet.
- It was great to be able to talk about books, writing, publishing, marketing etc. without the other person's eyes glazing over within 30 seconds!
Next time we may decide to have it as more of a retreat with time for working on our own manuscripts, but whatever format it takes, I'm already looking forward to it.
As I mentioned in this post one of the things I love about holidays is the extra (not feeling guilty) time for reading. After Pride and Prejudice and Death Comes to Pemberley, I read Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris. I cheated on this one as I have read it before. I think my feelings about it were much the same as the first reading quite a few years ago. It has a slow, lush, intoxicating feel to it that was perfectly suited to a holiday. However, it does have flaws. The plot is slight and the speed with which Jay manages to renovate his house and garden is amazing, but part of the delight of the lovely prose is to suspend your disbelief.
Changing the mood totally I turned to a murder mystery Bleeding Hearts by Ian Rankin writing as Jack Harvey. The premise was interesting but ultimately I didn’t enjoy the book. I found there was too much information on the guns and ammunition being used. I imagine people who enjoy guns would appreciate the research Ian Rankin did before writing the book, but it it bored me. Ian Rankin has been on my To Be Read list for a long time, and when I first bought the book I hadn’t actually realised he was writing as someone else as the Jack Harvey name was much smaller. However, I’ve heard so many good things about his Inspector Rebus books I will certainly try one of those next time.
The last two books were both 500+ page books and I was glad to be reading them on my Kindle. The Last Dark by Stephen Donaldson was the final episode in Donaldson’s epic Thomas Covenant series. I loved the first two trilogies even though I wouldn’t call myself a fantasy fan. The initial books in this last segment were excellent but the final two books left me feeling that too many things were Deus ex machina. I was always going to read the final Thomas Covenant books but I didn’t feel they were Stephen Donaldson at his best.
The other book was The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling. I’d been interested in reading this book since it first came out simply to see what JK could write for adults, and because like a huge number of other people I’d read all the Harry Potter books.
As a writer and reader I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Initially I had thought the large cast of characters might make it difficult to keep track of them, but I found that each had their own distinct voice – not easy to do with that many characters. Another initial thought (as a writer) was that there was head hopping going on. Many of the chapters begin in third-person omniscient point of view before moving into a particular character's point of view, and sometimes after interacting with another character the point of view elegantly turns to the second character. No head-hopping just a neat handover.
I’ve read through a few of the Amazon reviews for this book – as of this moment in time there are 4,311 of them. I looked at a few of the four and five star reviews and then at some of the one and two star reviews. The interesting thing is that most of what people loved in the higher rated reviews are the things that people didn’t like in the one and two star reviews. I guess this shows that ‘you can’t please all the people all the time.’
As a writer I both love and hate reviews. It’s wonderful to read a great review or get an email from someone who loved your book, especially if they let you know what they liked about it. It’s obviously harder to read a harsh review, but not everyone is going to love everything we write. I often like an author’s work as a whole but there will be some books I like less than others. The brief reviews above show that. However, a well-written review from someone who hasn’t enjoyed a book can show what they didn’t like. That may well point to things that can be changed in future writing i.e. stereotype characters, unrealistic dialog, confusing plot etc.
What most writers (especially indie writers) want are reviews. Did you enjoy the book? Why? If not, why not? The review doesn’t have to be long, but it’s definitely best if it’s constructive rather than a rant, or working off bad temper.
Go on, give a writer a gift today, write a constructive review of a book you've recently finished.
Like many authors (or at least those I know), I own a lot of books on writing. They cover such things as how to write a novel and writing craft basics, to those on specific craft topics such as character development. I have tried many of the suggestions, discarded ones that didn't work for me, and learned a lot about the craft of writing. I won't get rid of any of these books, but there is nothing like getting advice and feedback on your own writing to help you improve.
This can come in several ways:
- A group who meet to give feedback on submitted writing
- Beta-readers
- Writing assessments/reports
- Competitions where a report or feedback may be part of the competition, or supplied for an additional payment.
If you've been reading this blog for a while, you will know I belong to a writing group and have blogged about them before. It's the second writing group I've been a part of, and both have helped my writing in many ways.
Beta-readers are people who will give you honest feedback, and who read a lot, preferably in your genre or area. The difference between beta-readers and a writing group is that the writing group sees your work in various stages, and in smaller chunks. Sometimes a problem only becomes visible when someone reads your book from beginning to end.
Writing assessments or reports are very useful as you remove the friendship element. The person writing the report isn't trying to spare your feelings or stroke your ego, though hopefully they will phrase the feedback in a constructive way. The report should acknowledge what is good about your writing, and point out the areas that need work. I'm a member of the New Zealand Society of Authors, and after finishing Driftwood I applied for one of the Manuscript Assessments available through the society each year. I was fortunate to have my manuscript assessed by a published author, and her feedback was invaluable in a further edit.
I enjoy writing short stories. There's something satisfying about creating a story in a shorter timeframe than a novel, and sometimes I write a short story for a specific competition. Over the years I've received a number of feedback reports through competitions. Sometimes there is an additional payment required, but I've also entered competitions which offer a sentence or two of feedback, written by the judge on the entry, included in the entry fee.
In whatever form it takes, feedback is essential for writers. We get caught up in our story and characters, and this makes it very difficult to be objective.
