How Your Writing Can Benefit From Travel

Traveling somewhere new can widen your perspective and spark new ideas, not just in your life but in your writing. Every place I visit is an opportunity for me to study different cultures, traditions, landscapes, and even weather. Each year (finances allowing) I find a writer's retreat or workshop that I feel compelled to attend. I do my best to take in everything I can while I'm on one of these trips. It isn't just about the classroom for me. I like to go out and see the area, listen to the people, feel the climate. I absorb it all and store it away in my mind for later use in writing.

There are a few breathtaking tropical places I've been over the years and they certainly hold a special place in my heart. However, a place doesn't have to be dynamic to be memorable and useful for your writing. A few years ago the Critique Sisters and I attended a writer's workshop in Tulsa Oklahoma. I can hear you all groaning and I know you're wondering, why the heck Tulsa?! Well because that's where the fantastic William Bernhardt holds his yearly classes. Believe me, I wasn't thrilled about the venue either. But I decided to learn what I could, not just from the workshop, but from Tulsa as well.

Oklahoma is somewhere I would never visit without good reason. I'm really glad I had one. There is a lot of great history in Oklahoma. Many of the streets of Tulsa are lined with beautiful brick mansions that harken back to an era when oil was plentiful there. The Kennedy Mansion B&B (no, not those Kennedy's) we stayed in was one such house. Everyone we met was exceedingly kind and while it was windy, the weather was actually pretty mild for us. This year we're planning on our own personal retreat on Maui and I couldn't be more excited. We've opened our arms to new sisters who will be joining us this year too, which is even more exciting!

No matter where you travel to, even if it's to a local B&B, take it all in because all of it can enrich your writing. Where have you been that's helped your writing in some way?

~Heather

Critique Group Questionaire

Choosing a critique group is not something you should do lightly. Everyone has a differently style and different needs. It's important that you choose a group that works well for you. It is only by trial and error that my critique sisters and I have found one another. It occurred to me that there should be an easier way. From that realization came the critique group questionnaire. These are things you need to know about your fellow critiquers so you may understand one another's needs and expectations better and can get more out of your sessions.

1) What type of critiques do you give?
    A. Honest, no holds barred
    B. Constructive criticism, pointing out both good and bad
    C. Praise only
2) What type of critique are you prepared to accept (be totally honest)?
    A. Honest, no holds barred
    B. Constructive criticism, pointing out both good and bad
    C. Praise only
3) Will you be bringing a completed first draft to the sessions or is it a work in progress?
4) Are you comfortable critiquing works in genres other than your own?
5) Are you comfortable receiving critiques from writers who write genres other than your own?
6) What would you most like help with from the group?
    A. Story structure, character development, flow, voice
    B. Grammar, basic sentence structure help, spelling
    C. All of the above
7) What types of books do you read on a recreational basis?
8) What books on the craft of writing have you read?
9) Do you/have you attended conferences, workshops, or writer's retreats?
10) How would you like to exchange material?
     A. email
     B. In person
     C. Through snail mail
11) How often are you prepared to critique and how much at a time?
12) How much of your work do you want critiqued?
      A. Entire novel
      B. Select chapters
      C. Select pages
13) Please suggest a plan for exchanging critiques.
This list should help you not only choose those you will work best with, but it should also help get you started with a critiquing plan. Best of luck creating and maintaining your critique groups!

The Key To A Good Critique Group

It isn't enough to find just any critique group. To really learn and grow as a writer you have to find the right critique group. Figuring out exactly what that is can sometimes be as difficult as finding it. A good critique group is well balanced, and I don't mean genre. You can belong to a group that all write different genres and it can be the perfect group. I know because I belong to such a group.

The balance is in the way everyone critiques. You don't want to belong to a group that sits around and only tells each other how wonderful their writing is unless all you need is affirmation and a pat on the back. It is nice to have that pat on the back now and then but there is little to nothing you'll learn from a group like that because chances are high that they aren't being honest.

Honesty is the key to a good critique group. However, that key should be handled carefully instead of wielded like a battle-ax. The members of the group should be able to affectively communicate what didn't work for them in your manuscript and why. However, this should be done with a bit of grace. We don't want a lovefest but we don't want a slaughter either. Balance makes the key work. The group should say what they liked and what they didn't. After a session you should feel like you'll be able to improve your work with their feedback. If not, then the group may not be right for you.

Be open minded, choose wisely, and have fun. Remember, you're there to learn and improve and hopefully help them do the same. Check out my good friend Lisa's post on When To Take Advice. Here at the Critique Sister's Corner we'll be sharing our methods with you as well as critiques on query letters, first lines, first paragraphs and all kinds of other things. Thank you for joining us. We look forward to sharing this journey with you.

~Heather

The Tunnel Vision Challenge

Where to begin? So many to choose from. Everything from story development to characterization to authenticity can be challenging to writers, and that's just skimming the top of the barrel. I'd have to say that, at the moment, my greatest challenge is within the realm of style.

It's not that I don't know what my style of writing is or that it doesn't come naturally. It's more that I let myself follow my mind's eye and ear and my heart, to the exclusion of paying attention to the proper writing conventions. For me, that translates into blocks of dialogue that are not broken up by action or internal monologue or environmental factors. And blocks of internal monologue, and blocks of exposition. When something is fascinating to me, I get tunnel vision.

This is not always easily fixable on rewrite, but it is fixable. The more I work at it, the easier it becomes. I have to admit, however, that at this point, I'm not catching all the times I make this mistake, not without help. A novel is a big, sprawling octopus of a narrative, and it's just plain hard to pin those powerful, squirmy, suction-cuppy arms down where they belong.

Perhaps the most important thing I'm learning from my challenges is how incredibly valuable a good critique group is. It's so invigorating to recognize problem areas and actually fix them! That's what happens with good critiquing and determination. With the help of my wonderful critique group, I'm thinking that my tunnel vision will someday be a thing of the past.

Linda