Guest Post: CRITIQUE GROUPS by Jan Christensen

As promised, Jan Christensen is back today with another guest post. Jan considers critique groups and what makes up an ideal group. After you read her post today, make sure you go back and read her first guest piece, (SOME) OF MY WRITING SECRETS.

  

CRITIQUE GROUPS by Jan Christensen

Great critique groups can be wonderful. Bad ones can be painful. I've been in both kinds.

Good ones are perfect for short story writers because the critiquers see the whole story (usually) from beginning to end unlike a novel where they might think something isn’t needed, for example, but the author knows it will be important later. I’ve been in so many groups, I’ve lost count, and they all had their pluses and minuses. Here is my idea of an ideal group: 

• For me, the best ones are genre-specific.
• There are about eight members.
• Each submission is passed out at the meeting, or is sent via email in time for some good critiquing. If you send it the day before the meeting, some will not have time to critique it, so you've lost an opportunity for more input. Many groups have members bring in something and read it out loud. This is inefficient and less effective because:

v  The author doesn’t get any help with typos and grammar this way.

v  Usually, they only read five pages, where with printed material handed out at the last meeting, twenty or more pages can be critiqued.

v  It’s hard for the listeners to remember all the points they want to make when it’s their turn to critique, and they can’t go back and re-read anything to see if they have more comments.

v  And anyone who has trouble hearing will not do well with this type of group.

• At least four people submit, on average, every single time.
• It meets every other week.
• Submissions are only one chapter or a short story, unless either is extremely short.
• People mark on the page any typos, spelling errors, and grammar mistakes, but only talk about the story itself when critiquing.
• The person being critiqued doesn't talk during the critique but has time at the end for questions she needs to ask the group or a particular critiquer.
• The writer being critiqued does not spend twenty minutes explaining what they meant to say. Fix it, bring it again, if you want, but if it isn't on the page, we can't critique it.

There are distinctive styles of critiquing, and some are better than others. Listed are a few that can cause problems for the group:

• The timid. Usually a female, but I've seen men, particularly if it's their first group, act tentative. They think, suppose, guess and are afraid of hurting anyone's feelings. Lots of times they have at least one insightful comment about each manuscript. Encourage them to stick around, and eventually most of them will be great at it.
• The picky. They want to discuss every comma, point out every typo. Sometimes this is because they don't have much else to say. Again, they need encouraging. The person being critiqued should pounce on the one or two remarks about the story and tell them how happy they are it was brought up. This will give them confidence. Also, if they stick around long enough, they will probably begin to figure out how to do better.
• The long-winded. They have a lot to say. They often say one thing three different ways. Everyone else's eyes glaze over. Do a few timed sessions where everyone only gets to critique each story for ten minutes at the most. This will teach the long-winded to keep moving. They may fall back into their old ways, though, so you have to decide whether they're worth keeping around, or do some more timed sessions.
• The pontificator. This person only knows one subgenre and beats everyone else over the head about how things should be written. If a cozy writer, she cringes at "bad" language and violence. If a hardboiled writer, he insists that there's not enough tension or action. They cannot take into account the differences in genres and don't even try to read outside of their own. If too obnoxious, might have to ask him or her to leave the group.
• The blunt. Now, here's a problem. I like blunt. I want to know what someone really thinks when she critiques my stuff. And I don't mind if the style of delivery is not sweetened up with soft words. However, many writers are sensitive souls, and this type of critique will really hurt some feelings. Some members may even leave (I've seen it happen) because of Mr. or Ms. Blunt. Your group will have to decide if Blunt is so valuable that you want to keep him or her, or whether s/he's scaring too many people away, and you need more members. It might help to talk to this misguided soul, but probably not. It's a tough call.

Have the core group be sure to praise what they like about every submission, both at the beginning of their critique and at the end. Have time to socialize before and after a bit, and some refreshments available.

Did I miss anything?

Jan Chrstensen©2017

Jan Christensen lives in Corpus Christi, Texas, and has had nine novels and over seventy short stories published. www.janchristensen.com

SMFS Member Peter DiChellis and "Character Rebellion" on MotiveMeansOpportunity Blog

Peter  has a funny guest post titled "Character Rebellion" at the MotiveMeansOpportunity mystery writer blog. Topic: What happens when your characters won't cooperate with the story you want to write?

The characters in Peter's grave-robbing WIP decided robbing graves is too much hard work and issued a list of complaints! They charterers involved may have to be replaced.

https://motivemeansopportunity.wordpress.com/2016/08/30/character-rebellion

Guest Post: Judy Penz Sheluk on "The Fine Art of Procrastination"

In addition to writing short stories, SMFS member Judy Penz Sheluk writes novels. Like the rest of us, she procrastinates when she should be writing. Below are her top five ways of doing so.

Judy Penz Sheluk: The Fine Art of Procrastination

I’m going to let you in on a secret: I procrastinate, even when I have a deadline looming large—or perhaps because I do and suddenly it all begins to feel a bit overwhelming. Here are my top 5 ways to fritter away the time I should spend writing:

Pinterest: Don’t get me wrong, I love Pinterest. If I’m looking for a recipe, or how-to build a wood shed, Pinterest is the first place I look. I have 26 boards relating to movies, books, TV shows, running, golf—the list goes on—and because my profile is linked to my author website, occasionally Pinterest will bring me some traffic. But Pinterest can also be a place where I spend way too much time pinning pins instead of spinning a yarn.

Facebook: The original time suck! I used to have an author page only, so I could justify the time spent finding and scheduling posts. In February 2015, Facebook changed the rules and everyone with an author page had to have it linked to a personal page. Now I’m able to double the time I spend on Facebook…of course, on the plus side, I’ve made a lot of new friends!

Googling Under the Guise of Research: Research is as much a part of writing as the actual writing; some might even argue it’s more important. After all, one wrong fact and you’ve lost the trust of your reader. It’s when I start googling things like “was there a full moon on May 1, 1980, when my protagonist, Callie Barnstable was born?” That might be important to know if I was writing a vampire series. I’m not.

Who was that actor in that TV show I watched last night and why can’t I remember what he/she was in before?: The ultimate mind niggle that won’t let go. It happened to me recently, when I was marathon watching the excellent series, Friday Night Lights (I don’t know how I missed it originally). There’s an actor, Gaius Charles, who played Brian “Smash” Williams, and I’m thinking…where do I know him from? I’m running the shows I regularly watch in my mind, and saying, nope, nope, nope, when suddenly I remember: Grey’s Anatomy. He was Dr. Shane Ross. This of course, leads me to do another google. You never know when Gaius Charles trivia can come in handy.

Office Cleanup: Cleaning up my desk drawer, sorting my paperclips by color (because what self-respecting author would have those plain metal paperclips), tidying up my bookshelf, typing up labels for my file folders using a different font…

What’s not procrastination (even when sometimes it feels like it is)? Writing blog posts, like this one, to help promote my latest novel, SKELETONS IN THE ATTIC. So, without further ado, here’s the blurb. Now, before I get back to my work in progress, I just have to get back to sorting my paperclips.

Judy’s latest release is Skeletons in the Attic, the first book in the Marketville Mysteries:

What goes on behind closed doors doesn’t always stay there…

Calamity (Callie) Barnstable isn’t surprised to learn she’s the sole beneficiary of her late father’s estate, though she is shocked to discover she has inherited a house in the town of Marketville—a house she didn’t know existed. However, there are conditions attached to Callie’s inheritance: she must move to Marketville, live in the house, and solve her mother’s murder.

Callie’s not keen on dredging up a thirty-year-old mystery, but if she doesn’t do it, there’s a scheming psychic named Misty Rivers who is more than happy to expose the Barnstable family secrets. Determined to thwart Misty and fulfill her father’s wishes, Callie accepts the challenge. But is she ready to face the skeletons hidden in the attic?

Find Skeletons in the Attic:
 http://www.imajinbooks.com/skeletons-in-the-attic

SKELETONS IN THE ATTIC is now available for pre-order on Amazon Kindle for the special introductory price of .99 (reg. $4.99). Find it here :http://getbook.at/SkeletonsintheAttic

Judy Penz Sheluk ©2016

Judy Penz Sheluk’s debut mystery novel, The Hanged Man’s Noose, was published in July 2015. Skeletons in the Attic, the first book in her Marketville Mystery Series, was published in August 2016.

Judy’s short crime fiction appears in World Enough and Crime, The Whole She-Bang 2, Flash and Bang and Live Free or Tri.

Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Canada, International Thriller Writers and the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

Find Judy on her website/blog at http://www.judypenzsheluk.com, where she interviews other authors and blogs about the writing life.

Guest Post: Kaye George on “Why Should a Novelist Write Short Stories?”

Today Kaye George offers a few thoughts on why novelists also frequently write short stories.

Kaye George: “Why Should a Novelist Write Short Stories?”

Not all novelists should, of course. But many do. Ever wonder why?

I know that some big name authors have been asked by their publishers to put out short stories in between the novels, to keep their names before the public, and to remind the readers that they’re out there. Another book is coming! Here’s this little story in the meantime to hold you over.

Sometimes a novelist will want to explore a minor character further. A short story featuring that character is an excellent way to do this. You can give that character center stage and, in writing his or her own story, discover things about them that can be used in a later novel.

Another thing a novelist can explore in a short story is background. Prequels are a good way to let the reader in on the backstory in detail. You can indulge yourself and expand on the life of the main character, and others, by delving into what exactly makes them tick.

It’s fun to put your characters into another setting and see what happens. This is another fun indulgence. They will be out of their element and can show different sides of their personalities to the readers.

It’s also very fun to go together with another writer or writers and put your characters into adventures together. This is a way to promote your own work to a wider audience since the readers will consist of the fans of all the writers.

You can even age your character and look into the future. You can use a time period that you don’t expect your series to get into, to see what the main character will be like in their twilight years.

There are quite a few what-ifs that can be explored this way. These are just a few. I’ll bet you can think of more.

Kaye George ©2016

Kaye George, national-bestselling and multiple-award-winning author, writes several mystery series: Imogene Duckworthy, Cressa Carraway (Barking Rain Press), People of the Wind (Untreed Reads), and, as Janet Cantrell, the Fat Cat cozy mysteries. (Berkley Prime Crime). Her short stories appear in anthologies such as Murder On Wheels, magazines, and her own collection, A Patchwork of Stories. She reviews for Suspense Magazine. She lives in Knoxville, TN. http://kayegeorge.com/

Cathi Stoler on The Writer's Dream

Member and 2015 Best Short Story Derringer winner Cathi Stoler recently appeared on the Long Island cable TV show The Writer's Dream, hosted by Linda Maria Frank. Also available on YouTube, Cathi's episode is embedded below:

Guest Post: Susan Oleksiw

SMFS member Susan Oleksiw's novel, For the Love of Parvati, third in her series featuring Indian American photographer Anita Ray, is due out May 21. As part of a blog tour to promote the novel, Susan contributed the following guest post:

When I asked about writing a post for the SMFS blog, Gerald So suggested a discussion of character development in short stories versus novels. Are series characters different in the two forms? Is anything missing? That’s a lot for a short post, but a short post is long enough to make a point.

My first reaction was yes, of course, lots of things are missing, echoing a general opinion I’d heard for years, since I first started reading crime fiction. People love Agatha Christie’s novels, but not her short stories as much. The late critic Robin Winks believed crime fiction needed a full-length novel to reach its potential. The short story didn't offer enough room for both character and plot, and was overall an unsatisfying medium for crime fiction. I was ready to write something along these lines when I thought about my own experience.

I tried writing a female amateur sleuth living in India almost twenty years ago—and got nowhere. I think I wrote four novels featuring various versions of Anita Ray. The novels were terrible. I got advice from an agent, and other readers, but I could not find the character who would make the story come alive. Nothing worked. I continued writing the Mellingham series with Chief Joe Silva and the occasional story along with reviews and articles while I stumbled along wasting paper and time on India stories that went nowhere.

I was about to give up in frustration when I decided I'd write a short story with Anita Ray and focus on a murder that grew out of Indian culture. Anita's role was to investigate, nothing more. Out of that restriction came the surprise of Anita’s personality.

Short fiction forces the writer, me, to find the essential nature or core of the protagonist. The novel allows time for exploration and explanation, but the short story crystallizes what is necessary. By doing so, the character takes on a vividness and sharpness in the short story that can be slow to appear in the novel. (And in my case didn't appear at all.)

I'll give as an example Robert Lopresti's story featuring the barely-making-it writer Leopold Longshanks in "Shanks Goes Hollywood" (AHMM, April 2005). In the first page we know who he is, how he feels about his career and that of his friends, and how smart his wife, Cora, is. It’s a good mystery and it’s fun, and we know the characters well. Every detail of the plot works, and there are no loose ends. I could cite other stories that remain more vivid than novels, such as "Goodbye, Pops” by Joe Gores (The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century, ed. Tony Hillerman), in which a man escapes from prison in order to see his father before he dies. The obvious examples are Sherlock Holmes stories or any story by Edgar Allan Poe.

So, is there a difference that matters between short crime fiction and the crime novel? In a novel we get to spend more time with the characters, the plot may be more convoluted, but it's easier to mask failings in a novel than in a short story. In short crime fiction the character has to arrive fully developed, clear and sharp, in a plot that works. There can be no loose ends, no details that don't quite work, and no bait-and-switch in the plot. This is not easy.

Anita Ray has gone on to appear in twelve stories, with another in the AHMM pipeline, and three novels, the third out this month. In some ways the stories are harder because every detail has to be right. But there's also a great sense of satisfaction in creating a perfect little gem. —Susan Oleksiw