On Writing & Publishing by Robin D. Owens

Personal notes on writing techniques, writing a novel, my writing career and threading your way through publishing a book.

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Location: Denver, United States

RITA Award Winning Author -- that's like the Oscar, folks! Futuristic/Fantasy Romance and Fantasy with Romantic Subplots.

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Saturday, October 15, 2005

Online Critique Groups

All right, this will be short because I really want to get some good writing done today and I also am going to a bridal shower.

I've belonged only shortly to an online critique group. But one thing that you have to be aware of for ALL online transmissions is the lack of body language, voice inflection, the visual and aural clues people depend upon when interacting with each other. Even in-person critique groups can be rough, if it's online and you try and sound cute or humerous when making a point it can hurt.

Yes, I believe in honesty. When I judge I try the layer effect "this is good," "this needs work" "Love your style!" "I got confused here." But writer's egos are fragile, so be aware of that, too. They don't see your half-smile, hear your chuckle, and it is all to easy to point things out that need work (especially if you make the same mistake yourself) without remarking on the lines or concepts that really rocked.

All for now, may your writing be unblemished today...

Robin

1 Comments:

Blogger Michele said...

Ah! I'm glad I checked back and saw this entry.
Important for me.
Someone just asked me to "critique" their work in progress. I am just a reader but I've blogged about books I've read and this person was reading what I've said for awhile...one day she decided to ask me if I would critique it for her...from a readers POV.
I was stunned, to say the least.
So, seeing your advice here about the difficulty I could run into since this also would be an online endeavor, is perfect timing.
I guess you never know how your blog posts will effect someone ...
amazing.

7:17 AM  

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