Not A Tough Critique

At the last critique group the main comments was that I needed to remind the readers of Cratag's POV and scene goal (I started in the middle of the scene), go deeper and be a tougher guy voice.

I was very pleased, especially since we'd examined my mentor's story word by word to find out what was bothering us about the emotional content, and decided that one of the flashbacks (it's book 3 of a trilogy) should go, but LOVED the writing and the opening with her very sympathetic character.

We talked about backstory and internal motivation and emotional conflict...

The moral of the story was that in November it was my story that was picked apart. This is never in a nasty way...just in a "this is bothering me and here's why" sort of way, and "here's what you can do to fix it" sort of way.

We take turns. No one is left out. Everyone has hard days or hard stories. I recall the last time we had critique group at my place, we were all examining S.'s story and C. went into the kitchen and started doing the dishes. C. knew eventually her turn would come...

The moral of the story: critique may be hard, but it shows what might hang up your readers and that is invaluable. Making a better book is invaluable.

May your work please you today.
Robin