Tonight at writers' group I will receive feedback on my first submission to the group. I submitted a short story about being nervous about writers' group, and then as something extra, I submitted the first three chapters of my novel that I'm putting on hold to write the cooler one.
I'm freaking out and trying not to freak out.
The movie Whisper of the Heart acts as wonderful encouragement to me when I'm trying to write. I should just have it playing on repeat in my apartment.
"No one should expect perfection when they're first starting out."
[offers a geode] "Take a look."
"It looks like a rock."
"It's a special kind of rock called a geode. Hold it close to your eye and look inside." [holds a light behind the geode to illuminate the crystals]
"Wow, look at that..."
"Those crystals are called beryl; there are pieces of raw emeralds deep inside them."
"Aren't emeralds worth a lot of money?"
"Sure, but they need to be cut and polished first. When you first behind an artist, you are like that rock. You are in a raw, natural state, with hidden gems inside. You have to dig down deep and find the emeralds tucked away inside you. And that's just the beginning. Once you've found your gems, you have to polish them. It takes a lot of hard work. Oh, and here's the tricky part: look at the crack in the geode. You see that big green crystal there? You could spend years polishing that and it wouldn't be worth much at all. The smaller crystals are much more valuable. And the may be some even deeper inside that we can't see, which are even more precious."
"What if I look inside myself and I don't find any gems? What if I'm just a rock? ...I'm going to try anyway."
"I'm glad I pushed myself. I know myself better now."
I hope you don't mind me suggesting some things. I've belonged to a writer's group for 30 years now, about half of those years very active.
ReplyDeleteI've also been in other writer's groups that I didn't like, either because they were too 'social' (not enough real work done) or too snobby (only 'literary' counts.)
First of all, we go into these things hoping we'll get rave reviews, even if we don't know it. Not only don't we usually get rave reviews, normally, but they find plenty of things wrong.
That's just natural.
After all, that's what you are there for.
So keep your expectations low. Expect criticism.
Secondly, until you know what people in the group are like, you won't really know how valid their criticisms are, how much are personal baggage or pet peeves or simply wrong-headedness.
Third, people are follow the leader in these groups. They tend to repeat what a previous person said, which doesn't mean it's right.
Fourth, people also tend to contradict each other, so that you can come out of a group getting conflicting messages. So, again, you have to figure out which criticisms is grounded, and which is either too harsh, or -- on the other hand -- a muddling of legitimate critique.
People think they are saving your feelings, but instead, sometimes the message just gets watered down.
Fifth, if the message doesn't get watered down, and it seems to be a consensus, then that's what you should take away. Doesn't mean they're right, but it's more likely.
Sixth, they could all be wrong. They could all be too easy. They could all be too harsh. It's a continuum.
Seventh, they could all be right but that doesn't mean what you've written is bad -- maybe it just needs to be changed.
Also, don't get defensive. Just inwardly take what seems right and accept it -- and reject what seems wrong.
Eighth, don't be like all "I meant it this way." That's no excuse. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
Ninth, use the group as a TOOL: take from it what you can, reject what isn't useful.
Tenth, no matter what they say, just remind yourself that it isn't finished. Things are often the most messy just before you get it all together.
Thank you, that is all very helpful. Hopefully I can keep that in mind tonight! :)
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