The Good, the Great and the Indifferent
Posted By Anna on August 22, 2009
I had entered my Scottish ghost story in the Heart of the West contest sponsored by the Utah/Salt Lake RWA. I did not final, however the responses were not that bad.
This is the first response I have received about my writing and I was apprehensive about what would be said. I have heard many horror stories about contest critques that were contradictory, non-imformative, and down-right insulting.
Across the board it seems that my characters were likable, and I have great visualization. Negatives were my use of commas, which I have been working on, but I do not think I will ever understand, and that Vanessa seemed to need more meat to her. This was not that surprising, because I recently did a character work up for Vanessa and Aiden, and I noticed the same thing about her. So at least now I know I am on the right path when I go to edit some more.
There was one judge that was not very helpful. The entire critque was twenty words long. The “what needs work” section was boiled down to three words: Hook is weak.
Great. What does that mean exactly? This is from a published romance author. You would think that they would be a little more forth coming. Maybe it is a conspiracy, and my work was so good that they are trying to be unhelpful so that I don’t sell. Yeah. That’s it. (please know that I am joking here. mostly)
My favorite response (naturally) was from the judge that said ” I get the same feeling reading reading your manuscript, as I do when I read a Maeve Binchy novel- it feels like sitting in a garden with a good friend and a cup of tea.”
I almost fell out of my chair when I read this. You go along and hope that your work resonates with someone. This one comment made all of the late nights, and worrying if I am wasting my time, worth while. It’s so gratifing that someone, not blood related to me, understands and enjoys my work.
Now I just have to remember that when I get the critques back that say I should never write again. Let’s hope that never happens.
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