Winged,  Writing

Let the edits begin. . .


Anyone following my facebook page might know this, but I jumped into some edits on my novel, Winged, this past weekend. I’ve got some wicked-awesome crit partners reading a few of my novels, and the edits are coming in.

For those of you who are reading this and aren’t writers, we have critique partners read our novels to find mistakes on all levels. Typos, grammar, content, plot and so on. It’s really important, because we’re so close to our projects, we often can’t see what’s staring at us in the face.

While working on edits for Winged, I got another set of critiques back on Caine & Lily’s story–doesn’t have a title yet, and the blurb isn’t even up yet–but oh. . . they were good.

Lot’s to fix on that one, too.

If you’re a writer and reading this, how do you handle critiques? Do you jump right in them? Read first, then take some time to absorb before diving in? **DO TELL** I love hearing how people handle them.

I love reading them, no matter how “harsh” they might be, and then letting them sink in for a day or so before I start diving in. I treasure getting feedback that’s impartial and blunt because I know that when I rewrite, the story’s going to be that much stronger!

So now I’m off to edit.

WRITE ON my friends! Woo-Hoo!

11 Comments

  • Kat

    I’m like you. I love reading them no matter how harsh. The writers/readers who are serious usually know how to give a good, informative, constructive critique without making a hopeful author feel like her dreams are being crushed. The feedback I received from you was awesome. 🙂

    • Rosslyn Elliott

      I love them. I jump right in. I smile a lot at my partners’ or editors’ comments. I feel grateful for them.

      Almost all feedback is good. It has to be *really* meanspirited or vulgar for me to dislike it.

  • danicaavet

    I like to look over the suggestions first, especially if there’s a plot problem. If there is, maybe there’s something I can tweak earlier to iron out the later problem. I love my CPs simply because they don’t dance around the issue. “Again with the talking to herself. Really, there’s a fine line between tortured and crazy.” That kind of thing.

  • lori Lundquist

    Love my crit partners!! Once I send something, I wait with baited breath for the crit to come back, and then I dive right in. Can’t wait to see what they suggest. I also love to crit others’ works b/c #1 I usually get a good read of an awesome story out of it and #2 I like to help where I can. And i notice things. 🙂
    Anyway, happy editing, Lynn! Write on!

  • Victor Travison

    Generally, I accept the critique as one person’s opinion, taking into account their writing experience, own level of writing, and their background–as much as I know about it. Regardless of these considerations, if two or more flag the same passage, that’s a fair indication it needs to be reworded or deleted.

    Anyone who follows my blog can see that when a commenter has a problem with a paragraph, I either explain it or change it–often both! Critiquers are not the enemy; they are there to help you hone your skill, and some are more skilled at it than others.

    Thanks for a great post, Lynn.

    ~ VT

    • Lynn Rush

      Write on, Victor. Taking into account their writing experience, etc is important for sure! I’ve always been one to think, “If more than one person is flagging the same issues, change it.” like you mentioned.

      So true!
      Thanks for stoppin’ by.

  • Tamara Hanson

    I feel exactly the same way. LOVE the straight forward—this is what you need to do—kind of crits. I don’t like to have to read between the lines. It took awhile to find the crit partners right for me. I can open them and get right down to it, because I trust their feedback. I take everything they say into careful consideration and make the changes I agree with. Contest feedback is a different scenario to me. I open and look at scores. Inevitable, I receive almost a perfect score and an excessively low score. I go back a day later and read every single comment and put it away again. The reason for this is the comments sometimes are not as helpful as from crit partners and two entries can completely disagree with each other. After a day or two, I go back through the comments and decide what I agree with and make those necessary changes. I no longer become angry over blanket statements that are not helpful, but instead focus on the specifics, and inevitably I find that one comment from the person who didn’t like the book that makes a substantial positive impact on my manuscript, and I thank them for that. I’ve judged a lot of contests and trust me I understand how much work goes into each entry. Thank you notes are greatly appreciated. To crit partners as well as contest judges. Keep writing everyone! BTW – I can’t wait to buy Winged soon. *wink*

    • Lynn Rush

      Thanks, Tamara. I hope you can buy Winged soon, too. LOL. You’re right about contest feedback. I’ve had super high scores and super low scores on the same story before. It can get confusing. I usually have to wade through contest feedback a little slower.