Don't make it hard on yourself. Without feedback, one of two things will likely happen:
- You'll think your first draft is so wonderful and perfect that you'll send it out, not realizing you have terrible grammar, spelling and/or serious plot and characterization flaws.
- You'll think your writing is the worst piece of junk, second guess yourself, give credence to your fears, and never write again.
Despite the image of the hermit writer holed up in his study, churning out masterpieces, humans are gregarious creatures that need feedback from our peers. Here are some ways to get balanced opinions of our work:
- Join or start a writers group. Look for a group of writers of similar experience. If you're editing that final draft of your first (or second) book, you aren't going to get much help from someone brand new to writing. Their m/s will be full of basic errors, or crummy dialog or plotting (we were all there once!), and they'll probably be too shy to critique your work properly. Newbies lean towards praise rather than honesty. Similarly, if you're working on your first ever draft, attending a group full of bestselling authors (wow, how did you get so lucky?), their polished, professional work might discourage you more than inspire. I'll blog about writers groups again soon, but get a handful of people, not so many that no one gets time to critique, but not so few that you end up canceling if one or two can't make a session. Places to look: craigslist, meetup.com.
- Find a critique partner. Find a fellow writer, again at about the same experience level, and regularly swap chapters or scenes. You can do this face to face at the coffee shop, or by email. The advantage to email is that you can mark each other's m/s up in Word, not only edits but suggestions too. You can also offer encouragement, hold each other to deadlines, etc.
- Join a professional critiquing group. Critters is a good example of this. You're likely to get a large number of people reading your scenes, and the feedback is going to be brutally honest, since most people don't know each other. Like all groups though, you have to give as much as take, and online groups typically enforce this by validating that you critique other people's work before they can see yours.
- Use beta readers. You don't need writers for this one, just people willing and interested in reading your m/s. They may take an entire copy, or may want you to feed it to them chapter by chapter. You'll probably get better feedback with the second method. Remember that they aren't writers, and probably not good critiquers or editors either. Don't expect your chapter back all nicely edited up in Word. 🙂 You're looking for big picture items here: Was it interesting or boring, was the plot flawed, the characters believable? Consider avoiding friends and family. More often than not, they are over-nice to avoid hurting your feelings, and you won't get an accurate assessment of your m/s.
- Use an editor. At the end of your project, get it professionally edited. It will make all the difference. You might be lucky to have an editor friend, but otherwise expect to pay, and make sure you find someone reputable. Ask around. You can opt for a pure copy editor if you are confident about your plot and characters.
In all of the above, seek a mix of people in and out of your target genre/audience. A good story should impress someone even if they don't read your genre. If you're writing cyberpunk, for example, obviously other cyberpunk fans can provide excellent feedback on your tech, jargon and genre plot; but that historical romance writer will be forced to look beyond that to how well your dialog works, or your scene structure, pacing, etc.
Finally, look for a balanced critique that includes not only the nuts and bolts of grammar, spelling and craft, but also the big picture; the overarching plot, subplots, tension, protagonist vs. antagonist etc.
And remember, it's always more fun when you're not battling your m/s alone. 🙂 Good luck.
