In February this year, I entered my book in a writing contest. I sent in two copies of the first 30 pages and a 1-page synopsis. The best part about it was that I'd get two critiques, no matter if I ended up a finalist or not. I hadn't had an editor (let alone two) with no relation to me take a look at my work and give me honest advice before, and it was a great opportunity.
I found out sometime last week by email that I wasn't a finalist. I was a little let down, but not heartbroken. There were 900 entrants, and they had to pick 10 finalists for each of 12 categories (two from each category actually win money and a chance to chat with agents and editors at a conference). I can't imagine having to choose between so many people. I didn't let it bother me. They said the critiques would be mailed out the following week, and would be scored out of 50.
The critiques were in the mail today. Interestingly, so was the next issue of the New Yorker, which happens to be entirely fiction this time. Today I also received two old issues of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from a coworker as a suggestion of a place I could submit short stories to if I wished. Turned out to be a day to face where I wanted to go as a writer.
To be blunt, the results were not what I was hoping for. Critics can be harsh, it's true, and not all of them are good at giving both negative and positive feedback. But these ones are honest, and not affected by their relationship to me. They weren't even shown my name when they critiqued it (and I wasn't shown theirs). They likely didn't see each other's critiques either.
Both of them are of the opinion that it needed a rewrite. The whole thing. Their overall reasons appear very different. Critic #1 (who gave me a 31/50) says I need to either change my story somehow so that it stands out from the rest of the fantasy genre, or make the writing much stronger (many suggestions are given for this), but says it cannot succeed as is. Critic #2 (who gave me a 22/50) says my main problems are that I rely too much on dialogue to carry the story, and that the world I've created does not have enough of a fantasy setting.
From the time that I've spent in critique groups, I know that the best way to really get use of critiques is to notice where multiple critiques all point out the same issue--even if they suggest different ways to fix it. The important thing is to see where they end up agreeing on a problem. If you understand what they mean, you can fix it in the best way for you, rather than them. It's going to take a lot of re-reads and dissections to find that here. I've got a full 6-7 pages from each critic. Of course, first I need the stomach to sit down and read it carefully.
I don't know what I'm going to do. Do an entire fresh rewrite? Ignore the critics and submit to agents anyway? Take a break (not that I've spent a lot of time in the past few years working on it) and write something else? Maybe short stories for a change, if I can figure out how to write them? How much of what they're saying is opinion, and how much should I listen to? Do I really want to continue with this story? And, how much longer is it going to take me to do a rewrite now that I have a full-time job?
This is why I like science and computers; there's a right answer and a wrong answer, and no in-between. I'm so grateful that I enjoy my day job and that I'm good at it.
I love it to pieces, but writing is hard.
