Every Time I Look at You I Go Blind

Gina Holmes

Every time I look at you, I go blind.

That’s a line from my favorite Hootie and the Blowfish song. He, of course, is singing about romantic love--I naturally have a writing related spin.

I recently wrote a scene for my WIP, (work in progress). I read it. I edited. I reread it. I re-edited. It was now scintillating/marvelous/fantabulous and I sent it through to my critique partners. They read it. They shredded it. I reread it. I tossed it.

Why couldn’t I see the fatal flaws they pointed out with ease? Because every time I look at my own work, I go blind. I’m too close to it. I can’t see what the reader truly sees. I need help. Wait, that didn’t come out quite write: I need writing help. (And yes, probably other kinds too--hush, Ane.)

I have some incredible critique partners whose opinion I respect every bit as much as my agent’s or editors. You see, I’ve read their writing and well, they rock. Over the years they’ve improved my craft more than anything else. More than a hundred conferences could have. Though they’ve never exactly said, “Gina this truly sucks”, they don’t sugar-coat either. And the best part about this small group of writers? They aren’t blind when they read my work, as I am.

Yes, we at Novel Journey are PRO critique group. With a capital P. We’ve of course had critters come and go who did nothing but try to edit the life out of our work, but we’re discerning and know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. We’ve filed our personal group down to a very small number of those who are the least blind when they read our work. Getting an occassional, “great writing” is wonderful, but when there is no red ink on the white page again and again, we can assume one of two things: the editors rejecting our work don’t know perfection when they see it OR (and I lean heavily this way), our critique partners are blind themselves.

I know some great writers work very well solo, but for those of you who don’t seem to be growing in the craft as fast as you feel you ought to be, or want to be, do yourself a huge favor and form or get with a good critique group. You may think if everyone is on the same level, it’s a case of the blind leading blind, but that’s not so. Ane, Jess and I have been together for years. We started green together but have grown each other up in craft very well. You see, Ane has a wonderful sense of story and character motivation, Jess is the queen of description and I’m great at diaologue and metaphors. We compliment each other and fill one another’s gaps.

If you could see how poor my descriptions were two years ago ... The difference was Jess taking the time to teach me how to paint a scene. If you could see the juvenile mistakes I made three years ago… but Ane taught me the basics and I in return taught them to tighten up and sprinkle into their manuscripts, a few talking whales.

Where can you find a good critique group? Make your own. Go to Yahoo groups and sign up to be a group. It’s ridiculously easy and fast. Then keep your eyes out for writers who might want to hook up and pass papers, then invite them. Some will say no, some will say yes. You only need a few. Our experience is that you’ll get way more than you need. Then, after you have your posse, put your walking sticks away (you’ve been whacking people left and right), form a single file line, hold hands and lead each other down the road that leads to stellar writing.