gfralin
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Article for critique - 05/22/2007
This is an article I wrote for the possibility of posting on Write Spot. I'm not sure if it should go under fiction, non-fiction, or other. I think any would apply. I need somebody to look it over and see that it works and is worthy of this publication. Please be honest and let me know what changes need to be made.
Don’t Fall in Love With Your Free Write
I love to choose a topic and make a makeshift outline, then run with a free write. I think that this process is important to the way I write. One thing that we must be careful of as writers is to not fall in love with our free write.
It is sometimes easy for us to be so focused on the free write that we will simply try to proofread it and think it is finished. Some free writes seem to be a complete story if we are focused enough to move it fairly smoothly from one part of the story to another.
It is so easy for us to see on the paper exactly where we are going and what we mean. I have fallen into this pit myself. When I ask someone else to critique it, I have occasionally been stung when the reply comes asking what it’s all about. I see it so clearly, why can’t the reader? We feel others should be able to read between the lines.
We see it clearly because it is clear to us and us only. Until we set down with the free write and use it as a jump off point instead of the finished product we stay in that same frame of mind.
It is good to get other writers to critique our work. It is also good to get general readers to read it and watch their reactions. Family members are great, but make sure they understand you want honesty. Otherwise they may be afraid to hurt your feelings or cause an argument.
Once we get another’s vision of what we have written we have a new tool to work with. Be grateful for that tool. That is when we can break down what we have written and decide what is a part of the story, or article and what is not.
For a story we need to have immediate answers for the reader at the onset of who, what, when, why, and how of the setting and main character. This wonderful advice came to me from a journalist friend who critiqued a short story I was writing at the time. He felt that the first paragraph of a story should answer most or all of these questions.
We do not have to bow to everyone else opinions. That would be impossibly confusing. But, we can find one or two willing critics who wish to be honest with us and help us grow as writers. Writers are not as competitive with each other as some may think. We like to help each other grow.
Local writers groups are good for this. If you don’t have access to one, the internet forums are a good place to start, but with caution. Don’t reveal the entire work on an open internet forum. If you do, make sure it is one where you have complete control of the work and may remove it. Open forums are full of readerships and publishers may shy away from works they considered already published on a forum.
Free writes are a wonderful tool. I recommend them. They can be the jump off point for more than one work. But, they cannot be a finished product. Evaluate your work as if you were a critic and allow other critics to do the same. Then you may write a marketable piece.
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