| What are the main reasons to get your | | | | The second alternative is for you to join a |
| manuscript critiqued? | | | | writers' group. This is better than just asking |
| There are a number of reasons. One major | | | | friends and family, but there's no guarantee of |
| reason is that you're too close to your novel to | | | | quality feedback there either. This is not |
| be able to judge it honestly. How can you tell if it's | | | | necessarily a problem - you could be lucky enough |
| good enough? You might be wondering if this | | | | to find a group whose writers are knowledgable |
| novel is any good at all, or are you wasting time | | | | and experienced. The difficulty is in deciding just |
| on something that'll never be right. Is there any | | | | how experienced these writers are. Also there's a |
| ability there at all? Or, even if you know you have | | | | big time commitment for this - you have to |
| talent, how do you know that you're heading in | | | | critique their work too. Would this time be better |
| the right direction with your novel? | | | | off spent doing your own writing? Now, it's not a |
| You might also realise that nowadays publishers | | | | complete waste of time as you can learn a lot |
| really only are interested in manuscripts which are | | | | about the craft by critiquing others' work. |
| very polished already and need very little work. | | | | Another suggestion is to effectively 'ask' the |
| An in-house editor will still work with you, but only | | | | publishing industry to adjudicate on the quality of |
| on tweaking rather than anything bigger than that. | | | | your novel. This method involves completing your |
| Agents and publishers receive so incredibly many | | | | novel and submitting the manuscript to publishers |
| submissions each week that they can afford to | | | | and/or agents - their response will tell you exactly |
| cherry pick only the completed ones. Make sure | | | | how good your novel is. There is a good |
| it's yours - and getting a fiction critique is one | | | | argument for doing this - the publishers (along |
| important element of that. | | | | with the eventual readers) are the only ones |
| Another reason to get a fiction critique is that | | | | whose opinion counts at the end of the day. The |
| you might have received a rejection of your | | | | problem with this option, however is that you |
| manuscript and you have no idea what was | | | | really can only submit a manuscript once to each |
| wrong with it. Your need is for feedback, and a | | | | agent or publisher, and you don't want to use up |
| fiction critique is, at heart, just another way of | | | | your one shot on an inferior book. |
| saying feedback. | | | | So I think the best solution is to use a |
| There are four different ways of getting | | | | professional critique service to dissect your book. |
| feedback. | | | | A professional critique gives you the analysis you |
| The first is that you ask your family and friends | | | | need without you needing to invest so much time |
| to read your work and tell you what they think. | | | | to write the whole story (and writing who knows |
| Nevertheless, I don't think this is a good method. | | | | how many flaws into it), and without using up |
| They would of course mean very well, but the | | | | your chances with the publishing industry. Also a |
| fact is that they're not publishing or writing | | | | professional critiquer will give you comprehensive |
| experts. If they said they didn't like it, for | | | | feedback about the novel's errors, and also |
| example, they wouldn't be able to put their finger | | | | present solutions to those problems, so you have |
| on the reason why, nor suggest how you could | | | | a clear idea how to progress. |
| fix its flaws. Much more likely, though, is that | | | | So in my considered judgement, a professional |
| they'll say that it's terrific, and you don't know if | | | | critique service is the best solution. |
| they're just being kind. | | | | |