I have a date every Thursday evening.
My writing group meets do read, dissect, critique and applaud our works in progress. Each member has their own unique strengths which I’m finding really helpful with my work in progress.
In the past I have used beta readers and professional assessors. Some have been good, others not so much. Having a dynamic writing group is a great substitute.
Most of the team are older than me.
There are five of us, all men, and even though I’m not young, three are older. Each week we bring in several copies of the scene we will read out loud. The others follow on their copies, then take time to read the piece themselves. They’ll make notes or tick the lines they like. Then we discuss.
The younger writer is very good at spotting clunky paragraphs. Another is good at editing, crossing out lines which aren’t needed. One is our grammar expert, while he also questions our use of certain words. The other’s strength is short stories so he takes a chapter as a self contained work, thus helping us shape better scenes.
I’m presenting a work which is up to third draft stage.
After each catch up, I rework the scene we discussed based on the notes I took. Then one by one, I look at the corrections each team member made on their copy. These changes are added to a version I’ve labelled draft four.
But I’m also rewriting several scenes ahead on this fourth draft, based on the post-meeting revised chapters. And with these rewrites, I keep the team member’s individual strengths in mind, paying attention to prose, use of words, clunky passages, and overwriting. That way these scenes are a little more polished before they are read to my group.
My characters’ motivations are changing for the better.
One of my main characters can be a nervous Nelly, often second guessing herself even though she’s gaining confidence throughout the story. In a scene where she follows a man home for romance, I had her questioning herself all the way through. Now she flirts because as one of the group pointed out, if she wasn’t interested in this man, she wouldn’t have followed him home in the first place.
Both the original scene and the rewrite result in her having sex, but the scene has more depth now. More light and shade.
This will change the outcome of the final chapters.
In these yet unrevised scenes, she doesn’t completely get over her self doubt. My writing group has made me see this clearly needs to change. They are invested in her journey, and are assessing my manuscript with the view that she will get over her doubts by the end.
I originally wanted all my characters to still be a bit insecure in the final chapter, even though they all grow to some extent. I felt this was more realistic and also reflected the dark tone suggested in the title of this novel. I clearly see now, this can’t be.
My writing group are my first readers of this piece.
And while I’m rethinking scenes already written before I present them to the team, I’m also amending each character’s journey to make this story much more satisfying.
This is why a good writing group is priceless.
Other blogs about this particular work in progress begin HERE.
kevin klehr 