“A Critique Is a Gift-It Contains Choices and Possibilities” by Joan Y. Edwards
A critique is a gift. It contains choices and possibilities for you to consider. Not – YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE THIS AND DO THIS OR ELSE your story will not survive. Use your critiques to empower you to improve your manuscript and take it to a higher level.
Sometimes you don’t ask the person who critiques your work enough questions. If you can get them to interact with you back and forth after the critique, it would be helpful. You as a writer are brave. Ask questions. Many times you are lucky to have gotten the critique and there’s no way of communicating with that person again. Having the right thoughts going through your mind when you’re reading your critique will help you accept it as the gift it is and use it to your advantage.
Don’t be afraid of what a critique says. You’re afraid probably because you’ve received countless rejections. Hundreds of rejections that stack up from the floor to the ceiling. This may cause you to doubt yourself as a writer. You may believe rejection means you are not a good writer. Actually, rejection doesn’t mean anything about your writing except that the person reading it didn’t have a passion for what you wrote like you do. It didn’t “call” them.”
I challenge you to change your thinking. Accept in your mind that it’s all right if they like it. And it’s all right if they don’t like it. Once you get to that point, you’re able to really listen to what they are saying. As long as you like your story and believe it will be published, and you’ve visualized it in its final form with cover and binding and people purchasing it. You’ll see that a critique is either your pathway to growth or the pathway to giving up. It’s your choice.
There is another very real possibility. It could be that the person who critiqued your work likes your work and is trying to help you make it better. Or they missed part of your plan for your story. They don’t understand parts of your plot. If possible, ask them questions.
Ask questions. Suppose 3 different people tell you to start at three different places in your story.
If someone tells you that you’re starting your story at the wrong place, ask them to tell you more.
Where do you think it should start and why?
Why do you think I wrote this story? What did you learn from it?
Is there a better place to start the story? What is it? Why?
Is the emotion missing?
Do I give action, reaction, and dialogue for each scene?
Give me possible what ifs for my story.
What if your main character did this?
What if the setting was in a different place, like _______.
If such and such happened, what would be the new set of chain reactions for the main character? If the main character does this, then the villain would do what?
What if the main character’s problem was even more difficult, steeper, harder for him to handle, like ______________?
Before you use any of the information in a critique, make sure you agree 100 per cent with any changes you make. Make those changes you agree with as quickly as you can. Send it out. Submit it again.
If there are parts of the critique you don’t agree with, you have two choices – delete them and never think about them again or let the manuscript hibernate in a drawer or in a folder in your computer for 1-4 weeks-no longer than that. Then take it out and read the critique again. Read your manuscript again with new eyes. Pretend this is the first time you’ve ever read it. Pretend you’re a potential buyer of your book in a store. You open it up to the first page. You read it. What do you think? If you still are not 100 per cent sure you want to use the questionable advice in this critique. Let it go. Delete it. Say a prayer. Relax. Believe in your manuscript. It will be published. You will know the changes to make. Studying the craft books that are in this area will help. Trust yourself and your story.
Accept in your mind that your beginning might be the best or another beginning might be best. Either is okay with you in your mind. Now allow yourself to choose the right place to start your story. You are the writer of this story. Believe that you can choose the right place. Other people’s opinions are possibilities. Other people’s opinions are choices. They are not facts. They are opinions. They give you something you never thought about. They give you possibilities. What a gift! Rejoice! Remember it’s your choice, your story. Believe that these critiques are not going to stop you from reaching your goal. They are steps to make your story better. To get it in top-notch shape for publication.
Be happy and rejoice with every critique you receive. Delete any ideas and suggestions that you don’t agree with 100 per cent after you’ve studied it and given good consideration of the possibilities given. It’s your story. You are the author. You will decide great things for your story. Now revise your manuscript with high energy and a good feeling and thankfulness for the critique.
Summarizing above:
Receive the critique.
Use what you agree with 100 per cent right away. Change the manuscript and submit again.
Put the questionable advice and the manuscript in a drawer. Wait from 1-4 weeks. Then read the critique and the manuscript again with new eyes. Make a decision. Use the advice or delete it. Then go forward.
Believe in your manuscript. Believe in you and your story.
Do something fun to celebrate you today!
Never Give Up
Thank you, Mohammed Hassan and Pixabay for allowing me to use this image!
“Put Dilemmas in Your Stories for a Compelling Punch” by Joan Y. Edwards
Dilemmas add more tension and compel higher reader interest. Higher reader interest equals more sales. Go for it. Make sure the conflict right before the crisis situation is a dilemma. It has to be the most difficult decision a character makes in the whole book. It will either make him or break him. What’s the difference between regular conflicts and dilemmas. I did a little reading. My resources are below the article, as well as interspersed throughout the article.
Conflict is the main problem at the beginning of a novel or story. Conflicts can be predicaments, problems that must be solved to get to the goal. Predicament is a condition or situation, specifically, one that is difficult, unpleasant, embarrassing or even sometimes comical. You can have from six to 12 minor conflicts for the main character after the initial change at the beginning.
The difference between a conflict and a dilemma follows: a conflict is the main problem or the problem you find at the beginning of a piece of literature. The perplexing dilemma is the choice of two solutions to the main problem at the climax of a story. Add conflicts beginning at the start of the story and continually raise the stakes. Make the main character keep losing more and more until he gets to the breaking point, until he can no longer avoid the dilemma situation at the climax. Before the Crisis according to Peder Hill is that black moment when all is lost and danger is at its highest and the goal cannot be achieved. (Peder Hill Structure and Plot: Dilemmas for the Crisis http://www.musik-therapie.at/PederHill/Structure&Plot.htm)
The hero or main character can’t put off the decision. It’s either do it now or forever be deemed a failure or be killed. Circumstances trap the main character between two major dilemmas. There are two (di Greek prefix that means two) equally unfavorable choices to solve a problem that he can’t ignore.
It will make it where he can’t keep life the same as it was. As my mother used to say, “Old Usta’s Dead.” Life is not the same and you can’t keep it the same. Dilemmas come when there is a conflict between beliefs and/or values. The strict notion of ‘dilemma’ is when we find ourselves with a challenging situation where the possible outcome leads to two equally unappealing choices.
Dwight V. Swain says in his book, Techniques for the Selling Writer, that crisis in a story is when principle collides with self-interest or a situation where the main character feels compelled to follow one of two conflicting beliefs. The main character defies the rules in order to retain his world as he desires it. As he sees it, he can do it. He can accomplish it above all the odds against it. Dilemmas do not present a clear solution and in most cases are unable to be solved, but have to be managed over time towards a resolution.
During the crisis, the only way to survive is to fight or flee fate of these two dilemmas, these two choices. The main character feels compelled to follow conflicting beliefs. He is between a rock and a hard place. As Calhoun says in Amos and Andy, “If I do this, I get in trouble. If I do that, you get in trouble. If I do this other thing, we both get in trouble.”
Are the stakes high enough for your characters? Will they lose a lot because of the decision they make in the dilemmas presented to them. The following words of Jessica Page Morrell really sank into my writing psyche: Are the stakes high and the consequences for failure dreadful? If not, I believe you need to edit to make the failure more dreadful and more fearful.
At the following link, Donald Maass gives “3 Key Stakes that Drive Novels.” http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/improve-my-writing/3-key-stakes-that-drive-novels
Here’s more help with building higher tension by heightening the stakes: Jessica Page Morrell. “How to Build Tension to Heighten the Stakes.” http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/beat-writers-block/how-to-build-tension-to-heighten-the-stakes
I believe that sooner or later when enough things stack up on the main character, he will have to change his belief. It is no longer true in his mind. Therefore, he can’t live with it any longer. He has to take action.
During this moment, the hero draws upon the new strengths or lessons he’s learned in order to take action and bring the story to a conclusion. Hero defies the rules in order to retain his world as he desires it or to create the world as he wants it. First he makes the decision. Then, he takes the final action to bring the story to its resolution. The climax is the action that brings the story to its resolution. Crisis is a point in a story or drama when a conflict reaches its highest tension and must be resolved. Jeff Kitchen says that you have Dilemma, Crisis, Decision and Action, and Resolution in a movie: Writing a Great Movie: Key Tools for Screenwriting.This link shows a good outline of the Three Acts for movies that can also be used for novels.
Goals for the Main Character
1. Try the impossible, not capable of occurring. Do the unattainable. Impossible feats – Accomplishing
b. Man 45, in a golf tournament for 50 years old and older.
3. (My Idea) Do the difficult for this particular individual with their strengths, weaknesses, and emotional beliefs.
1) Honesty is one of Sara’s most revered traits in herself. She prides herself in being honest. Sara wants the job as feature writer for her hometown newspaper. She does 6 different articles to make it to the status they require. Then they ask her to pose as a spy for the FBI and do a report on the police brutality on Hispanics. Her desires to be the feature writer and her moral integrity are bumped together at the same time. Will she change her mind about being the reporter for this newspaper or will she lie to get her job?
2) Selena’s belief is that men are perfect. Men can do no wrong. Enter life experience. Her husband cheats her out of a land deal. He doesn’t put her name on the deed. She doesn’t find out until the land is sold. He is dead. She doesn’t get the land.
3) Jill wants to go to the dance. To go to the dance she has to take a wheelchair or Use a walker.
4) Ted wants to be on a bowling team. He has to ask his enemy if he can try out for the winning team or be on a team that has the lowest bowling scores in the league.
5)Stanley’s brother got a girl pregnant. Stanley has to choose whether to confront his brother or tell his parents.
6) Susan is in an honors class. She sees her best friend copying notes on his arm. The teacher accuses her of copying his paper when she looks at his arm. She has to choose whether to lose her best friend by telling on him or taking the blame for something she didn’t do.
7. Felix the cat always chases Mice and eats them, however, this mouse has a broken leg. He has a choice to eat him without the chase or chase a different mouse and leave a meal untouched.
Sample Predicaments and Dilemmas from Fairy Tales and Other Tales
1. Britannica.com. Dilemma Tale, also called a Judgment Tale, typically an African form of short story whose ending is either open to conjecture or is morally ambiguous. The readers (the audience) decides the answers to the questions. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/163532/dilemma-tale
I enjoy reading your comments. They fill me with joy and thankfulness.
Celebrating is part of thankfulness and excitement to help you achieve your publication goals. Develop unwavering faith.
Even with complications and obstacles, the vision of success in your mind, the excitement of getting it, your thankfulness, and your action toward it will create the reality for you.
Thank you for reading and for subscribing to my blog. Sign up for an email subscription from the left hand
column.
1. Britannica.com. Dilemma Tale, also called a Judgment Tale, typically an African form of short story whose ending is either open to conjecture or is morally ambiguous. The readers (the audience) decides the answers to the questions. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/163532/dilemma-tale
4. Donald Maass. “3 Key Stakes that Drive Novels.” http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/improve-my-writing/3-key-stakes-that-drive-novels
5. Dr. Vincent Muli Wa Kituku of Idaho“Attaining the Unattainable” http://www.kituku.com/article_template.php?id=51
9. Jessica Page Morrell. “How to Build Tension to Heighten the Stakes.” http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/beat-writers-block/how-to-build-tension-to-heighten-the-stakes
10. Peder Hill. “Structure and Plot: Dilemmas for the Crisis.” http://www.musik-therapie.at/PederHill/Structure&Plot.htm
Your Gutsy Pitch will entice editors, agents, and readers. Copyright 2011 Joan Y. Edwards and her Licensors
“How to Deliver a Short Gutsy Pitch to Entice Editors, Agents, and Readers” by Joan Y. Edwards
Is your ball (pitch) attached to a paddle?
If you don’t ever pitch your story to a publisher or agent, how can you get it published?
Does your ball (pitch) have holes in it?
Have you told all the essential information to entice an editor or agent?
Does it matter if what your ball (pitch) is colorful and flashy?
Using colorful fonts, gifts, and flashing text won’t entice the editor or agent.
Use vivid and descriptive words – they’ll be enough to entice anyone.
Does it matter what size the ball (pitch) is?
The logline, elevator pitch, and the Gutsy Pitch is short enough to get an editor, agent, or reader’s interest in 30 seconds or less.
If an editor or agent asks you for a plot summary, query pitch, summary pitch or a 100-150 word pitch, you give additional engaging and intriguing information about your characters and plot.
Today I’m focusing on what I call the Short Gutsy Pitch.
Like a ball attached to a paddle, it could be that you don’t know how to pitch. You don’t know if you’ve got something ready to pitch. You feel you can’t do it. It has you muddled. You are frozen on the pitcher’s mound of your writing career.
If you were a pitcher for the Colorado Rockies, you’d know what to pitch and how to pitch. Here is a video of Colorado Rockies baseball pitcher, Ulbado Jimenez: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5gSHz9_n0s
You’re a professional writer. You need to know what a pitch is, when to write a pitch and how to write a pitch to get on a major league team with publishers, agents, and thousands of readers.
In this article, I explain what a pitch is, why you need a pitch, how to write a pitch, and where to find pitches to study. WIIFY(What’s In It For You) By the end of this article, you’ll know how to write your pitch to wow editors, agents, and thousands of readers.
Amy Burkhart, agent, says the pitch has to tell, “Who, What, When, Where, and Why should I care?”
Kathleen Antrim, award-winning author, says a pitch must tell, “What if… and so what?”
A pitch must tell who the character is, what their situation is, and tell us why we should care. That helps readers connect emotionally with a story.
What is a pitch? A group of words chosen to compel editors, agents, and thousands of readers to have an obsessive need to read your book to find out the rest of the story…to find out what happens. Screenplay pitches are called log lines. A pitch is used in person, online, chats, query letters, cover letters, proposals, and on the covers of books.
A pitch tells about the situation your main character is in, describes what he wants so badly that when his world falls apart and his way to the goal is blocked, he’s willing to do ridiculous, difficult, risky, death-defying, and life changing things to achieve it. He won’t let anyone or anything keep him from reaching his goal.
Write your pitch before you write your story. It will help you write a better story. If you’ve already written your story, write your pitch now.
A pitch is a teaser – a hook that grabs the listener’s attention through his head, heart, and soul. When a bookseller reads a catalog with a listing of 400 books, you have only 15-20 seconds to capture his interest. When talking to another person, you have 30 seconds before their attention wanders elsewhere.
Choose 17-25 words of the most crucial information for your pitch that summarize the main character, flaw, situation, conflict, and aha moments to entice editors, agents, and thousands of readers to read your story.
If you were an editor, would you buy your book after hearing your pitch? If not, rewrite your pitch.
Write your pitch on a card (business card, index card, or poster). Put it in your wallet or put it on your mirror in the bathroom. Be creative. Be able to tell it with ease to anyone who asks what you write. If an editor or agent asks you for a plot summary or a 100-150 word pitch, you give additional engaging and intriguing information about your characters and plot.
Short Gutsy Pitch Parts
Part 1Introduction to You and Your Book: Your Name, Title of Book, Genre, and Word Count
Part 2: Short Gutsy Pitch (Synonym logline, elevator pitch): Main Character, What He Wants, What Stops Him, What is his worst case situation?(Tells who, what, when, and where) (Tells the what if)
Part 3: How Does the Main Character Change to Overcome Obstacles? (Tells editors/agents/readers Why Should I Care?)
Part 4: What Does the Main Character Learn (Universal Theme) (Emotional Premise) (Tells the editor/agent/reader Why Should I Care?)
Short Gutsy Pitch Parts in Detail
Part 1Introduction to You and Your Book
My Name, Title of book, Genre, and Word Count
My name is ______. Title is a magazine article, picture book, chapter book, middle grade novel, young adult novel, adult, non-fiction with ____ words. If it’s a series, you can mention this here.
Part 2: Short Gutsy Pitch: Main Character, What He Wants, What Stops Him, What is his worst case situation?
Short Gutsy Pitch (Logline, Elevator Pitch) Choose 17-25 words, one or two sentences, For screenplays, it’s called a logline. In his “I Wrote a 120 Page Script, But Can’t Write a Logline,” Christopher Lockhart says a logline (elevator pitch, short gutsy pitch) has to have:
who the story is about (protagonist) what he strives for (goal) what stands in his way (antagonistic force).
You find these gutsy pitches in newspapers, movies, on book covers, query letters, etc. I don’t recommend comparing your work to other titles in your pitch. I think it distracts from your story and doesn’t explain enough about the main character’s problem and situation. However, if you feel compelled to put Star Wars meets Gone with the Wind, add it to the front of your short gutsy pitch (logline).
James Sallis wrotethe book, Drive: A Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver for thieves finds that a price has been put on his head after a failed robbery. Read more of pitch: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/drive_2011/
Sophie Kinsela wrote the book, Confessions of a Shopaholic: A college grad lands a job as a financial journalist in New York City to support her shopping addiction and falls for a wealthy entrepreneur. Read more of pitch: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/confessions_of_a_shopaholic/
Dale Launer write the script for My Cousin Vinny: When sweet Northern college boy and his buddy Stan are picked up and thrown into the slammer in a hick Alabama town, at first it looks like no big deal. Then they are informed that they are accused of murder. Read more of pitch: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/my_cousin_vinny/
It is a story about a the main character
(tell age and sex, use character name if you like, but it’s not essential)
(if historical fiction, tell the year and the place)
who is (describe character’s flaw and bottom of the pit, life-changing situation that forces him to act)
Who wants _____________________ more than anything else in the world? What is the crisis?
What is the problem? But Opponent, Unexpected Bad Happenings, Terrible Consequences _______________ stop him (Why Can’t He Get It?)
Apparent Defeat – Disaster – Describe the bottom of the pit situation that seems hopeless and where the character appears doomed to failure. Make the pitch a cliffhanger.
Part 3: What Does He Do and How Does the Main Character Change to Solve the Problem? (Icing on the Cake)
At a workshop and in her iPhone application, “Pitch Your Book,” Linda Rohrbough suggests that when writing a pitch, writers include how the main character changes while striving to reach his goal. The short gutsy pitch hooks your audience. The change your character goes through thoroughly is the icing on the cake that convinces them that they need to read your manuscript. Change is essential to a story. Chances are if no one changes, there is no story. That’s why the editors and agents want to know the change.
In “Our Idiot Brother,” the main character did not change, however other people’s opinions of him changed. It reminds me of how a boy at 18 might think his father is dumb. However, when this same boy reaches 25, he realizes how wise his father was. Did the father change? No. But the boy changed in his attitude about his father. The boy had experiences that made him see his father differently.
Part 4: What Does the Main Character Learn about Himself and/or about Life? What does the experience of the main character in this story teach him about life? What does your story prove? What is the universal theme? What is the emotional premise for your story?
State what the main character learn about himself and about life in general from striving to reach this goal? State a belief that is proved in your story. After you explain it in terms of the story experience, then put it in terms of universal theme, like…love plus deception leads to death. Or use a saying, proverb, or cliché.
Notes: If you find conflicting opinions about this topic, go with your gut instinct.
Places to Find Pitches to Study
TV Guide
Newspaper listing of movies
Theaters listing of movies
Amazon Book listings
Back cover of your favorite books
Library book listings online
www.Rotten Tomatoes.com (for movies)
Other questions, people might ask you after your Short Gutsy Pitch.
How does your story end?
Why does this story belong with this publishing company or agent?
Why did you write this story?
Is it educational, inspirational, or entertaining?
What makes you the expert or the right person to write this story?
Are there other books in the market similar to this?
How will you help market this book?
Have you had any other works published?
Below is a pitch from one of my personal manuscripts. I hope they give you an idea of things to put in your pitch. I left the parts named in it.
Short Gutsy Pitch
Part 1 My Name, Genre, and Word Count
Hi, my name is ___________. Caesar and Cleopatra is Adult Romance and Intrigue, with 60,000 words.
A young woman wants to marry. However, her intended’s son, job, and past keep getting in the way. She goes back in time and gets stuck in Cleopatra’s tomb. She strives to get out in time to stop the changes that will kill those she loves in the present time.
Part 3: How does the main character change to Overcome Obstacles?
She gains faith in herself and accepts others as they are.
Part 4: What does the main character learn (Universal Theme):
She learns that she likes the present circumstances better than any that could be changed in the past. Love plus acceptance leads to wisdom.
Realize that your pitch must sound smooth when you tell it or when you place it in your pitch query. Call a friend and read your Gutsy Pitch. Send them an email with the pitch in it. Let them read it to you. Smooth out any rough edges in your delivery. I separated the parts so you would know what belongs where. However, you can deliver it in two paragraphs. The first paragraph entices with a “Wow.” The second paragraph holds them hostage. They’ve got to know what happens now. They’ll ask for your manuscript or buy a copy of your book.
Hi, my name is ___________. Caesar and Cleopatra is Adult Romance and Intrigue, with 60,000 words. A young woman wants to marry. However, her intended’s son, job, and past keep getting in the way. She goes back in time and gets stuck in Cleopatra’s tomb.
She strives to get out in time to stop the changes that will kill those she loves in the present time. She stops being selfish, gains faith in herself, and accepts others as they are. She learns that she likes the present circumstances better than any that could be changed in the past. Love plus acceptance leads to wisdom.
In this article, I explained what a pitch is, why you need a pitch, how to write a pitch, and where to find pitches to study.
How did I do? Do you know and understand about what to put in your pitch to wow editors, agents, and thousands of readers and hold them hostage until they read your book? Why?
Please leave a comment and let me know if my explanations helped you. I enjoy hearing from you.
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