Today’s question:
How did you get paired up with Marley as critique partners? And second, how many people do you show your work to as it’s in progress? Not ever having attempted to write a book, I can only imagine how personal a story is to the author and how much emotional investment one would have in the manuscript. So I’m guessing that it’s important to really trust those that are critiquing it. Having met Marley briefly and read her comments in your blog, it seems she really “gets you”, and you seem to have an enormous amount of faith in her opinions, which I think makes you very lucky! So how did you two find each other?
Marley and I originally met on the writing boards at eHarlequin.com in late 2002. We formed an online critique group with a few other members that for various reasons, didn’t work out (one member had health problems, others had working styles or ethical viewpoints incompatible with critiquing…by which I mean that she thought my characters would go to hell for having premarital sex) After a while, it went dormant, and Marley and I turned into email buddies. Around this time, we both began working with other critique partners from our respective home chapters. (Actually, we each still work with these writers.)
That summer (2003), we met in “person” at the Romance Writers of America Conference in New York City. (Marley says I tackled her in the lobby. But I was so intimidated and knew no one!) Online is fine, but I’m a big believer in meeting people in person. I’d already met several people from writing boards that, in person, didn’t seem to match their online personality at all. There’s a definite sense of discord there; I’m not sure if I can trust them. Marley matched completely. We spent a large portion of the conference hanging out, and became very close friends in the months that followed (online). That was when we started exchanging work again.
So it’s been about three years, and we’ve been through everything: close calls at publishers, lines shutting down, rejections, rewrites, revision letters, at least one agent, coordinating a contest, several conferences, personal and professional trauma, and, most importantly, more than a dozen manuscripts.
Marley and I work well together because we have very similar goals. We wanted to be published, and now that we are we want to continue to be contracted writers of commercial fiction and we’re willing to work for it. We know it’s not easy and we have to constantly challenge ourselves and each other to improve upon our craft and try to fit into the industry. We know that means writing, rewriting, not taking critiques personally, and in general getting tough about our writing. I don’t know that it’s any different than professional coleagues in any other industry. I was recently speaking with my father, a physician, and he says that I talk about my writing friends the way he thinks of his own colleagues. Some people are surprised when they hear I’m so close with other writers, “my competition,” but I really don’t think of them that way. Regular readers of the blog know how much I love other writers!
On to part two: How many people do I show my work to? As many as it takes! I believe in the “dark room” period. In fact, I don’t tell anyone (with the possible exception of Sailor Boy) about my ideas until I’ve “developed” the story significantly. Usually that means a synopsis and several chapters. After that, it’s pretty much fair game. I show things to Sailor Boy, to a reader friend; I have two regular critique partners, Marley and Cheryl; now that I have an agent, I show it to my agent, of course; and depending on the situation I have been known to get other opinions from some other writing friends (most of whom are thanked in the acknowledgement pages of SSG). Sometimes, the more unsure I am about choices I’ve made in a book, the more people I show it to.
Occasionally, I’ll hear newbie writers talk about trust issues; they seem certain that their critique group will “steal the idea.” Whether or not stealing of ideas happens or can happen is a topic for a whole other blog post, but suffice it to say that the sharing work fear tends to get drummed out of you very early as a pro writer. Between the contest circuit and the submission circuit, where dozens upon dozens of people at every house read your work, ideas are out there. But also, the people I critique with are friends and trusted colleagues. And I think the importance of the idea is very genre dependent. Science Fiction as a genre tends to be more conceptual, whereas Romance is less about the premise and more about the execution of said premise, so I think in general romance writers are a little more open about their uncontracted properties. But you know, to be safe, keep that stuff off the internet. 
September 19th, 2006 at 6:11 am
I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who doesn’t talk about her ideas before they are ready to be ‘born.’ It just feels wrong to even want to try.
[Reply]
September 19th, 2006 at 8:04 am
I think you made an astute observation re: the differences between SF and romance. Romance is all about the romance and concept is but a platform for the romance, whereas SFF (I’ll include fantasy) is all about the conceptual platform. Lots of truth in that statement.
[Reply]
September 19th, 2006 at 8:25 am
Thanks, Diana! And I’d always assumed that authors would have a “dark room” period, but never knew if that was actually true, and how long that period lasts.
[Reply]
September 19th, 2006 at 8:32 am
Marley and I work well together because we have very similar goals.
I totally read goals as goats the first time.
I need more coffee.
[Reply]
September 19th, 2006 at 10:12 am
Milady, I agree. It can just slip away so easily before it’s taken root in your mind.
Anon, I think this tends to be the case. Not always, certainly, But when you see the books that win each genre’s heighest honors, in SF it tends to be the ones witht he nmomst kick-ass premises (Say, SPIN) and the RITAs go to the romances which have best engaged and executed what may, in fact, be a very conventional story. Of course, what makes SCIENCE fiction the science part is that it’s about ideas.
Kristen, we have goats, too.
[Reply]
September 19th, 2006 at 10:13 am
Oh and wow! The blog layout is suddenly “fixed”! Much better!
[Reply]
September 19th, 2006 at 10:43 am
Yeah, having a critique partner whose style and drive match your own is the BEST. I agree with you that competition among writers is useless and damaging. There are enough stories and readers out there for all of us.
[Reply]
September 19th, 2006 at 11:17 am
Diana, I thinked you proved in the great blog voice experiment that even if authors work off the exact same premise, the result will be completely different, original books. As for showing work, I didn’t show anyone anything for years until I hooked back up with my old college roommate (Bella Andre) and discovered she was writing romance too. Now I’m not nearly so protective – I share ideas the minute they pop into my head. I don’t trust my inspiration, I guess, and need the validation that they resonate with someone other than myself before I start working on them. Then again, I have earned the title of Neediest Critique Partner Ever.
[Reply]
September 19th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
Diana stole crap, crap, crappity-crap from me! LOLOL!!!! I’m kidding!!!
For the record…she *did* attack me as soon as I finished my revolution through the NY Hilton revolving doors. All I saw coming at me were arms and legs and a smile. My husband said, “I hope you know her.” I said, “Nope. Just met.” = )
But yeah…through the years, we’ve clicked onto what each other is doing and saying in their writing. That’s always been the case with us. We can be upfront and honest with each other, but we can also be empathetic, understanding and encouraging.
I had someone say to me after the infamous pitching-of-Diana’s-book-at-the-New-England-Conference, “I can’t believe you did that. I can’t believe you didn’t talk about your own book and pitched your friend’s. Now she wants your friend’s book and not yours.” I shrugged and said, “She wasn’t interested in mine…she said what she was looking for and I ran with it. It was the right thing to do.”
And it was. No doubt about it. Never thought twice about it. I’d do it again tomorrow. (I do know about the “secret project” bwah ha ha ha ha)
I think women are so used to competing with each other for men, attention, jobs, etc., that they take it to the extreme in the writing world, often causing dramas that either don’t exist or aren’t nearly as eventful as they seem in someone’s mind. The key is to avoid those people like the plague (believe me…I do now!) and surround yourself with positive, uplifting people who will support you and your writing.
When Diana’s book sold, I felt like I’d sold. When I saw the book in the store the first time, I cried. I feel as much connection to her stories as mine ’cause I feel like I’ve developed with them…with her.
And yeah, Kristen, then there are the goats. :::giggle:::
Just wait ’til you guys read SSG2…WOW!!!
Marley = )
[Reply]
September 19th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Marley said: I think women are so used to competing with each other for men, attention, jobs, etc., that they take it to the extreme in the writing world, often causing dramas that either don’t exist or aren’t nearly as eventful as they seem in someone’s mind.
Marley, you are so smart! Can I be your best friend, too?
[Reply]
September 19th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
“When Diana’s book sold, I felt like I’d sold.”
I totally knwo what you mean, Marley. And I also think it’s so cool, and as you said, “right” to pitch your friend’s work. I think if you have a really good relationship with your CPs, when one has success, it feels like victory for all of you. Okay, I admit I had my moments of “I’m so happy for her, why can’t it happen to me?” moments when one CP sold and the other landed a hotshot agent before I’d done either, but at the same time, it validated me (because it’s all about me
) and my abilities because I was associated with them.
[Reply]
September 19th, 2006 at 2:49 pm
marley’s and my goats were kids together. ::ducks and runs::
Jami, I think that it’s okay to have that moment of envy as long as it comes with genuine pride and happiness. You can be all, “wow, I want an awesome agent and a book deal too” without having anything resembling, “that bitch! She totally doesn’t deserve it!”
Words like jealousy and envy have such negative connotations (deadly sin and all that) but what is the word that’s the positive version of that? Is there an English word for healthy positive jealousy? You don’t want HER boyfriend, you want a boyfriend just as awesome. You don’t want HER book deal, you want a book deal of your own.
I think it’s ingrained in us to quash any feelings that might be construed as envy, but isn’t it better to actually explore those feelings, divorce them from the negative emotions they may engender about the person (those should be quashed!) and think, “What is it I really admire about what this other person has and how can I go out and achieve those things I so admire?”
Okay, enough of the touchy-feely crap!
[Reply]
September 19th, 2006 at 11:31 pm
I have three crit partners and whenever anyone sells/gets rejected it’s like it’s happening to all of us – even though we’re spread across the globe. It’s an awesome set of relationships….. and we’re such good friends now, critting is only part of it.
I don’t mind sharing my ideas…. because brainstorming with my crit partners can help me delelop them.
[Reply]