Old People Writing for Teens, IV

yellowhammer · May 18, 2012

Stiger05 said:
I think everyone has their own style. The crit group that I was referring to earlier is a live, in person group. We meet once a month and have a social time for a while first and then dive into our WIPs. It's run by a small, local publisher and I'm the only member of the group she hasn't published, so everyone has a different relationship with each other.

I give honest feedback always but I'm more nit-picky with my online betas. I try to warn people up front that's my style. Sometimes people like it, and sometimes not. If not, then unlike my real life crit group, I don't have to worry about running into them on the street and having awkward conversation, you know?

I prefer a critique that rips my work to shreds. I'd rather a story be torn completely down and built up properly than to build a whole building and realize it's shaky after I've already shown it off.

Wish I would've known about that when I lived in Huntsville. By the way, congrats on your Panda Express. I hate you a little bit. Thinking of orange chicken from afar...

parumpdragon · May 18, 2012

Ooh, asian food...

Stiger05 · May 18, 2012

yellowhammer said:
Wish I would've known about that when I lived in Huntsville. By the way, congrats on your Panda Express. I hate you a little bit. Thinking of orange chicken from afar...

When did you live here? I've been here almost two years and found out about the group from a co-worker. There are typically only 4 of us on a regular basis, but up to 10 come in and out.

The Panda is delicious, but really tiny inside so it gets packed!

JSSchley · May 18, 2012

parumpdragon said:
I am the odd man out then, because I have never been in or had - a crit group on a project.

And only 10 pages of 2 MS have ever been beta-ed. *shrug*

I am paranoid when it comes to my work - what can I say

Oh, there are plenty of folks who don't use crit partners.

I think you're far from alone.

Everyone has their own style.

parumpdragon · May 18, 2012

Okay, now I feel a bit better

yellowhammer · May 19, 2012

Stiger05 said:
When did you live here? I've been here almost two years and found out about the group from a co-worker. There are typically only 4 of us on a regular basis, but up to 10 come in and out.

The Panda is delicious, but really tiny inside so it gets packed!

I haven't lived there in six years. I went to undergrad at UAH. =) I lived in Springfield, Illinois for two years--where I became introduced to Panda. I love good food, good beer, good wine, etc. But, I swear... Panda is DELICIOUS!

JSSchley · May 19, 2012

Dorothy said:
Plus she tells me if something is "lame" - lol.

Ah, I would love a "lame"-tester!

Smiley0501 · May 20, 2012

I GRADUATED ON SATURDAY GUYS!!!!! :partyguy:

Officially done with college/school (until...grad school of some sorts) but.... WHEE!!!! :partyguy:

And I just want to say one of my betas is a woman I met on AW, and she is amazing. She is really great at looking at the overall picture and the small details and telling me that I don't suck even if plot points don't always make sense. :Hug2:

JSSchley · May 20, 2012

Congradulations, Smiley!

I can't wait to feel that euphoria again...sadly, it's still a few years off for me. (Two, I hope. Maybe 1.5. Stupid dissertation.)

justbishop · May 20, 2012

Congrats, Smiley

So I think my MC is not really the MC after all. Grr.

JKRowley · May 20, 2012

Interesting discussion on beta readers. I like opinions (and the tough crits are great....finding the flaws is as important, if not more, than knowing what works). For me, at least.

I could use some teenage girl "lame" testers. Reminds me of the commercial where the guy hires three popular middle school girls to follow him around as his diet plan. "Ewww." "Gross." "Seriously?"

Congratulations Smiley! Enjoy your break and bask in the accomplishment of being a college graduate!

Justbishop, sounds like you should go with the character with the strongest story.

Smiley0501 · May 20, 2012

Thanks, guys.

And agh...I hate when the MCs switch. Good luck. You can figure it out.

It's like this one WIP I have...I got the idea in October, thought I had the main characters' names down but couldn't write a darn word. Then in freakin' January I realized it was because the names were not right. Once I fixed that, I was able to get some words down.

justbishop · May 20, 2012

Smiley0501 said:
Thanks, guys.

And agh...I hate when the MCs switch. Good luck. You can figure it out.

It's like this one WIP I have...I got the idea in October, thought I had the main characters' names down but couldn't write a darn word. Then in freakin' January I realized it was because the names were not right. Once I fixed that, I was able to get some words down.

Thanks for the vote of confidence

And how funny that it was the names that held you up! I have a name dilemma as well. I started writing this well before all of the Fifty Shades hoopla, and my main male charachter's name is...you got it: Christian. But I'm so married to the idea of the name fitting this character that I can't bring myself to change it. Double grr.

JKRowley · May 20, 2012

Changing names in rewrites is easy as a search and find

Christian wasn't written as Christian.

JSSchley · May 20, 2012

JKRowley said:
Changing names in rewrites is easy as a search and find Christian wasn't written as Christian.

This, exactly. Just re-name your MC "Edward" and see if a hole opens up in the fabric of the universe...

justbishop · May 21, 2012

JSSchley said:
This, exactly. Just re-name your MC "Edward" and see if a hole opens up in the fabric of the universe...

LMAO! I needed that first thing in the morning xD

Sage · May 21, 2012

I totally was about to rename a secondary character "Christian" just before 50 Shades happened, lol.

Also, my MC switched for TM. It originally was Rosie, but it ended up being Taylor, and it made a wonderful difference!

justbishop · May 21, 2012

Yeah, I think I'm going to pick up some multi-colored index cards today and write out single scenes on each, assigning each character a color. I'm just not sure that Christian is the MC, even though his voice might be good to open the story. He only has two chapters, whereas the others (two sisters) have at least three apiece.

Or maybe I'm just muddying the waters unnecessarily, I don't know.

And Christian seems to be a popular name, then, huh? I snagged it from the lead singer of one of my favorite bands (Stephen Christian of Anberlin). I suck at coming up with names and stole almost all of those in my WIP that way, lol!

Sage · May 21, 2012

My guess would be that it's about to become more popular

Mostly I was looking for another C name to replace the original. I couldn't use Chris, but I thought Christian was a nice variation. Still not positive I won't use it, tbh.

Haha, the opening was totally why I was so stubborn about changing the MC for TM. I'm not convinced the new opening is as good, but the change was necessary.

amlptj · May 21, 2012

hey everyone, hows it going?

Stiger05 · May 21, 2012

yellowhammer said:
I haven't lived there in six years. I went to undergrad at UAH. =) I lived in Springfield, Illinois for two years--where I became introduced to Panda. I love good food, good beer, good wine, etc. But, I swear... Panda is DELICIOUS!

Ahh. I work down the road from UAH.

Smiley0501 · May 21, 2012

Hey guys... it's raining here and I'm unpacking my 500000 bags from college :ROFL:

I hate unpacking! I hate packing, too, but that's beside the point :tongue

wampuscat · May 21, 2012

Back from vacation. Hope you all are doing well!

Netz · May 21, 2012

Congrats to amlptj and Smiley0501 for graduating! :partyguy:

I can't believe I missed a huge discussion on betaing! It can be scary sending your baby out into the world for the first time, but I think it's well worth it. (I had many 'Now why didn't I think of that!' moments when I read through comments afterwards, lol.) I found it really useful to beta for other people too (that was how I started off), cos it helped me look at my own work more critically afterwards (plus, y'know, you get a good read out of it

).

In other news, I picked up a bargain last week - 6 Maggie Stiefvater books for £10. :Thumbs:

Dorothy · May 21, 2012

Congrats, Smiley!

Old People Writing for Teens, IV

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