What the hell do you know about it?
Have you published anything in the last twenty years?
Are you even clued in enough to current publishing to know Elrod is an Editor for Big 5 publishers?
You, on the other hand, don't know the difference between a critique and a submission.
The point of a critique is educational. It's to help you learn to write better. It's not a rehearsal for submission.
You're going to go sit in the corner until I feel like you can post without being full of it.
Okay, I am much more impressed after reading her guidelines.
Further, Elrod doesn't deal with first person present tense writing, specifically after she read mine .
Nor Middle-grade, sadly.Ah well *shrug* she doesn't do YA thrillers either. Pity.
My integrity is going to send me to the poor house.
Had to NOT take on two critique jobs offered. One was repeat business, but the writer will not, in a mere two weeks, have honed his craft enough to make a 2nd crit useful. The same problems I found in the first crit will still be in the 2nd.
The other was from a writer who had several agents and editors tell him the thing that was wrong. I agreed with them. I'm not going to pick his pocket when he's already gotten the reason behind the rejections. I reluctantly refunded his payment and hope he'll read the books I mentioned. Maybe there will be a tip in my Pro's Tips jar... *sigh*
Is the present tense (esp first person) thing an absolute no?
For all that, I'm tough about it in critiques, and the main reason is that present tense is hard to sell. I got that from my agent and a number of other editors. They shake their heads, not wanting to deal with it. Agents have a hard time selling it to editors, editors have a harder time selling it to the Suits upstairs.
Last year, after 100s of critiques I found a really good submission. (ONE out of 100s, remember.) It had a fresh idea, a strong voice, and the writer knew how to put a sentence together. It was good enough that I sent it--without the writer's knowledge--to my agent. It was in first person present tense, but so well done that it overcame my dislike for that style.
Is the present tense (esp first person) thing an absolute no? From my impression on her site, it sounds like she doesn't like it and would prefer to read other stuff, but she would at least look at it? Though it might colour her opinion on the piece. Have there been many experiences with that? I'd really like to send her a sub for crit but I don't want to waste her time if she's not really into it.
A workaround to consider: If my (first person, present tense) MS hadn't been outside her preferred genre list, I would've considered simply rewriting the first 2500 words in past tense in order to submit it for critique. YMMV.
It seems to me that a change like that would waste everyone's time. Elrod indicates that it's not just her own personal preference about present tense, but a more general concern with the publishers she works with. If that's the case then the writer needs to understand how their manuscript will be read by other agents or publishers, and that won't be accomplished by changing it from present tense for Elrod only to change it back later.
Changing a chapter from present tense to past tense is like changing a song from minor to major key. It is not a small thing.
Gotta disagree with that comparison. Changing keys changes the fundamental mood of a piece of music.
Gotta disagree with that comparison. Changing keys changes the fundamental mood of a piece of music. The equivalent IMO would be changing your opening chapter from a suspense to a romance, or a thriller to a caper.
For the story, yes, absolutely. I think Frank is saying, putting the story aside for a moment, if you want to have your writing critiqued in a more general sense etc. Since I gather the whole story isn't being offered critique.Between drafts I've changed tense from past to present, and from present to past. I've changed stories from first to third, and from third to first. All of 'em have sold.
You choose the person, and the tense, that's best for the story.