Last month I spent a week at a writer's workshop at the University of Iowa. I have the bones of a detective type book and want to do whatever it takes to finish the damn thing. Going into the workshop I felt pretty confident about the 15 pages offered up for criticism.
Apparently my perspective of good was not shared by the group. Unanimously not shared.
It was a humbling experience. My most common writing mistakes:
- Stop telling, show action.
- More dialogue
- Shorter is sharper
- Speed up the story
No punches were pulled. One male classmate suggested I not refer to the Texas GOP so negatively. It will put off readers. To which a woman in the class wrote on her copy of my manuscript (which opens with a rape): "Weird that a potential slam to GOP is offensive but not brutal rape." So true.
All in all, their generous criticism has changed my writing. Hopefully for the better. I won't, however, be deleting the gentle jabs at the GOP.
