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Let’s Get Together —
The Write Connection
by
Sharon Arkell, Rachel Robinson & Fran Tann
Looking for some
constructive feedback on your work? Friends, your mum you’re your
husband might be telling you that you’re a fabulous writer, but
will the prose you’ve sweated over will be lavishly praised by
people that you’re not cooking dinner for?
Or maybe your
significant loved ones aren’t encouraging at all but you
have a real passion to continue with your writing anyway. You just
need to have an honest evaluation of your work, someone to point
out where you can improve, where you’ve left a giant plot hole for
your reader to fall into…
Under the umbrella
of The Write Connection, RWA now offers a range of
opportunities for romance writers to work with, and learn from,
each other.
There are three
separate areas:
Individual
Writers Support scheme (formerly Isolated Writers Scheme) –
coordinated by Sharon Arkell
The brand new
Critique Partner Register – set up by Rachel Robinson
Groups –
including e-groups – organised by Fran Tann
As the
coordinators, we’ll be working to together to try to offer
opportunities to RWA members for valuable feedback.
The big question
is – are any of them right for you?
Before you ask for
a critique of your work you do need to consider carefully whether
you are genuinely ready for it. Julia Cameron in her excellent
book, The Artist’s Way, counsels against exposing your work
to criticism too early. It can be painful or discouraging to have
someone tell you that your “baby” is not as ready as you think it
is.
Good constructive
feedback is a fantastic tool if you are ready to accept it openly.
If you close off and only feel the need to defend your work as it
stands then even an excellent evaluation is a waste of time. But
remember too, that a critique is subjective - it’s an opinion,
which another reader may completely disagree with. You don’t need
to agree with your feedback, you don’t need to slavishly change
your work in accordance with your feedback, but we do require in
these schemes that you are always gracious about your
feedback.
If you are joining
a Critique Partner arrangement or a Group you always need to be
careful about the feedback you are giving. You need to combine
sensitivity with your honesty, encouragement with your carefully
considered suggestions. There is an excellent Groups Information
Pack in the Members Area of the RWA website which is a fantastic
resource whether you’re evaluating other people’s writing or just
your own.
So you’ve decided
that you are ready to have your work critiqued. And now
you’re wondering which of The Write Connection areas is going to
be best for you?
Individual Writers Support
This has recently
undergone some changes – starting with the name. So why the
change? The IWS is still a wonderful system where mentors, both
published and unpublished, give generously of their time and
expertise. But most of our ‘isolated’ writers aren’t really
isolated any more with advent of the Internet and email.
Anyone can join
the fabulous ROMAUS loop, a supportive forum for asking questions,
sharing problems and getting encouragement. Writers at all levels
of their writing journey, from absolute beginners to
multi-published authors, are members of the loop.
Good Constructive feedback is a fantastic tool
Applicants to the
IWS now have the opportunity to ask for a one-off partial
critique. We’re extending this opportunity to allow members of
groups, particularly those made up of new writers, to apply. They
will be encouraged to take the critique back to their group and
use it as a learning opportunity for everyone to benefit from.
We’ll still be
making “matches” for eligible people unable to join a group or
find a critique partner. But these will now be made after a
one-off partial critique and initially for a one-year period. The
mentee will be asked to commit to writing actively and to entering
at least two of the RWA contests during the year of the match.
If a mentorship
goes on for a second year, the mentee will be asked to commit to
entering the Valerie Parv Award and the Emerald Award in that
time. And perhaps volunteering to judge in other RWA contests.
After the period of mentorship, mentees will be encouraged to join
groups or match up with critique partners. Learning to critique
other people’s work is a valuable learning experience and can
teach us an enormous amount about our own writing. This way our
limited mentor resources can be allocated to new writers.
If you’d like to
know more contact me.
Sharon Arkell
iws@romanceaustralia.com.
Critique Partner Register
This is a new
venture for the RWA and I’m pretty excited about it. Think of the
old game show ‘Perfect Match’, insert writing questions instead of
romantic ones, change Dexter the robot to a trusty laptop, and
voila! You have the CP Register.
Oh, except the
island holidays will be substituted with something much more
fabulous – exchanges of chapters with other writers.
And the register
is international – it’s being run across the RWA and the RWNZ, so
the pool of potential matches is a good size.
So, who is the CP
Register for?
Any member of RWA
or RWNZ of any writing level who writes in any genre who is ready
and willing to swap work for critiquing. You don’t have to have
critiqued before – there are articles to help you learn. On the
other hand, you might already have a CP and be looking to widen
your circle of feedback.
When you put your
name on the register, you’ll fill out a form about your writing
and those answers will be used to make trial matches. The idea is
to test run a few people to see who you click with.
If you have
questions or want an application form, email me.
Rachel Robinson
critpartners@romanceaustralia.com.
Think of the game show ‘Perfect Match’
Groups Liaison
Hi from the head
groupie (!). Sounds way more exciting than the group liaison – <vbg>.
My role is to
collect expressions of interest from people who feel they would
like the interaction, mutual support and motivation provided by
belonging to a group.
In an ideal world
(and a much smaller country) I would be able to put everyone into
a face-to-face group that would meet their needs. However, this is
Australia and it’s not going to happen that way.
Where possible, I
will try to establish groups where they do not currently exist,
where it is not possible, we now have the option of online groups.
At the moment, we
have a number of online groups which seem to be operating very
successfully. The advantages of online groups are several:
-
You can log on
and participate as it suits you.
-
There’s
no need to organise babysitters, changes to work hours or a
leave pass from your significant other.
-
It
brings together people from different parts of the country,
thereby offering a rural/remote viewpoint to
the city
slickers
and vice versa.
-
If
you don’t feel like getting out of your trackies and slapping on
the makeup – you don’t have to.
The current
project is to establish some specialised groups, eg. medical,
historical.
This will offer
some concentrated feedback from like-minded souls. (Although, my
personal thoughts are that there is value in feedback from souls
not so like minded too.)
Maybe a group will
suit you. If you think so, contact me.
Fran Tann
groupliaison@gmail.com
.
Look out for our
joint blog with news for (and from) all our members about
critiquing, sharing and learning. More soon.
Sharon Arkell,
Rachel Robinson & Fran Tann. |
