Writing, promotion, tips, and opinion. Pour a cuppa your favorite poison and join in.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Meetin' & Greetin'

Was the crit session what you expected?
Were the crits helpful?
Critiques are opinions, not cold hard math. Never accept criticism as written in stone because so much of it is personal preferences.
They are tools. Use the ones that serve your purpose. It is your MS and only you know the path to follow.
However, if several critiques say the same thing, it is good to listen. Judge them, use them, and discard the crits that clash with your style.
Now, let’s talk about loglines and have a game of tag.
Loglines, summaries, hooks, pitches; all mean about the same thing. It is one or two sentences, approximately 25 - 30 words. It boils the premise of the book down to its bones.
Leave a comment on this post, link to your blog and post your loglines on your blog site. Members of the crit group can trail along to the sites and we will continue this ‘getting to know you’ session.
Sound like a plan?
Here is my logline for Of Oak and Dragons:
An unexpected inheritance, a snarky rapier with delusions of grandeur, and a tall stranger wreck Leah Sterling’s college schedule and throws her into the middle of an ancient war.
TAG! You're IT!

7 comments:

blankenship.louise said...

I'm a bit late to the party, but I posted some crits. And I know I tend to be on the tough side and sparse with the praise... if I'm being too tough, if this isn't what you want for this crit group, TELL ME for goodness sake.

Silence doesn't help anybody.

mshatch said...

Huntress I so agree with your statement that 'critiques are opinions, not cold hard math. Never accept criticism as written in stone because so much of it is personal preferences.
They are tools. Use the ones that serve your purpose. It is your MS and only you know the path to follow.'

If it wasn't personal preference, and there was a single right way, we wouldn't have to find the right agent, we'd just have to write the right book.

Erin L. Schneider said...

Great post, Huntress!

What's so hard about clip submissions like we just posted, is the reader isn't getting the full story / any of the background details to relate to what they're reading. I'm sure for all 4 of the submits, this would have helped explain a few things (not everything, but some).

In the end, only you know the story and characters intimately - how you show that to your readers, is the key! But you're so right, if you're hearing a repeated theme, maybe it's time to relook what's being said?

Anyhow, thanks again for all the great comments! I enjoyed reading everyone's submissions and making comments of my own as well.

I'll try and submit my logline when I get home this evening and repost a comment then.

Thanks again!

Amy said...

I agree, that this is a great post!

The submissions and the cit was both fun and helpful. It's nice that we, as writers, can count on one another for some guidance. Here's my blog site for my logline! :)

http://amylunderman.blogspot.com/2011/05/meetin-greetin.html

Brooke R. Busse said...

I have summaries for both my WIPs here: http://brookerbusse.blogspot.com/p/venture-out-on-ledge.html

I find that that is one thing I am horrible at writing, and to write a single, perfect sentence to wrap up my book will probably take more time than we're allowed. XD

Tara Tyler said...

Seems like a lot of YA writers. I agreed with most of the crits and I enjoyed reading the pieces.

I'm wary to put up my stuff since I seem to be so far from the majority, but who knows? I'm always open to being wrong! Here's my logline =)
http://taratylertalks.blogspot.com/2011/05/random-thursday-honorable-mention.html

Glad to be a part! Thanks!

Huntress said...

@Tara
Techno Thrillers, Fantasy, Sci-Fi are about all the same in my book. All VEeeeerrrry interesting!

My Team Members and I write Adult genre but that doesn't preclude enjoying YA.

I like all of the above plus witchy, dystopian YA with a paranormal twist stories.
Hm, think that about covers it all?