Critiquing

I’ve been writing since I was a kid.  In fact my early stories had no words and revolved around the world of beings called ‘Oneies’, which resembled the number One and had plenty of adventures no-one but I knew about.  Oh, the joys of being an only child, with parents who were book binders and could supply me with endless scrap paper.

From there I did begin to write full stories and haven’t stopped.  I’ve a file full of ideas and old stories, hibernating until I release them back into the world.  Now I’m working on a book series and am part way through a rewrite of the second novel.

It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I joined the digital age and started searching online for ways to improve my writing.  Which was the best move I’d made as I’ve learned so much.

I joined an online Critiquing site, where you share your writing with others and gain constructive criticism.  It opened my eyes to the world of ‘Show more than tell’ and the overuse of dialogue tags and many other techniques.

Through receiving advice and returning the favour, I feel my writing has improved and hopefully I’ve given something back too.  Plus I’ve made friends, who I may never meet, but provide a soundboard for when I’m stressing over a scene or idea I can’t seem to flesh out.

The only downside to critiquing I’ve discovered is I’ve found myself doing this when I’m reading a published book.  I can’t seem to stop myself from looking at a sentence and thinking: ‘I’d have done it like that,’ or ‘I think I’d have left out that word as it’s unneeded.’ Is it just me?  Or do other writers do this too?

Needless to say, I’ve grown as a writer and will continue to, as I’m sure I’ll never stop learning, but I hope I know enough to create stories that allow my reader to escape from their own world for a little while and travel into the pages of whatever my imagination produces.

Featured Image Photo by David Travis on Unsplash

Other image Photo by Nong Vang on Unsplash

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