Merry Fates Contest Poem

So the Merry Sisters of Fate are having a prompt contest over at their brand new website. To enter you have to write something, inspired by their prompt image. This is the image, “The Turret Stairs” by Frederic Burton:



And this is what I wrote:

there is only this

this dark corner
between up
and
down

between his
and
mine

but it is an eternity
of sweet
of breaths like caresses and
gentle thumbs against cheeks

of wordless lips
that speak sonnets

it is
the silent cracks that
slice
through my heart
when he moves past

to the place where
he will one day
become king

while i remain
in fractured pieces
scattered along the ground

Winners are randomly selected, so don't be shy. You could win a signed ARC of THE SCORPIO RACES or THE SPACE BETWEEN or a signed finished copy of BLOOD MAGIC. Contest ends Friday, August 12, at midnight CST so get started! Enter here.

Critique Your Critiques

This past weekend I was fortunate to attend KidLit Con 2010. Where the Merry Sisters of Fate (Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff) gave a presentation on critique groups.

First let me say that KidLit Con was AWESOME! Really well put together, lovely venues, and great panels. Every time I attend a conference I'm reminded how awesome it is to be in a room full of writers. When the time came for Q&A with the Merry Sisters, every single question asked was about writing!

They talked about many fascinating and insightful things, but the one I want to focus on today is a comment they made about getting a critique.

Maggie was talking about editor's notes, but it really fits for critiques from crit partners and beta readers as well. She said (I'm paraphrasing), sometimes you might get a note back saying "I don't like that thing with the pickup truck at the convenience store, can you do something else?" And she said what you need to know is, the editor (crit partner, beta reader) isn't really talking the pickup truck. They're responding to something in the scene that isn't working. So if you like the pickup truck you don't necessarily need to take it out. You need to figure out what about the scene isn't accomplishing what you intended. You need to, in effect, (and this is me talking now) critique your critique.

Before you get all panicked and start slashing things, (or angry and defensive, whichever is your MO) really read over the entire critique and try to get a sense of what the critiquer is and isn't getting from your story. The things that tend to stand out to people are the things that are easily identified. So a reader might say "the pick up truck thing" but what they really mean is "I just didn't get why she suddenly went from sad to happy in that scene where he offers her a ride in his new pick up truck. It just didn't feel real to me, and it threw off what happened in the next scene."

These are the kind of comments the Merry Sisters work on together, and it's the kind of thing you can do on your own or with your cps. A lot of times a few in depth questions can help you figure out what's missing and what needs to be changed.

Before you start asking questions, be clear on what you want the scene to accomplish. Then work to figure out what it is and isn't accomplishing. The fix might be as simple as adding one line of dialogue or as huge as deleting the entire scene and starting from scratch. You might even find that what you were trying to get across isn't the best choice after all.

The thing I took away from the Merry Sisters' talk more than anything is when you get a critique that says something other than "that's brilliant!" Stop. Breathe. Read it, and then read it again. Take another deep breath, and then begin a dialogue either with your cp, or with yourself. Every crit is helpful no matter how basic it is. Try to find the useful bits and use them to make your ms shine.

Merry Sisters of Fate Contest!

The Merry Sisters of Fate (Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, & Brenna Yovanoff) are having a contest!

They're giving away:
1) A signed copy of LINGER by Maggie Stiefvater

2) A signed ARC of THE REPLACEMENT by Brenna Yovanoff

3) A signed copy of the audiobook of LINGER (which includes Sam SINGING!)

4) A Merry Fates tote bag

To enter, all you have to do is write something using the following prompt and post it to your blog. Winners will be chosen at random Monday the 26th.

Prompt: The Princess and the Pea by Edmund Dulac


Here's my entry (I used the image, not the title):

She thought that the higher up she slept, the closer she was to the sky, and so the closer she would be to him. To freedom. But he never came.

Not during the endless hours she stared out the window wishing to be anyone, anywhere other than there. Not while she lay awake in the dark, waiting. Not even in her dreams.

She’d heard her maids say it more than once. There was a boy in the village with wings of paper and silk. At night he flew, like a ghost or faerie, over the high walls of the palace gardens. Inside, he plucked the best fruits, liberated the livestock, and once, drank the King’s wine.

But never, ever, (no matter how much she wished) did he fly up to the tower and steal the King’s daughter. Not even he was brave enough for that.