Becky Levine
Becky Levine and I first met in a critique group sixteen years ago, perhaps more. That first group flowed and then ebbed. Becky has gone to form other groups over the years. That her critique book guide: The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, How to Make Revisions, Self-Edit, and Give and Receive Feedback was bought by Writers Digest Books and hit bookstores earlier this year seems quite fitting to me. She is a writer, freelance editor, and speaker.
I asked Becky Levine to share her thoughts about how best to critique plot in stories.
Reading for Plot: Critiquing a Full Manuscript
In many critique groups, especially new ones, writers submit a chapter or two at a time. They may submit as they have those chapters ready, or they may each send a set number of pages on a scheduled date—their submission window. While I’m not crazy about critique groups with rigid schedules, getting things started by submitting small chunks of a manuscript at a time can be a great way for new critiquers to learn the process and develop strong critiquing skills.
If a group sticks too strictly to this structure, though, they may run into a few problems. Writers may increase their productivity and get impatient with how long it’s taking them to get feedback. They may reach the point where they’re ready to submit a manuscript to an agent or editor, but be nervous about sending a book that nobody has read in its entirety.
Or...and here’s a biggie...they may feel as though they’ve never had a strong critique for plot. They’d probably be right.
Plot is one of the big story elements that is tough to critique chapter by chapter. You can do it—you can think back to scenes you read a few weeks (or months ago) and let your imagination play forward to what’s going to happen several chapters down the line. You should be doing this with each chapter you read for a critique partner. You’ll be able to ask important questions and provide helpful suggestions. You will, however, be able to do this only so well.
Here are the benefits of critiquing a full manuscript—if not in one read, in several reads as close together on the calendar as you can make them:
• You can watch for change & growth in the characters—change and growth caused by strong plot points.
• You can truly gauge whether the plot intensity increases across the story, or whether the tension level rises and dips in the wrong places.
• You can keep an eye out for inconsistencies—big moments where a scene seems to happen in the wrong sequence, or something as small as a shirt that changes colors from the beginning of the book to the end.
• You can make sure you’re getting a strong sense of story from the manuscript—can really tell whether you’re reading scenes connected by interwoven threads and an overarching scene, or if the manuscript is still only a lot words—no matter how beautiful, funny, inspirational, or exciting.
Is a full-manuscript critique more work? Definitely. Is it worth the extra time and energy? Even more definitely! How, though, does a critique group who’s been working consistently with small chunks of a story move into these bigger critiques?
Stay flexible. Obviously, you’re not going to read 200-300 pages in the same time-frame you’ve previously given to two chapters. When one of your critique partners reaches the point where they want their whole book read, talk the schedule through. The author needs to be ready to wait a little longer for their feedback, but the critiquers should try and get that feedback as quickly as they feel they can—knowing they want to be able to provide a deep read and truly constructive comments.
Here’s a hint—if you and your critique partners have been working together for a while, it’s very likely a few, if not all, of you will get to this point at the same time. Yes, this can make the full critiques even more of a juggling act, but it’s also going to make the benefits more immediately and obviously apparent. You won’t just be putting out work for another author; you’ll be getting the same amount of work put into your story as well.
If you’re new to a group, or the chapter-by-chapter set up is working well for your existing group, don’t worry about diving into full reads today. Make sure, though, to keep an open mind and open eyes. You’ll watch your group progress and grow, you’ll see your writing skills and those of your critique partners get stronger, and you’ll know when it’s time to make the shift.
You’ll be ready, you’ll take it on, and you’ll be glad you did.
Thank you, Becky!
For more of this sort of help and insight, take a look at Becky's new book: The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, How to Make Revisions, Self-Edit, and Give and Receive Feedback. You'll be glad you did that, too.
Visit Becky Levine's website