My critique in Fiction Writing went well. I got a lot of information I could use and some that I couldn’t – or maybe more to the point won’t use. It was an interesting experience to hear what people thought and how they reacted to my characters and plot.
I looked on this as a focus group as some of the people said they read a lot of science fiction. From them I got useful fixes that will make the story stronger. It was wonderful to hear what worked and didn’t work for these readers.
I always wanted the story to be longer – maybe not novel length but definitely longer. The pace of the part of it was too face for most of the readers. I wonder if part of the problem is they don’t understand the mob mentality that is part of this story. However, if they don’t then don’t I as the writer need to explain it?
I’m excited to revise and work on this story – I just need to find the time to do it. The experience of the critique wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. There was a point where suggestions were made to drastically change the story which I didn’t like – it isn’t part of the story I’m telling. At least the readers liked it enough to offer them though.
Overall a good experience and I wish I could have more but I think we will just get one per semester.