Critique musings

I submitted my first chapter to the OWW recently. It's gotten three reviews so far. They're in the moderate to lukewarm range. I've got some good pointers though. Most of the weak areas I'm already aware of but I still need the reminders.

The latest review kind of threw me for a curve. It pegged me as writing a High Fantasy, which I've never wanted to write. My book is set in the future after a nuclear war. But I guess it gives the impression that it's a high fantasy. This doesn't bode well.

It used to really crush me when people picked apart my writing. Honestly, I still don't like it but it doesn't bring me down. The problem with critique groups is that the quality of the advice is decidedly mixed. Most everyone is relating second-hand advice that they've read from actual authors who may or may not be good authors themselves. I remember that I used to always point out point-of-view inconsistencies when critiquing, just because I'd read on some internet article that they were bad. I still think they're bad but good authors are always shifting point-of-views. Just an example.

There's also some great writers lurking around the boards too who have helped me immensely with their advice. Like I said, it's a mixed bag.

Anyway...

I liked this from tonight's writing:

Penelope suddenly felt tired and dull. She hadn’t understood much of what the pale man had said - or had she? Was the mass grave in New Camelot nothing more than the result of a whimsical decision by some unknown personality in the wastes? On the road to Silverwater she had assumed that if she ever met the pale man he would give her reasons that satisfied as much as they hurt. But now she suspected that the reason would never satisfy. She wanted to lay down in the grass and never move again.