Continuing the series . . . Again, agents, editors, and RAs are welcome to chime in with their advice and preferences in the comments.
Organizers: When you send out a packet of manuscripts to a critiquer, please include a cover letter listing all of the manuscripts enclosed, by author and title. This is enormously useful in ensuring that I've received all the mss. I'm supposed to, and then checking off the critiques as I complete them beforehand.
I like a manuscript for critique to include the first ten double-spaced pages of the manuscript plus one single-spaced "description page." This page should have: the author's name and contact information; the genre of the manuscript; the length of the manuscript in page count (not word count; I have never yet met an editor who thinks in word count, so that number tends to be meaningless to us); its working and publication status (incomplete/complete/currently in revision; under contract/agented/available); and then a brief plot summary and/or the author’s intention for the book—what he or she set out to write with it--or both. I've found that ten pages of the manuscript usually gives me a good sense of the author's voice and writing style, and having the description page saves valuable time during a critique where the author would have to summarize the rest of the book or tell me "This book is really about a post-parental-divorce identity crisis" when it sounds like just another paranormal romance novel.
Every page of the manuscript should include a header with the page number, the author’s last name, and a key word from the title, if not the whole title. It is very easy to drop a stack of paper-clipped critiques and mix up all the pages. (Not that I have any experience with this or anything.)
Fifteen minutes seems to me to be the perfect length for an in-person critique: time for the author to talk for five minutes, me to talk for five minutes, and both of us to converse and ask and answer any remaining questions for five minutes. If possible, timers should provide five-minute and one-minute warnings. Also, it is nice to break up the critiques if possible (e.g. do some in the morning and some at night, or have a half-hour break in a ten-critique block) so critiquers can stay sharp and useful to critiquees.
Most SCBWI conferences these days seem to be doing a great job at educating their members in how to receive a critique, and I hope that trend continues. A tip for critique-ees: Never ask “So, would you like to see the whole thing?” If the agent or editor wants to see the rest of the manuscript, or a revised version of the manuscript, he or she will let you know.
Blessed are the conferences whose critique area is furnished with water bottles or a water carafe and glasses, for they shall be called the oases of people talking at great length and high speed.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Several Habits of Highly Effective Writers' Conferences: Critiques
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I'm not organizing any critique sessions any time soon, but from the POV of the writer, a couple of things in your post caught my eye:
ReplyDelete"the length of the manuscript in page count (not word count; I have never yet met an editor who thinks in word count, so that number tends to be meaningless to us)"
I had no idea. The impression on the writers' side is that font and layout can do all kinds of things to page numbers, but the "true" length of a book is its word count, ie, how much stuff is in it. (Obviously a writer submitting work shouldn't be playing around with layout--but if you are trying to get a sense of your length as compared to other published books in your genre, it's more accurate to compare word counts than page counts because of the layout issue.) So it interests me to see that writers and editors see this so differently.
"...and then a brief plot summary and/or the author’s intention for the book—what he or she set out to write with it--or both...having the description page saves valuable time during a critique where the author would have to summarize the rest of the book or tell me "This book is really about a post-parental-divorce identity crisis" when it sounds like just another paranormal romance novel."
So...you're saying it does not look totally gauche to briefly describe your plot, a la jacket copy, and to also mention the themes (that might not be obvious from the basic plot lines)? Because I find myself wanting to say that very thing sometimes...
What Rose said about word count. :) Your comment comes as a complete surprise to me and I'm sure it will to many others. Page count is meaningless to me, but word count? I understand word count.
ReplyDeleteThank you again, Cheryl, for your efforts to help writers make the most of our critique sessions. We are usually given guidelines to follow by the SCBWI chapter hosting the event. I had never thought of including page count, along with the word count, on my cover page--certainly easy enough to do--as well as the working status. I submit pieces for critique at every SCBWI meeting attended and find them enormously helpful for revision. Thank you to the editors and agents who spend time with my words and offer suggestions.
ReplyDeleteAbout the timer: as a classroom teacher and workshop presenter, I used a timer from Target which I found enormously helpful. You could set it for # of minutes desired, and it will beep quietly to signal a one minute warning for the conversation. Not expensive. Small and easy to tuck into your travel bag. Mine was even magnetic and stayed on my whiteboard for easy access.
As a writer being critiqued, I always long for 5 more minutes. It seems that I never have any time left to ask questions or clarify points after the editor/agent presents their thoughts. Meeting organizers tell me that more time just isn't possible in the day. So, I remain grateful for editors and agents who encourage and share their insight with me.
Interesting on the word count! I guess we editors don't think about the layout issue so much because most submissions seem pretty standard by this point: a 12-point font with a serif and 1"-1.5" margins, double-spaced. What we do think about is how much we have to print out to read (in the days before most of us had e-readers), how many pages are left in the ms. while we're reading or editing it, and how many pages the final book will be with standard type design (very loosely 1-1 or 1-1.25, though this too varies widely, obvs).
ReplyDeleteSo if you say to me "My fantasy manuscript is 200,000 words," I'll know vaguely that's long; but it's when I see all 600 (?) pages of it stacked up, and I know that's going to be a 500+ page bound book and will require a strong P&L to carry that high unit cost, that I have a sense of how much work I'll have to do in dealing with the ms., and how good it has to be to justify that length.
As for the themes, Rose -- I like seeing those in a description/overview page myself, for sure, if the author is thinking in those terms.
I've attended three writing conferences and had 3 appts with editors. All three asked for computer word count; granted, these were editors for adult fiction.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of adult fictions, when is Second Sight going to be available? I am looking forward to acquiring a copy.
I am so sorry about that last comment; Preview didn't work the way I expected. Ouch.
ReplyDeleteSo, here is the second paragraph again...
Speaking of writers of fiction, when will Second Sight be available? I am looking forward to acquiring a copy. Will there be enough sufficient availability to recommend it to other writers?
Cheryl -
ReplyDeleteI've awarded you a "One Lovely Blog" award. (probably not your first since you have such a great blog!)
I know you say it's bad for the writers to ask the critiquer if they want to see the entire manuscript. Is it okay to ask if they can submit whatever the editor/agent tells everyone else at the conference to submit once we've made revisions based on the critique? If not, I'm sorry I asked you that when you gave me your wonderful critique.
ReplyDeleteFrom an agent perspective, I think word count is king. Certainly for me. If someone gives me a page number, I have to mentally calculate it into word count before I have a real idea of how long it is.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this is because editors generally receive the work in a standardized format, whereas agents get all kinds of crazy fonts/sizes/margins?
In any case, I'm now wondering if perhaps I should be putting page number instead of word count in my pitch letters. Everyone else at the agency does word count, as far as I know, but maybe I'm just out of the loop on this one.
This whole series is very helpful for me. I'm heading off to some of my first conferences this year, and some of the organizers have asked our preferences. Now I have the benefit of your experience in answering that question. ^_^