Paid One-on-One Critique
Painful, but extremely beneficial experience, where a writer pays to an agent or other experienced professional in the publishing business, to critique his manuscript.
Here in the United States when you attend a writers’ conference, you can usually chose to have part of an ongoing project critiqued for a reasonable price, after all, those who opt for this service aren’t necessarily published, and can’t pay ostentatious prices. To many of us the cost of attending a conference itself can already break the bank.
I passed through this sieve, and survived, actually I believe I came out stronger. It was hard to hear about my shortcomings: this manuscript is too long for a YA novel, this chapter is too complex, and/or too mature; young readers prefer to have only one POV over the course of a story. Didn’t you know the children’s picture book market is saturated with speaking animals? Careful not to antagonize potential readers with stereotypes that are too explicit; this character seems too confused about his emotions, and so on. On critiques of the three different projects that I’m developing I’ve heard it all, and I clearly have a big problem with the word too.
I certainly don’t agree with absolutely everything I’ve heard, but the critiques made me see I still have a lot of work ahead of me, and I’m revising my manuscripts respecting certain market demands. Many will say that “marketing” should not shape art. I reflected a lot about it and I believe that if I want my readers to hear my message, I must speak their language. My most visceral writings can be kept hidden. Besides, I don’t even know if what I write can be called art anyway, I only know it makes me happy.