Honestly. Writing groups have got to be the best thing since…I don’t know. The invention of the computer? Which is something my writing group and I were talking about during our first meeting. To be fair, my writing group is me and one other person so far. Everyone else is too busy doing other things. But what an other person she is! SO good and SO cool. I gave her about 50,000 words, she had it read and had already called and emailed by the very next day with all these amazing suggestions. And she managed to make me feel like I actually had something worth working on, rather than just giving a heavy sigh and making recommendations for what I could do to try and fix it if I really wanted to bother with it… (Which is pretty much what any creative writing class/teacher has always made me feel like.)
But there’s still the embarrassment factor. Can’t get over that just yet. It’s SO hard. Especially when she’s making all of these suggestions for things I feel like I should have already fixed. For example… I have a serious problem with the passive voice. Instead of the show, not tell business, I tell what’s going on with a quick sentence or two so that I can get to the fun dialogue and witty banter. Hell. Maybe even that’s not as good as I think it is. Nevertheless, she’s pointed out all of these other places where I can improve on that. The real humiliation would come if she ever knew how much of that crap I’ve already fixed. The whole first few pages used to be one long dissertation by my main character on how she got from the library to her rooms. Now, at least, I put in some overheard conversations.
And the details of writing. Just with her suggestions, I already feel like she’s got a better idea of the damn castle than I do. This is why she’s so good. I don’t know or remember or even think of doing those little details. Why don’t I think of that? What exactly DO I think of when I’m writing? Hm. And am I getting any better at it?