Give it Away
by the MVWG Member He Said/She Said duo Scott and Heidi Blanke
Sometimes when you’re in a critique group and you ask a fellow writer about their next chapter or even the book’s ending, they reply with
“You’ll see.”
Well, Heidi & Scott will see about that.
She Said
It makes me crazy. This is a critique group, not a book series that depends on mystery to sell the next volume. What do you gain from holding back? Can you answer me that, huh? I realize you want to entice me to come back next time to hear the next chapter. But I’m going to be there regardless; I paid my dues and I aim to get my money’s worth. The words “you’ll see” are a signal to me to tune out, not tune in.
As a fellow writer, I want you to succeed. Keeping me in suspense doesn’t allow me to help you go from your current chapter to the next one. What if, knowing what comes next, I can make a suggestion that will help you get there? What if, when you tell me the ending, I can come up with plot points you haven’t yet thought about?
“You’ll see” says to me that you want to do this all by your lonesome and a critique group is nothing more than a chance to have an audience, at least for twenty minutes. C’mon, share your future, and let your critique group take you from a few minutes of fame to infinity and beyond.
He Said
What mantra do we learn as writers? What do agents, editors, and publishers harp on daily? It’s the adage Show, Don’t Tell! I feel if I tell my critique group the ending of the chapter, or worse, the finale of my book, I am revealing my baby before I’m ready to deliver. It is not that I don’t trust or respect my group. It’s just that I love to see their Zoom smiles when I SLOWLY build up to the end. I feel my chapters are more page-turners for my critique friends if they are as surprised as my future readers.
When I have a knife held up to my throat by my wife and made to reveal my endings, do I pout? Well, maybe a little. I value my critique group’s and my wife’s brilliant suggestions. But I still like to surprise them. After all, variety, um, err… surprise is the spice of life.
Scott and Heidi are retired and live in La Crosse they spend their days writing, reading aloud to their grand children via Zoom and looking forward to the day we can all write and read together in person again.