Sharing Constructive Criticism

January 22nd

Last Thursday’s Advanced Creative was a milestone for me.  I was the first one called upon to read my initial offering Having It All.  It’s the first imagined ‘short story’ I’ve written in more than 40 years and the ‘brief’ was to get all these biblical and marital elements into 500 words.  I overran by a 100, earning a mild reproof from Josie, the teacher, but everyone was very complimentary about the story itself, and found things in it even I didn’t know I’d put there!

Like it was from one character’s point of view and not the other.   That hadn’t even entered my head!   Two other readers who followed me were absolutely brilliant.  One did a ‘take’ on Gardener’s Question time with wonderfully inventive names and the other a very clever piece on a religious theme about a ‘Brother’ and a bottle of wine.   As I tend to write at Woman’s Own level and this was without doubt ‘literature’, I felt a bit stupid.  The theme of next week’s homework is ‘Backs’ and I’m wondering how on earth to be inventive with that!

Got very chatty with a couple of fellow students, Frances and Abode but we haven’t reached the ‘let’s have a drink’ stage.  Maybe mature students don’t ‘do’ drinks after college.   

I’ve still only written 2,500 words of my book, and nothing since last Monday.  When other people say they’ve written 20,000 and 40,000 words, I feel a slouch, but somehow working (which also involves writing) always seems to take precedence.  I just decide to get down to it and the phone rings or someone wants something!  

Two women, Linda and Julie read chapters of their work out today.   There is just so much talent around.   Linda’s dark fantasy is unbelievably imaginative.  I can see it becoming a real blockbuster; it's just the sort of thing that sells. 

I’m finding it quite hard to be expected to dissect someone else’s writing and suggest ways to improve it, which is basically what this class is all about, because fantasy is what you believe it to be or mean, and anyway, what gives me the right to be critical.  It feels a bit like ‘A’ Level English classes, when we used to dissect famous poems for their hidden meanings. 

 I now have a deadline for my own work, which should put a much-needed rocket up my backside.  It’s my turn to read out loud in the Novel Approach Monday class next week and have my work pulled apart for constructive criticism.  I’ve realised it’s quite one thing to write a long imagined text that you are reasonably content with, or to have a story in your head bursting to get out.  But it’s quite another thing to write it down for other people to see/hear/pull apart.   I have to email a copy over to teacher Roger by Friday so he can photo copy it for the class, so I’d better get cracking!

Andrea Kon is writing a weekly blog about her experience of going back to school. Check next week for her next installment.

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