How I Crit, Part II
By Rachel Bailey
(Article first appeared in RWNZ’s Heart to Heart, May, 2008)

This month, to follow on from the great insights of last month, the fabulous “Witches” have generously agreed to share their critting process with us. The Witches are three RWNZ members, Christina Phillips, Amanda Ashby and Sara Hantz, and their British friend, Pat Posner. They critique as a group and have had great success so far with three of them published and the fourth poised on the brink.  

So, here they are – our very own Witches!

How did the Witches come to be?

It started, like many good things, in the eHarlequin forums. Pat and Christina met up in Ola's Clinic, the thread run by (the then unpublished) Medical and Desire author, Olivia Gates. One day Pat emailed Christina out of the blue to chat about their writing, and after a few weeks they began to exchange chapters to crit.

Then Pat won an on-line pitch with an editor from M&B and while in the cyber waiting room she hitched up with a fellow pitchee, Amanda Ashby. They met up later that year in the real world at the RNA Conference in Durham.

After the conference Christina got in touch with Amanda after reading some of her work and they exchanged emails. A few weeks later Amanda mentioned she'd like to read something of Christina's, who was so excited by this offer she immediately sent the poor girl an entire manuscript! Thankfully this didn't kill their fledgling friendship and then there were three in the CP group.

In January 2004, Sara (ex-pat living in New Zealand and cyber friend of Amanda) and Christina (ex-pat living in Western Australia) decided to attend the RNA conference in the UK. A thread was set up on eHarlequin for those attending, and by lurking they discovered quite by chance that they would be on the same plane from Singapore to Heathrow. If that's not a sign, then we don't know what is!!

Although Amanda and Pat, both living in the UK at the time, had already met, it wasn't until July 2004 that the four of us got together for the first time at the conference. After Sara and Christina returned home we all stayed in touch, and a few weeks later we became The Witches (warts and all, cackle cackle), a quartet of CPs, MSN sluts and great friends.

Christina Phillips (paranormal and fantasy erotic romance)
On the final run through before a ms is off to the agent or editor, I line edit. My method of choice is by using red text, although I have been known to use blue on occasion. I don't use the track change since that is far too technical for my little brain! So, I read through the ms and make comments whenever something strikes me, eg. could be spelling or grammar (although I'm not too hot on grammar) or continuity. I do notice if names/places/timelines wibble out of sync.
 
I'll make notes if something doesn't make sense to me or I feel needs clarification from a reader's perspective. I also comment when I especially love anything - I think it's important to show which bits you think are fantastic. After that initial ms crit, we'll often email back and forth discussing particular suggestions or hammering out new plot points or whatever. When revisions come through, we go through the same process. Basically, we're all there for each other at any time one of us needs writerly support, brainstorming sessions or a good kick up the rear!

Amanda Ashby (women’s fiction and young adult):
Out of the four of us I am by far the weakest when it comes to spelling and grammar, so it's very rare that I will do any line editing though every now and then something will stand out and I'll pick it up (and then gloat and think I'm very clever!!). Instead I tend to concentrate on bigger issue things like plot, character and dialogue.

I do mark up the manuscript as I go (but not by the track change thing since I don't know how to use it!). I either just do it in red or highlight it and then write my notes next to it. I also give comments at the end as well to sum up what I thought and if I've got any ideas or suggestions I'll always say them as well.

I'm very close to my cps so I always try and be honest with them because ultimately I want them to send out their best work and vice versa. Thankfully because we've been together for so long, we don't really have to pussy foot around each other.

I think it can take time to find the right cps and I know I'm incredibly lucky to be in a group that I trust so completely. The only downside is that if one of us gets rejected, it can feel like we've been rejected as well! Though on the plus side, when one of us gets a new sale, it lifts the whole group!!!

Pat Posner (multi published UK children’s author who has also sold to People’s Friends and My Weekly):
If there’s something I think definitely needs looking at I highlight the word/s in yellow and make my notes next to it in red.  Checking spelling is a bit iffy these days, because Amanda Americanises hers so I’ll often say: “Is this the American spelling?”  If I’m making a suggestion, I comment in blue. Because we sometimes see the mss – or parts of them – more than once, I tend not to highlight the bits I love on the final read, but mention them again in the email. Oh, and I’ve learned to never have a coffee while I’m critting Christina’s mss - she so often sneaks in something outrageous that causes a splurt!
 
We are so lucky we found each other, the four of us have different strengths and weaknesses (I know my head-hopping tendency is nowhere near as bad since I became a witch and Sally/Sara helped enormously when I decided to write one in 1st person). And, even though we’re all writing in different genres, it works out really well. Especially as we have a Blurb Queen in Amanda!

Sara Hantz (young adult):
When I crit, I look at all aspects of the manuscript. I do line edit, but because I’m a totally rubbish proof reader (only ever see what I want to see) then sometimes things get past me (but that’s okay, Pat is a whiz at proofing). I have tried using track changes but it didn’t go down too well with the others, so I usually make my corrections in red and sometimes highlight. I’ll try and make suggestions, if things don’t work for me, and will always point out where something make me laugh. The thought of Karen’s vomit scene still cracks me up and she wrote it years ago. I know when I point out anything to do with emotional depth/punch it makes the others laugh, because before I met them it was a concept that was totally alien to me. The three of them taught me how to use it in my writing, and without it no way would I be published today. So I owe them a great debt (ok… enough with the warm and fuzzies).
 
My main strength (I say strength loosely because it has been known to drive the others to collectively bang their heads on their keyboards) is my obsession with all things logical. So, if someone (probably Amanda, as paranormal seems to lend itself to this sort of thing) tells me how their character wrapped their leg around their neck, whilst at the same time peeling a grape, answering the phone and saving the world from destruction, then I stop reading and try it out to make sure it’s possible (much to the amusement of others in my household).

Thanks so much Christina, Amanda, Sara and Pat!  If you want to read any more from these fabulous writers, check out Christina’s website http://www.christinaphillips.com/  for excerpts and covers of her books, Foretaste of Forever and Touch of the Demon. You can visit Amanda at her website  http://www.amandaashby.com and perhaps read about her releases, You Had Me at Halo and Zombie Queen of Newbury High. Sara’s website is www.sarahantz.com where you can see her gorgeous cover for The Second Virginity of Suzy Green.

Happy critting!