How to: Online Critique Groups

So you’ve decided to join an online critique group? Good for you! When guidelines are established up front and followed, online critique can be enjoyable and boost your writing level.

An underappreciated aspect of critiquing other writers’ work is that you are less emotionally tied to every word and can discern where something stops working. It has been my experience that evaluating how a story is put together will cross over to your own work and help you to elevate your craft.

For critique to be constructive, praise the parts that are working as well as note where something doesn’t work. Articulate in a kind and helpful manner why it doesn’t work for you. Offering suggestions on possible different directions to take may be welcomed.

Who is a good match up for you?

(This may surprise you.) Any publication-minded writer who is familiar with story structure, who has a keen eye, and who has a kind way of phrasing their observations. I have had critique partners since the 1990s, so I know this to be true. The genre matchup between your work and your critique partner(s) need not be identical. Also, while it may be helpful if the other members of your critique group are at a similar place on their publication journey, it doesn’t matter as much as you might think.

Family members, best friends, or anyone who might rubberstamp your work to avoid hurting your feelings are rarely desirable for critique partners. Also, be on the lookout for toxic critiquers. These folks find fault with everything, and their input is rarely constructive. My advice? Bow out of that situation and try again.

What are your exchange parameters?

In general, the larger the group, the smaller the page count swapped (i.e., it would be arduous for a group of six people to swap 25-30 pages every week; 10 pages is a better amount for a larger group).For groups of two or three writers, 20-25 pages is a good ballpark number. Most groups use standard margins of one inch, double spacing, and a standard font such as Times New Roman size 12. Using Track Changes in Word gives you a way to add comments in the margin of the page. If your members aren’t familiar with Track Changes, another option is to use all caps or a different color of font for your remarks.

Clearly define what input you are seeking. For a piece that’s highly polished, a writer may want to know where you were tempted to put it down. For a first draft piece, a writer might want to know if the story flows, if the characters are believable, and so on. This may be author-specific or manuscript specific.

If you have more than two people in a group, decide if the critiques go back to the author or to the entire group. It can work either way, and it can also stimulate a discussion post-critique, if that’s what your group wants to do.

When will your group meet?

Keeping to a schedule is a good idea. That way, there are fewer surprises on submission dates. Decide upon frequency of submission and expected time of response. Some groups exchange weekly, some every other week, or some only at the beta reader stage. Whatever works for your group is the right answer.

Where will your group meet?

Most online critiquers opt for getting the exchanged files in their email Inboxes. Some may set up private social media groups for the exchange of files. Others may elect to connect via phone or a video chat service such as Skype.

How to critique

 Avoid stomping on someone’s dream. It takes a high degree of trust to put your work out there for peer review. The same people you are swapping with are also reviewing your work. Instead of offering negative feedback, provide constructive comments.

It is easy to make line edit suggestions, but grammar and punctuation are rarely the primary focus of an online critique group. Instead, critique partners often note story construction weaknesses, characterization inconsistencies, timeline issues, lack of setting in a scene, slow pacing, opening or closing hook needs strengthening, missing beats, untagged dialog, head hopping, and so on.

Showing vs telling is a common critique comment. If you notice an author “told” something instead of “showing” it, make a constructive comment to illustrate a showing in this situation. The goal is not to rewrite the work, but to offer a suggestion so that the author may own that revision.

Give praise where praise is due. A particularly well-drawn character, hero or villain, is a treat to readers, and the author should be praised for getting this right. Perhaps the dialog sparkles, the pacing is spot-on, or the settings are three dimensional – make sure you tell the author you noticed.

Writing styles vary. You want your critique partners to respect your style, so respect theirs. Style and voice are individual, and your goal as a critique partner is to make sure the work you are reviewing reflects the author, not your personal style.

Be kind. Nuance, humor, and tone don’t come through well during a critique, so make remarks in a neutral way. If you don’t understand something, say that instead of saying “you did something wrong.” Asking for clarification will help the author figure out what areas of the work need strengthening.

In summary, offer constructive feedback on writing craft elements in a neutral manner. Respect voice and style. Provide an example, if needed, for clarification of your remark. Praise aspects of the sub which are well done. Remember to be courteous and professional in how you phrase your remarks.

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Besties

Some of us are lucky to have best friends. It’s rare to have multiple best friends simultaneously, but I’ve been blessed to have two best friends my entire life. They are sisters, and they were my next door neighbors forever.

We grew up sharing scraped knees, Barbies, favorite songs, and chicken pox. We listened to rain on a tin roof, caught blue crabs in tidal creeks, and confided our deepest darkest secrets to each other. We forged friendships that have spanned more than fifty years.

So, when I decided to create a character foil for my amateur sleuth Baxley Powell, I wanted her to have the same rich and enduring friendship I’ve had. Newspaper reporter Charlotte Ambrose appears in every book of the Dreamwalker cozy mysteries, but she was in Baxley’s life long before the series.

In firming up their backstory, I decided this pair had been inseparable since grade school. Charlotte struggles with her weight, with confidence, and with upward career mobility. As a fulltime employee at a weekly paper, she can get title promotions, but the job remains the same, no matter the label. Meanwhile, Baxley struggles with her unusual skill of communicating with the dead, her burning desire to be normal, and her decision to suppress her psychic abilities for most of her life.

As children, teens, and adults, Charlotte and Baxley needle each other when they need an extra push. They support each other when things go wrong and cheer for each other’s successes. They’re in and out of each other’s houses all the time. Charlotte is the sister Baxley never had, and Baxley’s parents are Charlotte’s second set of parents.

This closeness works out well for best friends in real life and for characters in stories. For instance, when everyday things that happen to us, we turn to our friends first. Our friends are our sounding boards and our barometers. They tell us when we’re messing up, and they rat us out to our folks when we need it. The same goes for Baxley and Charlotte.

In book one of the series, Gone and Done It, Charlotte helps Baxley through the decision to become the Dreamwalker. She helps Bax when the admission of power totally whitens Baxley’s forelock. On the flip side, Baxley clues her friend into the first murder the county has had in forever. That’s solid gold and pure adrenaline for an ambitious reporter like Charlotte.

In the second Dreamwalker mystery, Bubba Done It, Charlotte gets first dibs on reporting the banker’s death, but her astute observations shape the overall police investigation. There’s a lot of give and take in their relationship and a squabble or two for good measure. As always, Charlotte remains the brains of the pair and Baxley the pluck.

And now we’re to book three in the series, the subject of this book release blog tour, Doggone It. With several months of dreamwalking under her belt, Baxley enjoys a more formal relationship with the sheriff’s department. The increased work and pay make her life as a single mom easier, but the more cop work she does, the less she can confide in Charlotte in real time. With Charlotte being a member of the press and Baxley on the side of law and order, a rift in their friendship threatens.

In addition, Charlotte’s reporting of two previous murder cases shakes up the pecking order at the paper and gains her notice throughout the state. She’s sure her next murder story will springboard her to a bigtime career. While Charlotte pursues fame and fortune, Baxley keeps a low profile. The people she meets are either dead, criminals, family of the dead, or cops. Her dreamwalking clients drop by at all hours of the day and night, leaving her little time for her friend.

Adjustments must be made if Baxley and Charlotte are to remain close friends.

Read more about Baxley and Charlotte in Doggone It!

Buy link on Kindle and Hardcover

This post originally aired at Storeybook Reviews on October 20, 2016  http://storeybookreviews.com/2016/10/guest-post-giveaway-doggone-it-by-maggie-toussaint/

Methods of death in mystery fiction

Killing off victims in mystery fiction isn’t as easy as you think. Shoot ’em is my default M.O. For most people, death follows getting shot in the heart or the head. Those are nearly always fatal wounds.

Right… But wait. If authors kill off all their victims by shooting them, readers think poorly of said authors. They think we’re gun freaks or something.

That’s not good.

Just as it’s not good to have all victims of one gender and all killers of another gender. Readers like variety. Writing mystery fiction isn’t as simple as wash-rinse-repeat.

Further, in cozy mysteries like my Dreamwalker series, the violence needs to happen off-screen. In other words, I research a means of death, learn enough about it to sound like an expert, and then keep 95 percent of that knowledge out of the book. Bummer.

On the bright side, I have talked to some interesting “experts” and I have fascinating books on my bookshelf. When my book on poisons arrived, my husband’s face turned white as an oyster shell. He held up the book, with the cover facing me, and said, “Should I be worried?” [Sidebar note: Family members often take a dim view of this kind of research.]

After reassuring him that I had no intention of killing him, I dove into the book on poisons. I knew from my days as a toxicologist that just about anything, even water, can be a poison depending on the dose. (In a previous book, I poisoned someone by giving them something in their coffee which reacted fatally with her prescription medication.)

So, how do I want to kill thee (on paper)? Let me count the ways… I’ve already mentioned shooting. That’s easy to explain because many suspects have access to weapons. But I have poisoned someone in a book. I’ve had several victims die from knife wounds. Recently I branched out and coshed someone on the head with a shovel. I’ve had a couple of victims who were drowned, a hit-and-run with an auto, an arsonist who killed with fire, a couple of drug overdoses. So far I haven’t killed anyone with a spider, snake, shark, or alligator, though I’ve used those elements to ramp up tension. I also haven’t asphyxiated anyone, either manually or with car exhaust. But I haven’t ruled them out for future books, or any other methods I might have overlooked.

For Doggone It, book 3 in a paranormal series, I chose the eerie setting of a haunted house that was being used as a movie backdrop. I also have the experience of seeing what happens when a film crew descends on a town. It’s a little strange and at times very over the top. Therefore, having someone be shot and killed would be too ordinary for this mystery.

In my opinion, people (and book characters) are a mixture of good and bad. The people who conform to societal norms are generally considered “good” people, while the individuals who operate outside of what is considered good and “right” are considered “bad.” Doggone It uses an unusual means of death for the victims, one that fuels my sleuth to get justice for them. She needs all her resources in this world and the next to catch this killer.

Want to learn more about Doggone It?

• Read an excerpt and the rave reviews at my website
• Buy it now on Amazon: Kindle or Hardcover
• Buy in Hardcover at Barnes & Noble

This post was originally seen at Paranormal & Romantic Suspense Reviews on Oct. 29, 2016

Uh-oh, I'm broken!

Raise your hand if you’ve ever accidentally pinched your finger while closing something or stumped your toe. There’s acute pain, followed by low-level throbbing unless you bang it again. When you have a physical injury, it’s hard to focus.

The same can be said for experiences that impact your senses, such as colds, fluid in your ears, and pink eye. These minor ailments heal in time, but nothing hurries that healing along. All the while, you’re expected to go about your ordinary routine as if you have no impairment.

Some people take to their beds when they have a malfunction. Some don’t miss a beat; they keep going like Energizer Bunnies. Whenever these “outages” happen to me, I mostly keep up with the basics and put the extras on hold. In general, I need more rest, and I tend to be more irritable when something’s wrong.

But Baxley Powell, the amateur sleuth in my Dreamwalker paranormal mystery series? How does she respond to losing her extra senses in Doggone It?

For most of her life, Baxley wanted to be normal and fit in with the other kids in her classes. It didn’t work out that way. Because of her surname, people (and their kids) knew she was “one of those Nesbitts.” Guys in her high school joked that if a guy went out on a date with Baxley, he also ask his dead grandpop for fishing advice.

In Doggone It, Baxley gets trapped in the drift between the realms of the living and the dead during a dreamwalk. After her rescue, she realizes her extra gears don’t work. All the things that made her different from everyone else are gone. That loss would’ve made the old Baxley ecstatic. Her lifelong goal of being like everyone else had been achieved.

But, her police consultant work depends on her extra gears, and she can’t afford to lose her job. According to her father, a former dreamwalker who endured this problem many times, she burned too much energy finding her way home from the dreamwalk. The good news is she will recharge. The bad news is not knowing how long that will take since this never happened to her before.


She tries to come to grips with her malfunction, but she just doesn’t feel like herself. Instead, she feels broken, like she’s limping along. In this midst of this trouble, a double homicide is reported. The sheriff collects her to go with him to the scene, the location of which is a veritable hot zone for sensitives. Baxley faces a horrible quandary. Does she dare tell the sheriff that she can’t do her usual extrasensory analysis of the scene?

Again, she turns to her father for advice. He loans her a pocket full of crystals, and the edginess she feels diminishes. She’s still not at full power, but she feels poised enough to view the murder scene tonight. She’ll have time to examine (and read) the evidence later.

Part of Baxley’s character arc in this story is accepting her new role and its pitfalls, with grace, fortitude, and courage. Being a dreamwalker and crossing between worlds comes with unusual occupational hazards. Fortunately, Baxley is developing experience with unusual everything.

For more about Doggone It, please visit my website at http://www.maggietoussaint.com

Doggone It buy links:
Amazon Kindle
Amazon hardcover
Barnes and Noble hardcover

This post is a re-blog from Doggone It's Great Escapes Blog Tour. It originally appeared at Brooke Blogs on Oct. 17, 2106 http://www.brookeblogs.com/doggone-it-maggie-toussaint/

To visit the haunted house or not?

In Doggone It, amateur sleuth Baxley Powell reluctantly agrees to visit June’s Folly, a haunted house, with her reporter friend, Charlotte. I say reluctantly because Baxley has a bad history with the place. The last time she went there, the energy of the place shorted her circuits, she passed out, and her father had to rescue her.

That was over ten years ago and she’s learned tons about shielding herself since then. Besides, Charlotte will go out there whether Baxley accompanies her or not. Baxley doesn’t think it’s safe for her friend to be out there alone, so they head out there together at dusk. Charlotte’s sure her feature on haunted houses will land on the front page and further advance her rise to fame and fortune.

When Baxley says her expertise is in spirits from beyond, Charlotte tells her “tough” and suggests her dreamwalker friend change her frequency so she could talk to earthbound spirits. Baxley has no intention of tapping into any spirit frequency in the swamp. She’s along for moral support.

It should have been so easy. Drive out there. Snap a few pictures, peek in the windows of the abandoned mansion, and scoot back home. Baxley does her part, shielding herself from the bad juju at June’s Folly. Even walking up to the house, she still feels strong and in command of her senses.

Not so, Charlotte. She sinks down on the steps and can’t manage to move at all. When Baxley touches her friend’s hand, she discovers Charlotte is ghostly cold. Somehow, non-sensitive Charlotte has found the ghost at the haunted house. Charlotte is none too happy about the occurrence and demands her friend’s help.

Baxley is in a jam. If she doesn’t help her friend by sussing out the ghost, she’ll be a wimp forever. But for her to access the ghost, she has to lower her paranormal protection. She’ll be vulnerable to a psychic attack, just like she was as a teenager. At 28, she’s too old to call her dad to come get her.

The longer she deliberates, the more anxious her friend becomes, and the guiltier Baxley feels. Why does this haunted house have to be smack dab in the middle of a swamp?

Charlotte wants the real story of June’s Folly, but Baxley never planned to do more than chaperone this adventure. Getting involved in the ghost assessment was not on her to-do list. It topped the list of items not to do.

You’ve met and overcome all manner of baddies on the spirit side of the veil, the logical side of her brain insists. But this place is like kryptonite to you – you should be scared, whines her inner child.

Usually Baxley relies on her intuition to guide her, but her senses are locked down so tight that she can’t tell if her fear is warranted or a remnant of a childhood mishap. There’s no way she would ever consider abandoning her best friend, and it’s tearing her up to see her friend out of commission.

What to do? Save her friend? Risk a similar or worse fate for herself?

Share your advice for Baxley.

Now available at: https://www.amazon.com/Doggone-Dreamwalker-Mystery-Maggie-Toussaint-ebook/dp/B01M4HICXJ/

 ~*~

BIO. Southern author Maggie Toussaint writes mystery, suspense, and dystopian fiction. Her work won the Silver Falchion Award for best mystery, the Readers’ Choice Award, and the EPIC Award. She’s published fifteen novels as well as several short stories and novellas. The next book in her paranormal mystery series, Doggone It, releases October 2016. Maggie serves on the board for Southeast Mystery Writers of America and Low Country Sisters In Crime. Visit her at www.maggietoussaint.com.

All images except the bookcover were purchased from Dreamstime.

This post was first aired at http://communitybookstop.blogspot.com/2016/10/guest-post-daggone-it-author-maggie.html

BOOK RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT: DOGGONE IT

Dear Friends,

My latest dreamwalker mystery, Doggone It, is now available in Kindle format, with hardcover format becoming available in two weeks.

To celebrate the launch, I'm throwing a party tonight (Oct 20, 2016) on Facebook, at Book Launch Party, from 6:30 to 8 pm EST. I hope you can join me for the festivities.

I’ll be at DruAnn’s blog on Oct 20 and Writers Who Kill on Oct 26

Great Escapes Blog Tour for Doggone It
October 20 – Teresa Trent Author Site – REVIEW
October 21 – Books,Dreams,Life – REVIEW
October 22 – 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too! – REVIEW
October 23 – Island Confidential – INTERVIEW
October 24 – Community Bookstop – GUEST POST
October 25 – fuonlyknew – REVIEW
October 26 – T’s Stuff – REVIEW
October 27 – Brooke Blogs – GUEST POST
October 28 – The Book’s the Thing – REVIEW
October 29 – Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews – GUEST POST
October 30 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST
October 30 – deal sharing aunt – REVIEW
October 31 – Jane Reads – REVIEW
I hope you’ll join me on all these fun tour stops!

Booksignings are as scheduled: Darien, GA (Nov 11, at 11 am, Old Jail Art Center), Thomasville, GA (Thomas County Public Library, Nov 18, noon), and St. Simons Island, GA (Jan. 26, 10:30 am, Coffee with the Author, Casino).

Buy the Kindle format

Happy Reading,

Maggie Toussaint

http://www.maggietoussaint.com

The reviews are starting to arrive for my upcoming release, DOGGONE IT, and I'm pleased to share with you today the entire Kirkus Review for book 3 in my Dreamwalker Mystery Series. (the paragraph indentations are mine to provide ease of reading)

“In Toussaint's (Bubba Done It, 2015, etc.) third Dreamwalker adventure, a woman with an unusual job risks her life to unravel a mystery. Baxley Powell works as a dreamwalker for her high school friend Wayne, who's now the sheriff for their small Southern town.

Her psychic powers have helped Wayne close several previous cases, and she's come to depend on the money from her dangerous part-time job. The Army has declared her husband dead but refuses to release his pension, leaving her to wonder where he really is while she works as a gardener and petsitter to pay the bills for her daughter, Larissa, and herself.

Now tales of a buried pirate treasure have prompted someone to dig holes all over town, and when Baxley's best friend, Charlotte, a reporter bucking for a promotion, begs her to look for clues in June's Folly, a reportedly haunted house, the visit nearly kills her. Only the interventions of Rose, a powerful spirit, and Oliver, a friendly canine ghost, save her from being overwhelmed by evil forces.

Meanwhile, a film company has spent a lot of money in the area to make a movie about the fabled pirate treasure. But not everyone is happy they've come. When someone viciously murders a film-crew member and a local boat captain, suspects abound.

Baxley's father, also a dreamwalker, and her mother, whose crystal therapy has helped Baxley recover from other dangerous encounters, warn her to be careful. But she knows she has to be a force for good no matter how dangerous the task, and she attempts to muddle through with some timely assistance from a suicidal medium and a Chihuahua. Plenty of hair-raising action as the likable, gutsy lead battles forces of evil.” – Kirkus Reviews

I couldn't be more pleased! Thank you, Kirkus for such a wonderful review.

Pre-order of the hardcover available now at Amazon and Barnes&Noble. The digital format is not available on pre-order. It will release on October 19, 2016.

I have a blog tour booked with Great Escapes (Schedule is posted on my website's home page) and I'll be hosting a Facebook Launch Party. Folks within driving distance of coastal Ga, keep an ear out for my booksigning in Darien in early November.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Maggie Toussaint