Silver

High Praise Hooking...

No, not that kind of "hooking." I'm talking about the hook in a piece of writing. Today I went to an online writers group. We wrote for 45 minutes then shared our writing and got some feedback. I read Chapter 7 of the story I'm working on and the group gave me some great feedback. Two of them said my story played out like a movie scene and was compelling. Another person liked some of the phrases I used. The best thing I heard, however, was from the 2 guys in the group. They both agreed that my story was not something they would pick up and read, but as I read the chapter they were "hooked" and had to know what was going to happen next. The one guy said I had a definite page-turner going. YES! YES! YES! I ate that up like biscuits and gravy on Saturday morning.

Since this was my first time at this group, I didn't know what to expect. I loved that they all gave me specific lines that caught their attention. The two bits of constructive criticism were to 1. Consider making Ch. 7 the opening chapter and weave the backstory from the beginning in as a flashback; and 2. Have the main character look for her phone immediately upon waking up because that's what a real person would do. I thought both suggestions were helpful and I will look at making some changes. Not sure I want to ax the first 6 chapters and turn them into flashbacks, but I might move some things into the protagonist's thoughts.

I met some great people and good writers today. I'm looking forward to writing more. The group inspired me to get more down on the page before the next meeting.

I have my breakfast meeting with my best friend (who is a fabulous author with 7 books to her credit) in the morning. Nothing like waffles and WIPs on a Saturday morning...