Today was our first critique in my tutorial class.  It was unusual because we read our work aloud and then critiqued it immediately after.  Because this is the first week of class, we didn’t have adequate time to critique work outside of class in just one day.  This is the only time we’ll be doing read aloud critiques, which is good!  I wasn’t a fan.  It felt rushed and I didn’t always have a copy of the story in front of me to follow along (and I’m very much someone who needs to follow along).  And it was hard to jot down notes and listen at the same time.

The project I’ve decided to work on for my Advanced Tutorial is an idea that came to me last summer and I just started working on this past winter.  It is very new, very rough, and today was the first time I shared it with the world.

What I’m willing to share online in terms of concept is I’m doing a steampunk twist of a piece of classic literature.  It will involve a strong heroine, clockwork creatures, ghosts, romance, and an evil lady who’s part of a secret society.

Critique Feedback

I got comments on good pacing which I consider my strength.  But I was nervous because the beginning of this particular project was backstory, and I was worried about the backstory being not engaging.  But my class LOVED the way I did the backstory!  Yay!

My class said I have memorable lines, vivid descriptions, and a nice blend of drama and humor.  I’m funny?  Didn’t think I was that funny, but I’ll take it.  And supposedly my main character has a mathematical and scientific view of the world in her voice that is intriguing… I really don’t know how I pulled that off, and I hope I can continue that voice through the rest of the novel.

In terms of constructive criticism, there were questions about age progression (I had issues with the age of the main character, so I expected that).  They wanted a scene with the mother.  And they wanted a description of the nursery setting.  All of which I will consider doing so long as it doesn’t mess with the pacing too much.  I like my pacing fast.

Next Thursday will be my first 20 page critique and I definitely have some writing to do this weekend… in a mathematical/scientific voice… yipes!  I really hope that comes out naturally because it wasn’t a conscious thing.