Yesterday I had my first ever in-person critique. I’d sent the first scene of my romance novel to a friend who works in that field, not realizing she’d be coming to town and thus would provide a conversation above and beyond the written crit.
Though there are a few changes that need to be made to the professional character, there isn’t anything (thankfully) that will require a total overhaul of the scene. Now it’s time to apply what I learned from her, make those changes, and then carry on through revising the recent rewrite. (Now that’s a mouthful!)
Because this is a contemporary novel, I’ve also got another professional ready to read the revised draft and comment on how realistically the job is portrayed. As far as I’m concerned, this is both the positive and the negative of writing contemporary. I love making things up for my fantasy novels, and figure that if I make it believable, that’s all that counts. But in the contemporaries, people KNOW how these professions work, even if I don’t, and I’d better not mess up the procedures without a really good reason.
I’m hoping to be finished this edit yet in April, but I don’t know if I’ll make it. Real Life seems to be intruding at work quite a lot these days and that cuts into my writing time. Sad but true.
Great point on the whole believability thing. Fantasy is easier for me in that way too. If I don’t already know a procedure/job/topic about which I am writing, I have to go find out about it first. Write what you know, and if you don’t know, get to know! Good idea to get people who know to read through as well. : )