After completing the first draft of my novel, Green Kiddies, I uploaded the opening chapters to the You Write On website. The feedback (both good and bad) and support I received helped me to shape and rework the chapters so that they became, in my opinion, the best they could be. I also used Authonomy briefly but felt I needed the 'enforced' structure of a credit system to approach critiquing properly (there was just way too many good books to read on there and I didn't have enough time to do all of the read-swaps offered!).

So, after a year of waxing and polishing, I decided to submit my work to a literary agent. Suffice to say I got a standard rejection letter which left me unsure of where I had gone wrong. Was my synopsis badly written, was the work not commercial enough, had I spelt the agents name wrong...? I made the decision to invest in a professional critique using the You Write On website's connections and paid £89 for a critique of the first 8,000 [approx] words of my novel.  I waited patiently for the critique to arrive - which it did exactly when it was supposed to - and used the time to make a start on my next book.

 I was most impressed with the depth of the critique and so have decided to share some of it with other Struggling Authors. I have included just a couple of the comments from the critique below but if you would like a copy of the full document and/or a copy of the version of Green Kiddies they were critiquing, please use the contact form to request it.

In summary - Using the feedback given from an editor in 'the trade' (they work for Orion Publishing) has helped me to make the decision to do a rewrite of Green Kiddies in the near future. 

Editor's critique:

Synopsis:

While your synopsis gives a good overview of the story, it doesn’t really detail the main events of the plot or indicate how the story will progress. If you are submitting an unsolicited manuscript to a publisher (i.e. not through a reputable agent), most publishing houses will only accept a synopsis and the first three chapters. If your synopsis doesn’t tell the reader what will happen following on from those three chapters, it can be very hard to get a sense of what the book is about.

Pace:

I think the narrative needs a stronger and clearer dramatic drive, augmented by a greater sense of urgency.  Some cutting and restructuring of scenes will help with this. While the unhurried, reflective approach fits well with the story, the lack of pace can create stagnation in your narrative.