… we […] often look for what is wrong with a piece of fiction. Now, that’s certainly useful. It’s important to know when something’s confusing or dull or structurally unsound. But what I find that I need more and more–and need to learn how to do–is a critique that pushes fiction to that next level, that wow level. Like Cecil’s admonishment to “look for your inner rage and inner perv,” critiquing a competent story is all about seeing its cracktastic potential and about having standards that are higher than good. And it’s about finding the great parts of a story and pushing the rest of the it toward those parts. It is a whole mental shift for me in terms of thinking about fiction and it is hard.
Watch this girl. Better yet, read her. Get Tithe. Start there.
I knew you would like her!! She was at the library thing I went to yesterday, and I’m crushed I didn’t see her stand up and be acknowledged, so I could track her down afterwards and heap praise upon her.
Good book, read it a couple of years ago.