By Claire Moore
So you’ve written a book – devoted countless hours (hopefully you weren’t actually counting) toward its creation. Bravo! Well done! But wait, how do you know if your book reads as you imagined, or that you’re on the right track? Critique groups, baby.
“They’re necessary,” said Sue Berger, a published author and one of the minds behind The Pen and Ink Blog, a blog devoted to the “wild, wild world of children’s literature.” This is why the Los Angeles chapter of SCBWI hosts a Critiquenic each year. This year’s event took place on Sunday, June 11th at the Skirball Cultural Center.
More than 70 writers – some aspiring, some published but beginning new works – gathered to give and receive feedback on their picture books, chapter books, middle grade, and young adult manuscripts. For longer manuscripts, writers kept their critiques to the first five pages.
