OryCon and Lake Oswego High School

And what, you may ask, do OryCon and Lake Oswego High School have in common?

They both are sources of critiques for my manuscripts.

OryCon is a huge Science Fiction/Fantasy convention that’s been around since the late seventies. I’ve never been before and I can’t imagine why, it looks like fun. How could it not be with over 1,500 sci fi/fantasy lovers all in one place?

At the OryCon Writer’s Workshop I’ll get a fellow writer’s and a pro’s critique on the first 7,500 words of both my manuscripts for just $10 apiece. Such a deal!

Of course, this means that I had to critique two manuscripts. The ones I received were Vampire Seminarian by Jeff Nichols and Tales from the Curr’s Head by Anna Lewis. They were fun to read and I was surprised at how inspiring and instructive it was. Looking at another writer’s work, seeing what they do well and not so well, and thinking about what it needs to make it even better helps you look at your own work more constructively.

As for the Lake Oswego connection, a friend of a friend is an English teacher a Lake Oswego High School and was kind enough to ask her students if any of them wanted to critique a Y/A fantasy. She got ten takers.

And I have another friend who just happens to be in high school, loves fantasy, and knows something about the tarot. She is reading my manuscript as well.

And I have two other other friends who are voracious sci-fi/fantasy geeks. I’m also waiting for their comments on the first manuscript.

So right now, I’m living the Emperor card reversed. Nothing to do but wait and hope that my readers will like the manuscripts and have lots of useful suggestions for me.

Once I get the critiques back, I anticipate a massive rewrite. When that’s finished, I will call the first manuscript done and start sending it off to agents.