ABCtales Critiquing Service - good reports!

Over the years many of you have asked for a critiquing service and it has taken a long time to find (a) someone good enough to do it well and (b) someone who will charge what we regard as a reasonable fee.

Finally, we've done it!

Lorraine Mace is a freelance writer, columnist and tutor for the Writers Bureau.

Winner of the Petra Kenney International Poetry Competition (comic verse category), Lorraine's fiction, features and humour have appeared in magazines in the USA, the UK, France, Australia and the Republic of Ireland.

Humour columnist for Writing Magazine, she is also the deputy editor and writing agony aunt for the Words with JAM e-zine for writers. She is the author of The Greatest Moving Abroad Tips in the World and co-author, with Maureen Vincent-Northam, of The Writer’s ABC Checklist (revised edition now available with new publishers, Accent Press).

Kentishjane used this service and has reported:

'Lorraine did a brilliant critique on my childrens' story "The Clarendon Boys". She pin- pointed all my hazy doubts and queries unerringly, raised lots of valid issues with plot line and construction, corrected my appalling lay-out and format, and showed me how to keep my story in the right "person"; and to my mind I have received a total Creative Writing Course in this one critique..
I can never thank her enough.
I am not going to re-write the story, not because she was critical, but because I feel I am written out on this topic. The most important thing is that I have learned so much from Lorraine that I want to put it all into practice in my new book .......'

akanabi used Lorraine's service and reports:

'I want to say a big 'thank you' for all the good work you have been doing at ABCtales and, especially, on this occasion for introducing the critique services of Lorraine Mace.

I put through one of my stories, and I am pleased with the very useful comments and suggestions she offered. It was definitely good value, and I will be sending more of my stories in future.'

Lorraine is now prepared to offer ABCtales members a 10% discount on her usual fees if they contact her via the link below. This means a fee of £27 instead of £30 for work between 1,001 and 3,000 words and £13.50 instead of £15 for flash fiction up to 1,000 words.

Connect here to pay:

ABCtales Critique

Connect here to find out more and to submit your work:

http://www.lorrainemace.com/index_files/abctales.html

To be utterly transparent: ABCtales receives £2 for each critique where the member pays £27 and £1.50 for the flash critiques.

We do hope that you find this service useful.

Comments

I have recently submitted a story that I was not at all fond of so thought it would be a good piece to have critiqued by Lorraine in the hope that I might learn from her critique and so turn it into something worth reading. I must say her charge was very reasonable for the amount of work she put in and I am in the process of doing a complete re-draft. I would thoroughly recommend her. Moya
 

That's interesting Moya. Thanks for the input.

 

There must be a better way of finding a follow auther. but i can't find one Could someone let me into the secret

Tommy Glynn Cheshire

you have spelt author wrong!

I found a recent critique from Lorraine's invaluable. It invites you to re-visit your work from a different perspective, gives you distance and suggestions you need to make essential improvements. Would recommend highly.

 

Sending in my third attempt at the same short story that Lorraine will soon know off by heart.  My reasoning is that if I once get this story right then it can act as a sort of template for any stories that might follow.  I have found her advice excellent so all I've got to do now is assimilate what she has in effect taught me.  I am determined to get it right if it is the last thing I do write right. Now you can see why I need help.

Moya

 

I think it is good that a critique service is available. However I also agree with Hanif Kureshi's recent comment in one of the broadsheets that what is best is to have the judgement of a friend that one trusts. I do not use a critique service myself.

I don't agree with last comment. Anonymity and professional distance don't guarantee the best critique but a single strand relationship reduces complications. The best advice I got was from someone working for Unbound whose name I didn't even know.  My impression is that you reach a point where you know your own strengths and weaknesses and the most useful comments echo and amplify that inner voice you've been trying to ignore.