Getting critiques

My science fiction opening chapter is up for review at Critique Circle and I'm realising how hard it is to avoid an info dump and yet to convey information. No one has realised that my Main Character is female and everyone makes the assumption that she is male. Clearly that says a lot about the default setting in our society but sadly it also tells me that my writing skills are not as honed as I'd hoped for. How do I keep the first person voice, but tell the world that I'm a she? In real life I don't often find the need to do that.

Back to the drawing board. I do like getting critiques, though. It matters a lot to me to know how my writing comes across to an audience.

Warning: strong language

I've recently seen reference to "the f-bomb" on Critique Circle Forums. I made me think about strong language and what we choose to censor.

When I told my mother I had edited my first draft of a story for her to read, taking out "all the 'f' words", she said, "If I worried about that I wouldn't read anything these days." Yet she hates strong language in conversation.

What puzzles me is the inconsistency. Sometimes on television a character will say "fuck" and it's allowed to be broadcast. Yet a recent trailer for The Colour of Magic had the word "bastard" censored, which to me is a less strong word. Americans seem to use the word "asshole" a lot but to bowdlerise profanity. In the UK, most people see "damn", "hell" and "bitch" as not swearing at all.

I have a high tolerance for strong language but I worry that I will offend other people. In writing fiction, the trick seems to be to write in the voice of one of the characters and use the language he or she would use. Nick Hornby uses this to good effect in A Long Way Down, where the characters each have their own voice and the choice between "fuck" and "f-" depends on which character is currently narrating.

Maybe I want it to be simple when it isn't. What do you think?

Under the bed

I'm writing a third novelette at the moment: this time it's science fiction again. I've decided that plotting a story before I start it is probably a good idea. A lot of writers seem to have worked this out a long time ago but I can be a bit slow at times.

I now have two "under the bed" novels, following the advice of the great Miss Snark and I suspect this new one will be the third. I have learnt so much, though, from the process. I think this is the first novelette I will have written that was not poured out during Nanowrimo. I don't know if that will make this one better, worse or simply unfinished.

I'm still trying to edit my last November's offering. Realising that the plot didn't make a lot of sense was a bit of a downer but the story does have some redeeming qualities. I think. I'm grateful to my friends at Critique Circle for helping me to try to make it a bit less abysmal.