Daisy Fried
Poet

 

Manuscript Critique 

Full-length poetry collections (48-90 pp) and chapbooks (18-45 pp)

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​How it works: 

On a mutually agreed-on date, you will send me your manuscript along with a letter providing any commentary and asking any specific questions you have about individual poems, manuscript sections, or the manuscript as a whole.

 

I take four weeks to read, think about, and write back to you  your manuscript after you first submit it.

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I write a detailed report about individual poems, down to a line-by-line level as needed, and also commenting on what’s at the heart of the manuscript, thematically and stylistically. I consider the arc and order of the poems in the manuscript as a whole, in terms of dynamics, development of themes, and overall impressions and my sense of the manuscript’s force and success. Different manuscripts need different approaches to the mysterious thing called “arc.” Some have content/theme-based development. Some simply need varied arrangement according to tone, form, length, pacing, etc. Some need both. Some need more poems, and I may suggest directions for those. Some need fewer. My goal is always to let the individual work guide me rather than to fit your work into some pre-existing mold. 

 

You then get a mutually-agreed-on amount of time to do one of two things:

*write back with questions about my report to you, and to raise any questions you have which I didn't answer, after which I would write back to you in response again, with another mutually-agreed upon deadline,
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*same thing: questions, etc., on what I have sent you, with responses from me, but conducted as a conversation via zoom or Facetime of 1-2 hours.

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Cost: Full-length manuscript critique: $1500. Chapbook manuscript critique: $900 

 

My approach: I get excited by the fact that each manuscript has its own set of rules, logic and necessity. I believe it’s important to tell you in detail what I think is working well, and what you are doing, very specifically, to make things work well. I am also respectfully frank about what I think might not be working. I believe that critique doesn’t provide the last word as to what should happen as much as it does a strong opinion to which you can react. Maybe you take some of the advice because it coincides with your vision of yourself and your work. Maybe you reject it, but it helps you articulate said vision. Maybe you reject it, but it sends you in a new direction you hadn’t thought of before. Most likely it’s a combination of the three.

 

I try very hard to put on your ears and eyes and understand your intentions—I’m not interested in some external standard of the way poetry should be written. I think there are a million different ways for poems to be good, and that the writing of a poem and of a manuscript is a series of hundreds? thousands? of choices that have to do with who the poet is, not who I am. I will also acknowledge my biases as honestly as possible so that you can take that into account when thinking about my advice. I don’t say any of this as a disclaimer but as a strong belief that no one has the “right” advice for another person’s poem, nor that there’s any truth to the way poems should be.

 

Logistics: I prefer to get manuscripts as e-mail attachments in a word doc, and I have various methods of responding to your work: 1) extensive marginal comments, using the “review” function in Microsoft Word (if Word is a problem, let me know and we’ll figure something else out) 2) with editing suggestions worked in (clearly and identifiably) to the body of your poem(s) (that is, you’ll always be able to tell when I’ve added something to the page—there won’t be any invisible changes!) and 3) in narrative format in a letter. You can expect to get a multi-page letter from me with comments on each poem. 

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Private Mentorships

 

I usually conducted private mentorships by email packet exchange. In most cases we would set up a 3-to-6 month "packet exchange" by e-mail, where the poet sends me a pre-agreed-upon number of poems (or poems and craft papers if that's your preference). I read and write back about them in detail.

 

With the packet the poet also sends a letter asking specific questions and/or making observations related to craft and process. This can be several pages long--really whatever you have on your mind that you want to discuss. Thinking about craft issues usually makes the most sense to do in very specific terms, in relation to specific poems, since the solutions are never exactly the same from poem to poem (and poet to poet). Some poets prefer to work with specific craft foci each packet; others are interested in more general comment and critique with focus on whatever craft and other issues arise organically from the work submitted.

 

My letter back to you would include detailed comments on individual poems as well as responses to questions raised in your letter, along with suggestions for further reading. Some poets have asked for prompts; others prefer not to work with prompts. With each packet you would be invited to follow up with questions about things I’ve said you need quick clarification on; longer responses and discussion would be kept for the subsequent packet.

 

I believe I'm good at honoring writers' individual intentions, aesthetics and themes. As a practice I actively try to avoid operating from my own biases while also being honest about them. I think of critique as offering a viewpoint against which mentees can react, rather than as something which ought dutifully to be followed. So I may have strong opinions without actually thinking you ought to conform to them. You might decide my advice is spot-on, but you might also, for example, use the advice to articulate for yourself why you made the choices you did. Or you might decide that while I’ve identified a problem, my proposed solution isn’t the right one—but perhaps this will send you towards another solution entirely. You might hear me describe something in positive or simply neutral terms and think, well, that's not what I intended at all, and think about what to do next. In other words, I don't have fixes and correct answers, but I help you figure out what questions you should be asking yourself about your poems. I also very much like to describe to you what you're doing well. That's not always obvious to the writer, and I believe it is especially helpful.

 

I think of revision as re-seeing, much more than as a matter of tidying the poem, though suggestions for tidying nearly-finished work are also important. I am happy to have you include significant revisions in your packet over a series of packets. 

 

If you’re feeling uncertain about how many packets you want to do, it would be fine to try out a single packet and see if it’s helpful, and then to schedule a fixed number of additional packets after that if you decide you want to go ahead with it.

 

Fees for packets depend on the number of poems you send; we’d want to decide on that in advance. As a general guideline, a 6-poem packet (up to 12 pages) would be $350. The volume of poems and pages you send for a particular fee is somewhat adjustable with pre-planning; for example if you had one 10-page poem, you could send that and, say, two other short poems for the same fee as six poems. If you were interested in feedback on a 20-page poem, that might constitute a single packet. If you came up short one packet it would be okay to add extra poems to the next packet, with notice.

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If I am ever unable to complete the work on a packet, I will refund your payment in full.  

 

Logistics: We would work by a schedule mutually agreed on. Usually I schedule a series of packets anywhere from once a month to once every six weeks. That is flexible according our needs and schedules.

 

Once I receive your packet I usually respond within 3 days. I prefer to have you send work by e-mail attachment, and to send my letter back to you the same way. You’re then invited to request quick clarification after I’ve written back to you, and to work longer responses to my responses into the next packet letter. 

 

I prefer to get manuscripts as e-mail attachments in a word doc, and I have various methods of responding to your work: 1) extensive marginal comments, using the “review” function in Microsoft Word (if Word is a problem, let me know and we’ll figure something else out) 2) with editing suggestions worked in (clearly and identifiably) to the body of your poem(s) (that is, you’ll always be able to tell when I’ve added something to the page—there won’t be any invisible changes) and 3) in narrative format in a letter.  You can expect to get a multi-page letter from me containing comments on all poems. 

 

I am open to the possibility of following a different format and structure per your needs. 

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Email me to inquire further about manuscript critique and mentorships. 

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