Gregory E. Lucas

Do you think that a paranormal romance can have the same respect and be as highly regarded as some literary novels?

People in critique groups spot flaws in my poems that I am blind to. Do you ever get so that you stop having such blind spots and can evaluate your own work just as effectively as a group can?

I'm in a 10-person critique group. Most of them are fine, but 2 of them drive me nuts. They eviscerate my poems with off-the-wall and/or nonconstructive comments. I'm enduring their crap for the sake of getting helpful comments from the others, but it's sure hard to tolerate.

What article on the web has helped you write a successful query letter for a novel? (I've written a horror novel.)

How do the critique groups in MFA programs compare to the critique groups you've been in after you've left the MFA program? Where have you found the best critique groups -- Inked Voices? Poets and Writers? Peoplesink? etc.

@Chibi_hecate Poets and Writers has critique groups. There are others out there too. Just research it.

Rejection after rejection, it’s starting to make me doubt myself. I wasn’t expecting a deal when I started to query, I was just hoping for a few partial requests so I can have some feedback from a professional. After my last rewrite, no one has read it but I was so proud of myself, thinking it was the best I could polish it on my own. I feel heartbroken tbh.

@QuintillionEm Yes, I am still sticking around.

Hi book people! Thinking about deleting this account as I rarely post here anymore. Any authors, readers, book people still sticking around?!

What horror novel by a debut author that was published within the past two years would you recommend?

@alpaolucci No need to have the regrets. You can query your new version to different agents than you did before.

Dear literary agents, I am terribly sorry for querying my first ever manuscript waaaay too early 3 years ago I recognize now that it was a dumpster fire and I had no idea what I was doing Sending you all an (imaginary) edible arrangement Thanks

@qzion_t_gipson Not all great writers are storytellers. Some of the best poets ever have declared they are not storytellers. They have the gift of creating images that convey emotions and ideas through innovative language and form. What you say is true for fiction writers, but not all writers.

Being a writer is not just about writing. Its having the gift of storytelling, of capturing the essence of life into words. Its making those words make people feel emotions. Its daydreaming about those words making it onto shelves. Writing is magical. #WritingCommunity

Where have you found the best online poetry critique groups for people who have already been published in top-tier magazines and still want to have their new poems critiqued?

In about 2/3 of the critique groups I've been in, there's someone with an inflated view of their knowledge who sort of proclaims themselves a guru. It's amazing to me how many people so easily become "followers."

@emmayuanwrites I mostly write poetry, and I often see poets in critique groups making the same mistake you are talking about -- poets so concerned about being modern that they don't study poetry of the past at all or have any regard for tradition.

classic literature transformed my writing forever, I am begging all writers to PLEASE read outside your genre and explore pre-21st century lit

@little__erin Good, now you can be like me and rewrite it a dozen times until it's as good as it can possibly be, show it to a critique group to find flaws you never guessed were there, and rewrite some more.

hi I just wrote a new poem!!!

What is the point in writing wildly experimental, extreme avant-garde poetry if nobody can understand it?

@bdcutkomp Congratulations.

Recieved my first ever Pushcart nomination! 🥹💖

I just finished reading Madame Bovary. I thought it was excellent.

@bookhaunts You should not watch the movie until you've read the book, and anyone interested in literature should read Frankenstein.

should i watch frakenstein even if i never read the book?🧍🏻‍♀️

@brecht_dp I have one submission to a mag that's been saying "In Progress" for ten months now.

Oooh... I'd forgotten how exciting it is when a submission finally switches to in-progress...

@mooninabucket Almost all lit mags charge 3 to 5 dollars to submit.

I’ve been pretty vocal on here about not (*usually) submitting to litmags that charge reading fees. But last month, I decided to pony up the $$ for an “expedited” response from a prestigious journal - “2 to 4 weeks” was the promised response time. It’s now been 6 weeks🙄 Do I …