joining a CRITIQUE Group
If you truly want to become a better writer, getting involved in a helpful, supportive critique group is essential. A variety of input from writers both in your genre and outside it will expand your abilities and understanding of language, tropes, and reader expectations more than you realize.
When you write your story, YOU know what you meant when you wrote what you did, but the reader may not interpret it the same way. Many times, what I thought was very clear was confusing or distracting for a reader. Knowing this before you publish or even send it to an editor saves you time and heartache.
Maybe you want a safe place to share your early writing to see if it’s a viable story or article. Perhaps you are looking for a supportive group of fellow writers to talk shop with. Critique groups are a great place to start for all of those things.
Critique groups are also a good first stop for your work before you hire an editor. It is rare that your entire manuscript will be reviewed by the group, but if you bring the sections you are struggling with, and the ones you are most proud of, you’ll get feedback that will help you with the entirety of the piece. And the bonus is the learning you gain will carry through to your next work.
I’ve been a member of many critique groups, some wonderful, some…not so much. I quickly realized that what elevates an okay group to a great one is clear leadership guidelines and the approach the members take to their part in making it that way.
Some groups I’ve been part of were quick to let you know what kind of writing they prefer. Some groups focus on non-fiction, some fantasy, or literary fiction, and they don’t particularly care to give helpful feedback on anything outside of that. If you are very genre specific, that kind of narrow focus can be helpful.
“As you can imagine, the DNA of each group is vastly different. Don’t be afraid to try several until you find the one that suits your needs.”
I am a Christian writer, so I do tend to gravitate toward groups of other Christian writers. This is helpful to me because fellow Christians can help ensure I am sticking close to the Biblical principles that are important for me to share. But, I have also run into some groups in this category that are not welcoming to speculative, fantasy, or close to reality fiction writers. Some can have very narrow views about language usage, content, and themes. I actually left a group because after a few meetings, I realized my struggle to be taken seriously came because they were all non-fiction writers. It wasn’t a good fit for me personally, so I moved on.
Some of the very best advice and feedback I’ve gotten came from a group that had a very diverse cast of writers who were most decidedly not in my chosen genre. I am not a poet by any stretch of the imagination, yet, I learned invaluable things about pacing and structure from the poets. I am not a horror writer, but I learned a lot about building tension from them. Neither do I write children’s books, but those writers taught me to keep the prose as simple as possible. Having a freelance reporter and newspaper editor in the group helped all of us with our focus, grammar, and punctuation.
As you can imagine, the DNA of each group is vastly different. Don’t be afraid to try several until you find the one that suits your needs. In the correct group, you likely won’t enjoy reading everyone’s work. There will be writers you gravitate to and ones you don’t. I am not a historical fiction reader, and the group I am currently part of has several well established writers in that genre. Even though they are not in my target audience nor am I in theirs, we learn a lot from one another, and they offer good advice for publishing, marketing, and editors.
“There is always something to be learned from the others in the group if you keep an open mind.”
The online groups tend to be the more genre specific realms. You can find almost any style of writing group on social media or through a search of the organizations who focus on those genres or disciplines. Online groups also tend to have longer word counts, more frequent sharing, and writers from all corners of the world.
Some groups meet weekly, some monthly, some don’t have set meeting times. Some groups will have very specific submission guidelines for how often and how long the submissions should be. Some have reciprocation requirements. One of the online groups I am part of requires you to critique four other writer’s work before you can submit one of your own.
I have found their 4:1 ratio is a good balance. In order to be the best group member you can be, you should be reading more that you are submitting. I believe you should strive to help more than you ask to be helped.
Over the next several posts, I’ll help you be a good group member, and hopefully, show you how to get the most out of the feedback you receive.
We’ll talk about things like:
Knowing the submission guidelines and following them
How to give good feedback
What to expect and what to look out for
How to put the feedback you receive into practice
Critique groups are a great way to put your writing to the test, and finding the right group may take time, but it is worth it! I have met many wonderful authors who have gone on to find their home with a publisher, and many more who write simply for the love of it.
Find the one that works for you, and your writing will benefit from it.
If you find value in the free content I create and want to help me create more, would you buy me a coffee?
It is an easy way to make a one time donation of any amount.
Even a couple dollars goes a long way toward helping me continue providing valuable content.