Over the years, I have received this comment from frustrated authors when a work didn’t hit the mark with me. As someone who penned many books in the past myself, I understand and sympathize with these authors. However, this argument will almost never get an author another read of the same manuscript — at least in my office. This is because though they are important, crit groups usually start out as a gathering of new authors banding together to help one another. Rarely is there a professional writer in the bunch.
But before you protest that isn’t so…
Yes, sometimes critique groups do have professional authors as members. But in the course of my 20 years in book publishing, I’ve only encountered a couple of groups where I could say, “Okay, if this went through your crit group, I can pretty much send your work to every editor I know without a second thought.” These crit groups are very rare and special things, and usually come about when one or two authors become successful among a group of genuine friends.
I wish I could set out a list of bullet items outlining how to form a crit group that will wow an agent. As suggested above, I can’t. My best advice is to make connections with people writing your type of book and enjoy the friendship, fellowship, and exchanged knowledge. After all, no one should choose friends based only on what they can do for you.
But I have a big name author in my group!
If this is the case, I believe it’s perfectly fine to mention that Bestselling Jane has is one of your critique partners, and there is a good possibility she will endorse your book. (Or maybe she has already promised, since she has read the book and would only need to write a blurb). Better still, perhaps Bestselling Jane could write a blurb to include in your proposal.
Even Bestselling Jane won’t ensure you’ll secure Dream Agent. However, her involvement with your work should give you an advantage with the right agent.
Back to reality…
For writers in newbie groups, just know that yes, it’s great to send a proposal out with the confidence that it’s been gone over by other writers. And if your work doesn’t resonate with one agent, keep trying. Keep writing. And have fun!
Your turn
Are you in a critique group? Why or why not?
What are the advantages of critique groups, in your opinion?
What tips can you give other writers on forming and maintaining a successful critique group?
What’s Your First Line?
I’m in a crit group with three other women who have been helpful and supportive. Not only have we helped each other with our stories, we’ve prayed and cheered one another on. We’ve grown close, but I realize it’s a step in the process of getting published.
I think the biggest goal we have in common is to write good stories that entertain and honor God and help the readers draw closer to God. Jesus told parables, and as we try to imitate Jesus, we write stories for His glory.
My critique group is all newbies, and we enjoy the friendship and encouragement. But we realize it is one thing for a fellow writer to say, “Great opening line!” It is something else entirely for an unknown reader to plunk down $19.95.
You speak the truth, Tamela, as much as we writers don’t like to admit it. I am a part of a critique group, but I’m the most advanced author in it, the rest are newly published, or not published yet. It is still enjoyable, and I do get some helpful feedback, but not enough to make for a perfect manuscript. That’s one of the reasons that I decided to hire someone to critique my work before sending it out. Of course, that doesn’t guarantee anything either, but at least it helps the writing to shine.
Thanks for the post!
Amber Schamel
The other thing writers should consider is that even when you do have a big author in your critique group, she can only give you so much feedback at a time. If she slams you with everything you could improve on in the manuscript at once, you would get discouraged and probably wouldn’t listen to her anyway.
Besides that, published authors are usually very busy and don’t have time to do a critique so far in depth.
So I think most authors use somewhat of a drip-feed method with their groups. If a person listens to them, learns from them with each critique, then they can move on to more issues. If not, the author won’t waste their time. This is another reason that a pass through your critique group doesn’t guarantee its quality.
Our critique group is the Quid Pro Quills (#QuidProQuills). An awesome group of 6 writers. When we banded together a couple of years ago, no body was published. Now 3 of us are traditionally published, two have agents, and another was a Genesis Finalist in 2013.
But here’s what makes it work, we all have different strengths. One is a grammar nazi, one is a cheerleader (and we need her!), one finds misused words like a bloodhound on a rabbit, one gets the “big picture” view of story, one points out missing emotion, and one is the literalist who won’t let cheesy prose go through.
We don’t all write the same genre and I think that is a huge asset. Our suspense writer pushes us to use a little suspense in all our stories. Our romance writers push us to up the emotional impact. Our women’s fiction writer challenges us to explore tough issues. Our historical writer keeps us honest on history facts. It’s a great mix.
Pegg, I agree with what you wrote! My critique group is filled with amazing talent and different perspectives on story telling. Having a variety of strengths is crazy helpful and we are all so blessed.
Not sure about anyone else here, but at the end of the day our goal isn’t publication. Gasp! We want our story to be the best it can be, but we’re about learning and growing ourselves as people to use writing to be brave and dig deep into the story God gave us and pull out the hard stuff. It’s scary and vulnerable at times, but therapeutic yet fun as well. Personally, I shy away from writing internal thought with relateable characters because it makes me feel vulnerable, but my safe and amazing (did I already use that word?) critique group gently calls me out on it and challenges me in a way to go to the darker places. The story will be better for it. I do and sometimes I fight it, haha.
When the story is done there is prayer on what the next step might look like in God’s eyes.
It’s slightly comical because when people hear that I’m writing to write and not to be published they usually furrow their brow and ask what’s the point of then? That’s a whole other topic, but I smile, happy that I get a chance to educate them on the various avenues of writing.
Aw, this makes me what to message all my critique peps with a shout out of gratitude. So doing it! Thanks, Tamela!
I can’t believe I didn’t mention the prayer aspect of our group. Yikes! Where would we be without that?! And not just prayer for our writing, but prayer for each other as friends and fellow believers.
The sharing is a huge part as well. What one member learns at a conference or by working with an agent or a publisher, they share with the group. Not everything applies to everybody, but knowledge is always good!
We also started a group blog to help build up our platforms. There are so many reasons for a critique group – besides the actual critiques – that it’s hard to mention them all.
Thanks so much for this post. I have been preaching this for a long time and even disbanded the critique group I lead over this very issue. I struggled with new writers critiquing seasoned writers and giving advice that was often off the mark. Now I only share my work with writers/authors who are at my skill level or above, and I’m careful not to critique other writers with opinions beyond my own personal skill level. It’s too easy to give an unqualified opinion and lead someone astray in their writing when your in a critique group setting. At least that’s been my experience.
Thanks, Tamela.
These are terrific tips, Tamela – exactly what I’m looking for in a critique group. I’ve gotten dozens of articles published in Christian periodicals, but am still praying for a good match, a group individuals who are strong writers and also want to publish strong nonfiction books.
This makes sense to me now that my first manuscript has gone through three different critique groups. The level of craft increased. We’ve all grown since we started. So I can see where even though a first critique group loved a manuscript, a year later, you can look at the work and pull it apart again. The best thing is to keep writing other stories in the meantime with what you’re learning.
I’m going to just bottle your post, Tamela! I discuss this with my writers all the time . Critique groups are great when a writer is starting out. There’s so much to be learned, and this provides a great way. But at some point, as with any support group, you grow out of it.
Thanks for your post!
Thank you all for stopping by and commenting. I’m glad so many people benefited from the post!
I love my critique group! 2 authors (1 of 8 novels, 1 w/ a debut novel that just came out & she’s also an editor). Another who is getting closer to getting her first novel published. The others are unpublished but often offer great feedback as well.
Great post, Tamela, and so true. The crit group I’m part now of has formed and re-formed over the years. Finally those of us who were published ran out of spare time to attend meetings with members who treated the group as a social event, to be attended if nothing else interfered (like the college pool being opened in the spring!). In my current group of four, we are all published. We send chapters online, since we live in different areas. Critique groups are a valuable asset to writers, but they need to be taken seriously in order to be successful.
“the critique group I’m part *of* now” Where’s a critique partner when I need one? 🙂
Thanks, Tamela!
I’ve been part of several different critique groups, and some have worked out better than others. Like some have commented, I enjoy the prayer aspect, and knowing that someone is reading my work through a Christian lens instead of a secular one.
The lack of professionalism in such circles can be frustrating. I think that’s the key. If everyone in your group is trying to be a professional writer (in both attitude and practice) and working diligently to improve their craft, you’ll all grow, and eventually reach a height that is worthy of an agent or editor’s scrutiny.
Even in a group made of newbies, critiques have their purpose, because an inexperienced writer can catch a typo or glaring mistake. I’ve known many who use their critique groups as final editors, though, and I think that’s a terrible mistake.
About eight months ago, I decided that $35 per chapter is not too much to invest in an editor/writing coach, especially since I can send a chapter here and there as I can afford it. I’ve gained much more from this experience than I could have ever learned from a critique, and I’ve been a finalist in two contests since then.
That said, I always send my chapters to be critiqued before sending to my editor. In every chapter, I find at least one ridiculous error that I’ve overlooked in spite of dozens of reads.
I’ve been in several critique groups. Some were little more than social gatherings or mutual back-patting. But the group I am in now has several published writers and they aren’t afraid to say if something isn’t working or could be better. That’s why I drive an hour to meet with them!
I’ve been a part of “Tuesday’s Children,” a weekly critique group that has met everyTuesday for over 15 years with almost the same members (some had to quit because of jobs and we’ve only added two new ones, but they fit). They are all published, many with multiple books, articles, etc. As one writer wrote above, we all add different things: one looks for the five senses, another knows how teens talks, another weeds out all the helping verbs. I’m pretty much the proofreader! We meet from 9-12, chat a bit, get to silent critiquing (we bring enough copies for everyone) and end up with prayer–praises and requests. One calls it her “therapy group” but it has helped all of us in our writing and our marketing. (I do have a booklet on “How to Start and Run a Christian Writers Club…Critique Group…Conference,” app. 80 pages for $15. Email is dgood648@aol.com. I might add, there are two other writers groups in our town, but they only meet monthly, bring three pages of their manuscript, and have a lot of new writers. I helped them get started but haven’t been able to attend much as besides my writing, I also proofread and edit manuscripts for writers and publishers.)
Writers puts their heart and soul into their work, but its hard to be objective about your own work, which is why we usually turn to writers groups. However, when it comes to submitting a manuscript for publication I’ll take the advice of a professional editor over a writers group any day.