Getting the Most from Your Critique Group
© by Heather Horrocks
Jorlan Publishing
Helping you get published!
Handing off your pages to any other person is difficult—especially when that person is another writer or an editor. As soon as the manuscript has left your hand, you know it's all wrong. The act of sharing your writing is scary and makes you incredibly vulnerable to the comments you'll receive back. We all want to hear the words, "This was great just as written! Don't change a thing!" But what is most helpful for us sounds more like, "I think it would be more powerful if you [whatever they caught]."
Why have a critique group at all? Well, wouldn't you rather have a friendly (but thorough) critique partner find the problems with your manuscript before an editor or agent ever sees it? I would.
Over more than a decade of receiving critiques, biting and gentle, helpful and not, I've learned several things I'd like to share with you.
You need to be able to trust the people who are critiquing your writing. If they're not trustworthy (for example, if they rip apart your manuscript out of jealousy or because they had a fight with their husband), replace them. You don't want anything or anyone negative touching your writing career––or your life.
Once you've found the people, how do you get the most out of your critique group?
First, you need to decide what it is you really want from a critique. Look at yourself honestly. Do you want to be told "great job" and nothing more? We need to hear that at times when our morale is so low we can't possibly handle even one suggestion for improvement. But if that's all you ever want, perhaps you're not quite ready for the next step.
Explain clearly what you want from your critique partners. This forces you to become aware of what you want. Not just, "Fix it," but something specific, like "I know the grammar and spelling are wrong, so don't fix that, but just look and see if my hero's motivation in this scene works." or "Does this sequel work?" or "Just let me know if there's enough humor in this scene." Or whatever it is you're looking for in a critique. But don't expect your partners to read your mind and know. And if you don't know about motivation or sequels, then read some books or take some classes. Invest in your writing career.
If you find yourself making excuses for why you don't do anything about learning the craft of writing, ask yourself how serious you are. If you don't plan on improving your skill, what's the point? If you have a weakness (and we all do), then how can you turn it into a strength? If you turn in the same mistakes time after time, your partners may grow irritated. I know I do.
What things can you do before you submit material to a critique group? Clean it up as much as you can. Use a dictionary (bound or online) and use your word processor's spell check feature—and if you don't know how to use spell check, ask someone! It's a simple function.
There is absolutely no excuse for material with spelling errors.
Invest just 15 minutes a day into learning the craft of writing, including the basics of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Within a year or two, you'll be getting meaningful critiques from others because your work will be stronger.
One of my critique partners and I were chatting the other
day and repeating what we've said many times before: "I
think I'll rework this book for this specific audience and
send it in," and "I think I'll rework that one for
the national market." Then we laughed and realized that
if we spent as much time actually reworking this stuff as we
did talking about it, we'd have them all published by
now! So she and I decided that, when we start talking like
this in the future, we will call each other on it by saying,
"Prove it!"
I issue you this same challenge. Do you want to learn how to
write? "Prove it!" Do you want to learn how to
spell? "Prove it!" Do you want to learn how to use
grammar correctly? "Prove it!" Do you want
meaningful critiques that you will then put into action?
"Prove it!"
You will always make more progress by looking at what you can do to improve your own writing than by looking for ways other
people aren't helping you or by making excuses about taking
classes. It isn't anyone else's responsibility to help you
learn how to write—it's yours alone. Get on with it. Where
there is a will, there is a way. If you haven't
found the way, then perhaps you haven't
found the will yet, either.
If your critique group isn't giving you what you want, then
find someone who will. A teacher, perhaps, or a writer friend.
A professional editor. Take a class or two. Buy reference
books (check them out at the library first to see if they're
what you need).
I'm a proponent of taking classes, being in positive and helpful critique groups, and being part of positive online forums. It's great to associate with other writers. But ultimately, the best gift we can give each other is the gift of helping each other learn the craft of writing.
Perhaps the most important realization I had regarding meaningful critiques involves clutter. Clutter? Yup, clutter. When I started, I was determined not only to learn how to write, but also to learn how to give good, helpful critiques to my critique partners. After a few years, I found I was getting only minor suggestions from my critique partners—and I wanted more. Then I realized the 'why' behind what I was getting.
Asking someone to critique your manuscript is like asking someone to come in and help you clean your house (eek! no way!). If you have all sorts of clutter covering the floor, then the person who comes into your house will see the clutter and say, "This is what needs to be picked up." It will take them a while to point out all the clutter and help you put it away. And then they're done.
After all that, they don't have time to look around and say, "Oh, wait, the carpet needs to be vacuumed, too." They were too busy helping with the clutter. Perhaps the second time through, they could help get the carpet cleaned up.
And then the third time through, they can see the stuff that needs to be moved off the piano and put in the kitchen, and the other stuff that needs to be rearranged.
And then maybe the fourth time, because there is no more clutter and the carpet is clean and the stuff is where it belongs, they can look around and finally see the tinier details that need to be done—like the cobwebs in the corners.
People can't see the cobwebs in your house of words, either, if grammatical errors are cluttering up the floor. If you have too much clutter in your manuscript, then that's the level of critiquing responses you're going to get. If you want more meaningful critiques, then clean up the clutter. If you don't want to receive only grammar corrections, learn how to clean up the grammar on your own. There are excellent reference books. (Two come immediately to mind: Strunk & White's The Elements of Style and the hilarious Eats, Shoots & Leaves). You can take classes. Writer friends can help you. Pay a professional editor to find the clutter.
No matter how you do it, learn to get rid of the clutter in your manuscript. You can then receive the next level of critique. But as long as you turn in pages filled with grammar errors, that is the level of critiques you will get back—because that's the obvious thing to fix. Don't expect your critique partners to constantly fix the same things. If you have a problem understanding rules like when to use "your" and when to use "you're," then learn the difference. Spend a week on it. "Get" it and then get on with it.
When I started cleaning up the grammar in my manuscripts, I also began receiving more valuable critiques. I think you might find the same to be true for you. And as you learn to clean up the clutter, you'll be one step closer to publication. Good luck on reaching your writing dreams and goals!
Heather Horrocks is the author of the Women /
Men Who Knew The Mortal Messiah series, You Just Turned
8, and the WhoDunHim Inn cozy mystery series. She
also teaches novel writing and plotting, in person and in
online classes, hosts BIAW (book-in-a-week) challenges, and,
coincidentally, has been in a critique group for twelve years.
She loves writing and helping other writers on their path to
publication. You can visit her at www.heatherhorrocks.com.