Online Critique Groups for Writers

Why join a critique group?

Joining a critique group can be a great thing for a writer. A good critique group can:

• help you develop your skills as a writer;


• help you fine-tune works in progress;


• provide a support network of other writers; and


• expand your network of contacts within the publishing industry.

Joining the wrong critique group, though, can waste your time and possibly your money. It might even corrupt your work, resulting in an inferior piece.

Take your time deciding which group's right for you.

Which critique group is right for me?

Do you feel welcome within the group?

Are there other writers in the group who write the same types of works you do? (Novels? Novellas? Nonfiction articles or books? Memoirs? Anthologies? Graphic novels? Web books? Short stories? Songs? Poems?)

Are there other writers in the group who write in your genre(s)?

Do some of them know more than you do about some aspect(s) of writing, so you can learn from them?

Are there members within the community who already are succeeding in achieving goals you've set for yourself? For example, if you want to be traditionally published, you'll want to find other authors who've done it. If you want to build an e-book empire, you'll benefit from knowing others who've gone that route. If you want to create a free-fiction-on-the-web phenomenon, look for people who are already doing that.

I'm not saying you shouldn't engage with writers from other genres who have different goals. You can benefit from those relationships, too. But generally you'll get the most benefit from engaging with other writers who can relate to where you are and where you're going.

There's no reason you can't be a member of more than one group. Some writers are able to handle two or three. Only you can decide whether you can get what you need from one or whether you'd be better off with more. Don't spread yourself too thin. You won't get much benefit from any critique group if you're rarely there.

How can I find critique groups?

I've spent time on quite a few critique sites. I've heard good things about some others. I don't want to try to give a list of recommendations here because new ones are popping up all the time. Further, the quality can shift as members come and go.

I've got a short list of writing workshops posted here.

For more, just Google: online critique writers workshop. You'll get a ton of results and can decide which are worthy of a closer look.

If you don't want to take the Google route, here are a few good ones you can check out to get you started:

Critique Circle

Critters (for SciFi, Fantasy, and Horror)

InternetWritingWorkshop

Authonomy (run by HarperCollins; this is better suited to works that are almost ready for publication rather than early drafts)

Those are just a few with which I've had some experience. It's up to you to find the one that's right for you.

To pay or not to pay?

There are some excellent free sites out there, typically run by people who genuinely want to help writers succeed.

Be forewarned, though: Free sites often attract dabblers.

You'll need to spend some time on a site to get a feel for the member community.

There also are some great fee-supported sites. Some people advise against joining any critique group that requires payment, but I'm not one of them. If you're serious about your writing, it's worth a small investment now and then.

Joining a critique site with a fee can mean surrounding yourself with others who are as serious about writing as you are. In addition, sites often turn around part of the membership fees and reinvest in the community, through continuing development of the site and/or providing resources for their writers. In some cases, this can mean enabling community members to engage with experts to whom they otherwise might not have access.

In some cases, you really do get what you pay for.

Most of these sites offer free trial memberships. Join a few and post a couple items on each. You'll soon get a feel for which one(s) are worth your time and money. My two personal favorites are TheNextBigWriter and the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. Both are strong, well-established communities of writers.

If you're interested in something structured more like a class, you might want to check out Gotham Writers' Workshop. They offer a lot of free information on the web so you can get a feel for what's available there. I haven't used Gotham (yet--so many wonderful options, so little time), but I've heard great things about it from people who have.

What can I expect when I join a group?

As with many things in life, what you get out of an online critique group is largely commensurate with what you put into it.

Most of them are set up so that you are required to critique other people's work in order to gain points to post your own. Don't join, expecting to throw your masterpiece out to the masses and then sit back waiting for accolades. It just doesn't work that way.

When critiquing, do so honestly and fairly. Always point out some good things in what you've just read. Don't talk in generalities. Provide the writer some concrete things he or she can do to make the piece better.

The best structure for a critique is:

• A nice opening, pointing out some good things;


• A middle that gets into the things that might be improved; and


• A nice closing that makes the writer feel appreciated for the things you think he or she did right. Ideally, it will give him or her encouragement to keep writing. Be careful here, though. If you're not, your wording might come across as patronizing. Be genuine.

When it comes to receiving critiques of your own work, you're going to need a thick skin. People generally assume that if you've posted your work to a critique group, you want to hear the truth (as they see it). They are going to tell you. Some will do this diplomatically and gently. Others will not. Most of them, though, really are trying to help you.

Thank everyone who critiques you. That person has just spent time on your work when he or she could have been doing countless other things with that time.

Now and then, you may suspect that someone wrote an obnoxious critique out of jealousy. It happens. Maybe he or she is jealous of your descriptions, your dialogue, whatever. Maybe he or she is jealous because you are a big fish in the small pond of a critique site, and he or she wants to be. Don't let it get to you. Be the bigger person. Just shake it off and move on. Continue to give your own critiques as fairly and honestly as you can.

Unfortunately, critique sites--like just about every other place on the internet--attract real jerks now and then. Eventually, one of them is probably going to find your work. Don't waste your time justifying yourself or your work. Shake it off and move on.

Writing is both an art and a science. If you want to make money from it, then it's also a business.

You, as the writer, need to decide what's worthwhile in any feedback you receive--the good, the bad, and the ugly--and you need to do that from within the framework of your own expectations for that particular piece of writing and your overall goals as a writer.

If you're not willing to take suggestions, you really don't need to be on a critique site.

If you're too willing to take suggestions, you just may end up destroying your work.

Imagine a painter at the easel, trying to capture a landscape as he sees it. Now imagine he has fifty people behind him, all commenting and suggesting as he tries to paint. One thinks the blue in the upper right corner is a little too dark, given the blue in the lower left corner. Another is sure the pine tree is taller than it looks on the painting. Yet another says the painting will never sell unless the painter adds some people because the current market demands people in paintings.

The painter can ignore them all and get his painting done to his own personal satisfaction, accepting that no one besides him might ever love it. Alternatively, he can scramble over the canvas, trying to make them all happy. He might never finish that painting (because it's unlikely they'll ever all be happy) and, even if he does, it's going to be a very different painting than what he wanted to make.

The best approach for this painter is to take the advice that best suits his goals and disregard the rest.

Of course, this assumes the painter knows his goals and also has a good understanding of how they might be achieved. There's a learning process involved in all that. Over time, as his knowledge of painting and the market evolves, along with his concept of his own goals, he'll make smart decisions.

It's the same for writers. Consider all feedback carefully. Don't be in too big a rush to implement any suggestions you're not absolutely certain will make your work better (in terms of your own goals).

Don't let anyone else tell you what you are or what you're supposed to be as a writer.

At various points, I've been told that one of my works: was the greatest thing someone had ever read; was the most worthless heap of trash someone had ever encountered; was wholly uplifting; was utterly depressing; revealed me as a hack; was too cerebral; was too literary and not commercial enough; was too commercial and not literary enough; was too short; was too long. The list goes on and on.

Be grateful to those people who take the time to let you know they like your work as well as to those who help you see what you need to do to make things better--but don't feel obligated to take their advice.

Keep in mind that most of the people in critique groups are fellow writers. Though some do allow non-writing members, it's mostly the writers who provide the critiques.

Writers constitute a subset of readers. In addition to getting their feedback, you may want to share your work with non-writers whose opinions you value. They can provide a whole other perspective.

Be yourself. In all the world, you are the only person who can write the story you've got in your mind.

What else do I need to know?

Many writers become so caught up in the experience of getting and giving feedback, plus the social aspects of critique groups, that they don't have time to write anymore. It can happen to anyone. It happened to me.

This is especially a risk for novelists. In order to post chapters, they read and critique other people's works. It can take a lot of reading and critiquing to earn sufficient points to post a full novel on a critique site. I don't do that anymore. Now, I post the chapters on which I most need feedback (usually the first five, and sometimes internal ones that are giving me trouble).

An additional risk of the chapter-by-chapter approach taken by many critique groups is that the focus on small parts of the overall piece doesn't give you what you most need--an answer to the question, "Is my novel any good?" Your chapters can be brilliant but still not form a cohesive novel.

Don't rely on chapter-by-chapter readings alone.

To get feedback on the whole of a novel, I send it to a few trusted peers--some of whom I met through the online critique groups. In exchange, they send me theirs when they want full reads.

Find the solution that works for you, but go into the online critique group with a plan to set boundaries so you have a good balance of critique and writing time.

Closing thoughts?

Joining an online critique group is one of the best things you can do for yourself as a writer. Ultimately, only you can make it work for you instead of against you.

-Originally posted on October 22, 2008, at rascaleriter.com.