I am in two critique groups formally and also critique with two other friends from a course I did in Faber. I also write with my friend and he is usually my first reader.
But what do I want from a critique group?
Firstly I want honest feedback from my critique group. They are my truth buddies. I want them to say what I have written isn’t working if it doesn’t work. I want them to say that the rhyme is forced or the story line is slight or they can’t find it funny. I want them to say it as they see it.
Secondly, I want them to critique my story and not me. In most professional critique groups that is automatically available. Most writers understand the difference between the writer and the product.
In a way, it is like when editors reject a submission. I assume they are rejecting the story and not the writer. It can’t be personal.
Thirdly, I want a different perspective from my writer-buddies. I might be stuck with an idea for so long that I can’t see its dimensions anymore. I can’t see what’s wrong with it. I can’t see how to twist it and turn it.
Fourthly, if at all possible, I’d like their suggestions to make my story better. But this is not really mandatory all the time. Sometimes, it is sufficient to say – this doesn’t work for me but I am not sure why. Sometimes it might be useful to hear suggestions on how to make it better – even if I don’t take their suggestions.
And finally I want them to check its veracity. Be it facts, some obscure cultural reference, use of a phrase – I’d like my group to point out if something sounds inaccurate, wrong or silly.
Surely if I want these from a critique group, I must also have some “I don’t want this….”
There are a few – not a lot.
I don’t want undue flattery or rosy comments. It hurts the writing and the craft to protect me from criticism.
I don’t want someone to rewrite my story or redraft it for me. When I critique others, except to illustrate a sentence or two, I wouldn’t attempt rewriting. The content – the idea and the text belongs to the writer. While the critique-buddy can point out issues, show how it can be done, the story should not be rewritten.
I want the critique buddy to detach themselves emotionally from their feedback. Sometimes the feedback can be used as is, sometimes a piece of feedback triggers a different chain of thought and I might revise the text differently.
That is not to say I didn’t respect the feedback. I always do. But I don’t want to implement every feedback as it is.
Most of my critique group buddies over years have been acquired either via SCBWI or other writing courses. But I remember the first one I was part of – that group taught me a lot of the craft – I just found them on the Internet and they were brilliant.
But it does help if you know the members over a long time. Trust builds up. Shortcuts are created. And you tend to understand each other’s weaknesses, strengths and bugbears.
I am lucky to be in groups where I am able to have all of this. Critique groups are precious. They lift a writer out of their solitary endevour and show them other viewpoints. They are like delivery nurses in a birthing hospital – before the baby leaves the hospital, the nurses tend to it.
Are you in a critique group? What do you want from the group? What do you not want from the group?
