Critique partners? Do I really need those? I have beta readers.
Beta readers are not the same as critique partners. A beta reader will simply tell you if they like the story and think it’s good. And a lot of the time, beta readers can be friends or family members. Let’s be honest, not the most unbias source of feedback, and not a group of people willing to be brutally honest with their constructive criticism.
Beta readers are usually just that: readers. They don’t come to the story with a writer’s eye and knowledge of the craft, which is invaluable during the revision process.
I’ve read too many self-published stories and query packets to count that clearly did not have the help of a good critique partner. How can I tell? Because a critique partner can help catch the following things in earlier drafts of novels that I see in final drafts and published work:
- Pacing is too slow and the opening chapter fails to grab the reader’s attention
- The opening pages don’t introduce the main character, the setting, and the story question
- Dialogue is too conversational with filler words, it doesn’t serve the plot or character with any purpose, or it doesn’t read naturally
- The balance of dialogue/exposition/description is skewed
- Clichés and off theme/premise comparisons abound
- The writer infodumps the entire character’s train of thought or life story at the reader (this is the one I’m usually guilty of)
- The opening isn’t framed in a specific scene or setting
- The character has no goal/drive to open the novel
The self-publishing industry has boomed in recent years, especially with everyone and their mother writing a novel while cooped up inside during COVID lockdowns. The market is flooded and it’s harder than ever to find your target audience. The last thing you want to do when someone purchases your novel or an agent requests a partial or full manuscript is underdeliver.
A self-published novel should be edited with the same amount of care and attention as a traditionally published one. (Shameless self-promo plug: if you’re looking for editing services, step right over here.) And a writer hoping to get an agent in order to pursue the traditional publishing path should make sure their manuscript is the best possible version of itself before sending it out, as you only get one opportunity per manuscript to catch an agent’s attention.
Okay fine, I’ll get a critique partner
Not “a“, singular. Critique partners. Plural.
How many?
This depends on how much time you have to read and critique for others. When first starting out in the revision and critiquing journey, the more you can get, the better. Different writers have different strengths. I, for one, would rather jam an eraser in my eye than proofread a 350-page novel. But brainstorming and developmental edits? Try to stop me! Other writers struggle with weaving plot and character together or subplots to plot but are masters at word choice and eliciting visceral images through their sentences. And some writers, especially pantsers, have no earthly idea how to critique an outline. Very few of us are a master of all, especially earlier in our careers.
Thus, different critique partners can be useful in different stages of your writing process. Some critique partners you may want to use for multiple versions of your outlines and drafts. Others you’ll save because you want to have a fresh set of eyes to come to your story unbiased of information from previous drafts. These critique partners can help catch inconsistencies and missing backstory or details you cut out and forgot to add somewhere else.
I try my best to have a minimum of three critique partners for each stage of my writing process. That way, if there’s conflicting opinions, I can get an idea of a majority. And for each stage of revisions, I like to have at least one set of old eyes and one set of new ones.
That’s all good and gravy, but where do I find them?
The biggest pushback I get to having critique partners is that writers say they don’t know where to find them.
I started by joining a statewide writers association and went to their annual conference. (There are several smaller regional associations in my area as well, and these could also be a great avenue to explore.) Shy, social-anxiety ridden Lauren mustered up enough courage over the three days of workshops and networking to talk to other human beings and traded emails with them. All these years later, one of them is still a valuable critique partner I swap manuscripts with. My statewide association has smaller regional chapters that meet up once a month and are another great way to network with other writers to find critique partners.
I also joined WFWA last year. They not only have a Facebook group specifically for critiquing requests, but they have a program that will match you will a small critiquing group to regularly swap with. While my small critique group of three no longer swaps regularly as a group, one of the critique partners I met through that group and I still swap chapters once a week or every other week.
Joining a national writing organization, especially one tailored to the primary genre you write in, is a great way to connect with potential critique partners. Do a little research here. See if they offer a mentorship program as well, or if they have local regional chapters that meet up that you could join to meet perspective critiquing partners.
Websites like MeetUp are another option to try to find independent local writers groups in your area, especially if you’re fortunate to live in a large city like NYC. Pre-COVID, I met a great group of local writers in my town that would meet up once a week to socialize, sprint, and discuss writing. One of them I still get together with when our schedules permit and swap material with.
Your local library might host a writers group as well. If not, it’s something to ask them about starting! My county’s library hosts a critique group once a month. They also host events for writing, which is a great way to socialize and meet other writers, and is much more budget friendly than a conference.
Facebook groups are another great way to virtually meet other writers if you strike out everywhere else in your local community.
If you have a favorite author or two that writes in the same genre as you, getting on their mailing list might be a non-traditional way to meet other writers, especially if the author’s branding includes educating about their writing process and writing advice. Susan Dennard is a great example of this. A recent edition of her newsletter did an open roll call opportunity to match writers for critiquing. I have met several great critique partners over the past few years thanks to Maggie Stiefvater‘s resources.
Should I be worried about stranger danger when sharing my story?
Yes and no. I certainly wouldn’t swap my entire manuscript with someone I haven’t worked with before. And I’ve learned that just like we all grow as writers, we grow as critique partners. I have wasted hours doing a detailed critique on the first twenty-five pages of someone’s work, only to have them either completely ghost me or return a Word doc with a grand total of three in-line comments and two sentences of overall feedback. So I always do a very short test swap now when evaluating someone as a potential new critique partner. Never more than one chapter, usually less that 3,500 words. And with critique partners I’ve just started swapping with, I never do full or large section swaps. I keep to the approximately 3,500 word a week limit until we find a groove and are sure it’s a good fit and something we are both going to reliably keep with.
I’ve had some writer friends shocked I would send my pages to some stranger on the internet I’ve never met. But the critique partners and writer friends I met at conferences were just as much strangers when I first sat down next to them at a round table and struck up a conversation.
Are there some scummy people out there that might try to steal your story and pass it off as their own? I’m sure those people exist. That’s why I go slow. I get a feel for the other writer’s work. I don’t have someone critique for me who isn’t actively working on their own projects. My critique partners aren’t just free editors on exchange – they are my writing friends. I talk to them about life and craft, not just “Do you think I need to cut the pilot” or “Should I merge Cash and Brandon together because they both have kinda the same story goal?”
Take the time to build these relationships. Your critique partners are great cheerleaders when you’re deep in the pit of despair come query time and the first ones to celebrate with you when you finally get to say “I GOT AN AGENT!”
A final note on critique partners
We are all able to write at different speeds and we all grow our craft at different times and in different stages. That’s part of the process. There is no shame in admitting that someone’s feedback that used to be super helpful no longer serves to help elevate your stories. And you shouldn’t be offended if someone who has more time to focus on their craft developments in their writing style faster than you. It isn’t a race! Be okay with cutting ties. Do it gracefully, and keep your former critique partners as friends. But holding on to past relationships that don’t serve you are only going to serve to hinder your own craft and writing.
What about you?
Where have you had the best luck finding and connecting with critique partners?