Writing Critique Group

Hello Toni,

I'm confused as to why you would post this in Bewares and Background Checks.

I wouldn't recommend joining an online group for this sort of thing. You want people you know and trust to be critiquing your work when it comes to a finished novel. It's fine to post excerpts in forums and ask opinions, but you would be best getting a group of friends together...fellow writers...and meeting for critique sessions. You don't want a lot of, "This is nice" or "Wow! You're a great writer!" or worse, "You suck!" I have a critique group that meets in my home once a month. There are 8 of us and we take home 10 pages from half the members each month. When next we meet, we go over that month's excerpts giving oral critique...plus, the members being critiqued take home 7 copies of their 10 pages with feedback written on them. It's a great success. Nobody sugar coats and nobody berates. You can start a group like this with as few as 2 people really, but I think it's best with 4 or more. I do think it's important that you get to know the people. Trust between writers critiquing each other is important. You need that fine balance where you actually help each other. Nobody needs frivilous comments that mean nothing and don't help you to improve your work. I hope you find what you are looking for. If not, make it happen yourself. There are always writers, in every community, looking for insights into their own writing skills. Good luck!

Moved from B&BC.

Depends on whether you'd like to pay or not - and whether the critique groups I mention will "fit" with your story (and you, naturally ).

If you think your novel leans toward spec fic (SF, fantasy), then you can try:

http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com

This is a paying online crit group, although if I remember correctly, you can "try them out" for about a month. If you want to join after that point, I believe it's US$49 for a year.

A free crit group for spec fic:

http://www.critters.org

Now, if what you want is just a general purpose crit group, since you're not sure if your novel fits into the spec fic world, here are a couple:

http://www.critiquecircle.com

http://fmwriters.com/index.html

Both Critique Circle and Forward Motion Writers' Community (started up by Holly Lisle) are free.

And there's also one talked about on this board, I think under writing mentors or some such:

http://www.fictionline.net/TWC/phpBB2

It's free, but the owner of that board says he wants to limit it to about 30 people; sounds like he's trying to keep it as intimate as an online crit group can possibly be. He also probably wants to have an easier time policing the board.

As of this morning, there were 22 people part of that group.

I don't really have time to join a local crit group (and I know there is one); I get up at 4:30 in the morning, don't come home until 6:00 (lots of traffic both ways). By the time I get home, even walking the dogs requires considerable effort. I can do it, but it's not easy!

Welcome, and good luck!

~Nancy