You don't create new, original, unlike anything else stories by listen to critique groups.
Worse, new writers are told to listen to the majority. If nine people in a group say to change this, and one says leave it alone, new writers are told to make the change. The trouble with this is that odds are extremely high that nine out of ten in a critique group simply have no clue about what makes a story publishable. That one, lone voice just might.
I agree with most of what you said, James, and disagree with some points. I do think critique groups are helpful, though there is a point where a writer is proficient enough in both grammar and logic that they're not needed.
I can't count all the times I've critiqued a story from someone who brags of several self-published books and found the writing attrocious. Those novels would, no doubt, never leave a slush pile, even if submitted a thousand times.
The reason would be that editors found two or three grammar errors in every sentence and quit reading before even finding the storyline. Any editor expects a certain level of expertise.
Many of us have never gone through a creative writing course, have never written more than emails in our lives. Grammar books confuse us. We need some sort of help and have nothing else available in our price range. In my small town, there are no critique groups, I've checked several times.
When deciding to try writing fiction, I found a good critique site and it taught me everything I know. After four or five years, I finally decided I was knowledgable enough to submit.
My work isn't perfect, which is why I still submit for critiques, though mostly to find logic errors and small nits I can't find myself. For example, I have plenty of army experience but have never been on a ship except for two troop ships. One of my novels started aboard a navy ship that fell through a dimensional warp.
The first chapter took place aboard the ship and I had umpteen logic errors. One was that the ship had a captain. Actually, it was a master. Several ex-navy writers were quick to correct me. Now, how in the devil would that original manuscript EVER have seen print?
You may say I should have done my research? That reminds me of a novel chapter I critiqued on another site. The writer was a college grad, history major. The story was about an army unit during WWII. He knew his facts, nothing wrong there, but was lousy about army life during that period.
I had to explain the most basic concepts, such as a first sergeant does NOT do certain things and DOES know damn near everything a company officer does. That the first sergeant runs the company in day to day operations. His novel would also have been doomed for the same reason as mine.
Charlie