The following arrived in the inbox of massive numbers yesterday:
Dear Smart Bitch Sarah:
I was reading the threads as the GH and RITA nominees were announced, and saw that a few people posted on behalf of or in congrats to their CP – critique partner. My question is this: How do I find a critique partner?
This is going to sound so snobby, but I’ve been in a few critique groups before, in various place and in a few different sizes, and I’ve hated the experience. There’s always someone who goes on at length when it’s your turn to be critiqued and without fail makes it all about themselves and their story in progress – and then there’s the critique that does little to address the faults I’ve asked for help with. I get all kinds of comments that make no difference but few that actually help me where I’ve asked for help.
Please don’t think I am not listening. I am. I mean, I do listen. But often the input I’ve received isn’t applicable to the historical romance I’m writing, and sometimes, I think, it’s delivered with disdain for my chosen genre.
I live too far from a local RWA chapter, and there are so many online groups to choose from I’m totally lost. What should I do, post a personal ad? “Sardonic, witty writer working on historical romance seeks critique partner. Must be willing to set and adhere to firm deadlines and page numbers, offer honest but thoughtful critique – only one use of the word ‘awkward’ per email, please – and provide motivation and encouragement as well. I promise to do the same, and do so with my complete attention to your work in exchange for your equal attention to mine. Use of the following characters in email prohibited: ~ * # : { }.”
I know I sound like a raging asshole, but I’m having a hard time finding a romance critique partner who wants to work one-on-one with a goal toward publication and career, not as a hobby that’s fun in addition to lots of email chat about pets and kids and tv. I have plenty of friends. I need a working partner and don’t know where to go.
Of course, I just read over that and I really, really do sound like a complete ass. Maybe this is a lost cause and I’m better off alone.
Yours in bitching,
S.A
Ah, yes, the hobbyist vs. the professional aspirant. And the overuse of cutesy characters in email messages. I’ve heard from a few aspiring writers of romance that separating the serious writers from the people who want to say they’re “working on a novel” can be a challenge, even within RWA chapters and other writing organizations that have excellent reputations.
As I am not a Professional Writer of Fiction, I honestly don’t know where S.A. might go for a critique partner who considers writing romance “Serious Business.” What would your advice be?
My advice is rather pithy, I’m afraid: keep your eyes and ears open. Spread the word among writers you know and trust who may already have critique partners, and let them know who and what you’re looking for. And above all: don’t compromise. If you are serious about your writing, and you are serious about wanting to write romance professionally, you owe it to yourself to find someone whom you think takes writing as seriously as you do. In other words, six thousand people might think you an asshole for laying out what you’re looking for, but there’s probably one – or more than one – who is looking for you in similar terms.
That said, I have heard that some writers are better left to their own devices. Some folks work best in a vacuum. And yes, while you have absolutely the right goals in mind to ask for outside input to strengthen your writing, it may be that your best method is to work independently until you have a finished product – and you have found someone who agrees to read your manuscript.
Good luck!
All right, bitches…are we smart or are we whiners? I say we are smart and we don’t need to look much further than right here. Why can’t some of us hookup right here and at least begin exploring if any of us would be compatible as CPs?
Here’s my curriculum vita: I majored in government and history in college (British and Civil War). I’ve been an army officer’s wife, a CSI, a fire chief, a mother, softball coach, and a whole bunch of other things like working on a ranch, cowboys and Indians… I’m sarcastic, enthusiastic, friendly (so long as I’ve had a least one cup of coffee in the morning). I need someone to save me from bad puns. I write…all sorts of things – paranormal romance, romantic suspense, suspense with romantic elements, romantic sci-fi with fantasy elements, and I’m getting ready to embark on “mature romances” (meaning the heroine is like…middle-aged, ya know? Srsly. For real.) Oh…and I’m pretty good at spotting typos so long as they aren’t my own.
Anybody need critiquing or plot/continuity/expert help in any of the above, email me. Anybody interested in critiquing mine, email me. silverjames(at)swbell.net
C’mon, bitches. We got the hook up right here. Anybody else interested?
Dude! Amanda…I’m there! See you on LJ.
I’m an editor (I use a pseudonym) for a small romance publisher. I also write and would love to critique historical or romantic suspense stories.
My email is writersweekend at hotmail dot com.
I am brutal. My last four critique partners have all quit critting with me because they’re too busy writing under deadline for their publishers. Also, I am brutal.
Amanda, colour me there. How do we sign on?
Already got an LJ account, but I tend to neglect it in favour of WordPress,… yeah, I know, a slap on the wrist for that.
Ok, I’ve put the link up in my details, so if you click on my name down the bottom it should take you to the page. In longhand, it’s
http://community.livejournal.com/smartbitchcrit/
And it is in baby steps, as I’ve never started an lj community before but how else do you learn, really?
General format I’d suggest:
Name
Interests
Romance Genre
Tolerance for beginners (High/Med/Low)
Writing History – any books published, how many manuscripts you’ve started and how many you’ve finished. What you’re working on at the moment and what you will want your partner to look at.
As a general idea, I think you should start with a meet and greet post, then if possible post a small part of your writing and see who bites.
Well, first off, I never even knew that historicals were supposedly a ‘dead’ genre. I love ‘em to bits and will keep reading them as long as they’re published. I have utmost respect for historical writers, so you go, girls!
As for CPs, it’s nice to see so many other “doesn’t play well with others” writers out there. After some lacklustre experiences with group critique groups, my DH has ended up as my CP. After 10 years of living with me, he knows exactly how to couch criticism. LOL Also, he’s very fussy about his fiction, so if I can hook him, then that’s a good sign for me. Everything he’s liked, I’ve sold. The stuff he didn’t like, I haven’t sold. That’s a damn good yardstick for me to have.
When it comes to publication, both of us want to be multi-published writers, but in different streams. I want to be a novelist and he’s an academic looking to get his non-fiction work published. He comes to my work with no prior knowledge of the genre, as I do to his. It works really well because it means we’re both looking for simplicity in the other’s work. Plus, there is absolutely no hint of competition, as might exist even between an sf romance and historical romance author, e.g., which really nixes the potential for schadenfreude.
Excellent idea, Amanda! And in the interests of sharing info, I also have an LJ community that’s made up of several pubbed authors as well as unpubbeds, all at various points on the publishing road. It’s not a critique group, per se, but more one that’s designed to answer questions about things like submitting, revisions, copy editing symbols, pretty much any of the stuff that writers stress over at some point or another. It’s still relatively new, so it’s kind of quiet, but we’re there and someone’s always around to answer questions.
Here’s the addy: http://community.livejournal.com/shareabrain/
Golly I don’t write but if I did I wouldn’t want a critique partner, I’d want someone to tell me how wonderful and brilliant I am!
😛
Another Butterscotch Martini Girl here waving at you from AZ.
My critique group is wonderful. They keep me motivated and inspired and eager to keep on writing. They push me to be my best, and yes, they have threatened to kick my butt a time or two or maybe three. I feel very lucky to have found like-minded friends to work with that all have a common goal. I have no idea where I’d be without them, certainly not multi-published.
I was lucky in that I found my CP because she had some very specific questions about military operations in deployed areas. Even better, when she offered to be my CP, we found we work well together because I’m the grammar fiend and she’s the overall story builder. I’d read her books before ever contacting her, and I liked the way she wrote, so when our personalities and writing styles seemed to mesh as well, it was fate.
Just one more thing. Okay maybe two. I’d love it if someone would recommend a good, solid CURRENT historical to me. I am too much of a fan of the Rosemary Rogers days and need to know what’s getting pubbed right now. Yeah, I’ve been to the book store and I’ve read a few, but frankly I was uninspired. Nothing ‘top o’the line’ because then I’ll never write again. While I’m writing I’m not reading.
So, any suggestions?
Tell me, how the heroines have changed? *must* they be so strong a hurricane can’t topple them? should they save the family, keep a columnist job a secret, rear six siblings, secretly meet the hero at midnight?
(my earlier post)
Whaa! Whaa! Help me, Oh Bitches, before I forgo membership to that ‘writers club’ and give in to total despair!>
Sorry to come in too late to this conversation. I absolutely couldn’t write without my cp. Without her, I suck. While I understand that some people work best without a second opinion, my feeling is that I’d rather have a second opinion from someone before I hear from my editor or readers.
So, where do you find the ultimate cp? I highly recommend checking out Charlotte Dillon’s Yahoo Group, RWC. This group used to be more active and more informative than it is today, but it is still a great resource. She has a database of people looking for cp’s. That’s where I found mine. I looked for someone who was writing at about the same level, we exchanged novellas, and then we clicked. RWC also has a critique loop that I’ve used, but as my writing advanced, that resource became too limited. (Mostly, they complained that they didn’t want to read the same chapter 18 million times, picky cats!)
You can find the list of people looking for CP’s at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RWClist/database
If you join, you can post yourself up there, or look for someone who sounds promising. The general RWC loop is informative for people just starting out as well.
Best,
Lucinda
If you go the RWA route AND you’re a contest slut, you can try hooking up with other finalists at conferences.
Like any successful hookup, it’s a good idea if you go into that first experience with limited expectations.
Be up front. “I’m not jumping into a permanent, personal relationship. This is a one-off offer—first chapters only till we see if we’re compatible.”
Practice safe critiquing. Protect your own ego. Don’t jab sharp objects into your partner’s body of work without warming them up first.
Have an exit line ready. “It’s not you. It’s me.”
Virginia, went through critique partners like kleenex in those early days
I had one great group when I started at a local RWA chapter but they insisted on meeting weekly, which ate up my time. And then they stopped writing. The next person I got through the local chapter insisted on doing critiques online since she lived 70 miles away. I learned to use technology and I can’t ever edit on paper again. Eventually we stumbled onto another author we liked—we had all gotten published by the same publisher by then—who lived 3000 miles away. We shredded each other’s stories but we respected each other enough to read each story line by line. None of us has time any more to do detailed critiques—a byproduct of getting published, I think—but we’re all willing to take a quick look when the story is complete and we have another group of friends we have developed who will look when they have time. Thanks to Kate Douglas, Shelby Morgen (one of her critiques consisted of “Your formatting sucks donkey balls; your story rocks!”), Diane Whiteside, Doreen DeSalvo and the rest of the gang! You rule!
Breaking the Lurk to chime in here. It’s been great reading the responses to this post (no surprise, as I’ve been lurking a while and always enjoy what goes on here). I share a lot of the sentiments posted so far—esp trying to find good critiquers for my romance writing.
I want to throw in a new idea. Namely, where do people go to get good advice on how to **be** a good critiquer? I recently stumbled on a great group very close to me, at The Writer’s Center in White River Jct, VT. I’ve participated in one group so far and the level of writing and feedback was topnotch. Beyond unbelievable the amount of thought everyone would put into critiquing each week’s submission. And because the group was big—ab 10 people—the variety of comments was very diverse, which was often helpful. One person would notice something that another might not.
But anyway, I digress from my main point, which is that the Center founder has a book called Toxic Feedback. She talks about how to receive feedback, how to give feedback, how to handle bad feedback, how to find or start writer’s groups. She also includes a bunch of author interviews, including one by Jennifer Crusie. Reading the book had as much of an impact on the way I think about writing and feedback as Anne LaMott’s Bird by Bird.
So, how do you improve your own feedback skills?
I’m already in a crit group. I really like it very much, esp. because their writing is all eclectic, but they all write romance (or romantic elements). 🙂 BTW—we’re always looking for new blood, so to speak, if anyone’s interested. 🙂