Celebrating the Successful Critique Group: I Couldn’t Have Done it Without You! by Julie Phend

 

No matter where you are in your writing journey, the COVID-19 pandemic has put roadblocks in your path. Maybe it’s hard to find time to write with kids at home or you’re distracted by concern for loved ones. Perhaps you have a new book that has to be promoted entirely online. These are added challenges to an already difficult job. But writers are a resilient group. We may stumble on the stones thrown in our path, but we pick ourselves up and keep on traveling.

We need not travel alone. The support of others is crucial to our journey. And one of the best ways to find support is through a good critique group. I belong to two groups, one that used to meet in person and another that has always critiqued online. Now, due to the pandemic, both groups meet on Zoom. Through these tough months, we have encouraged and pushed each other. We’ve continued to be productive because we know others are counting on us. The pandemic has actually brought us closer, and I believe both groups are stronger than ever. 

So I want to give a shout-out to critique groups everywhere and explore what makes them work.

What is a Critique Group?

A critique group is a group of writers who share their work on a regular basis for the purpose of exchanging feedback and improving craft.

 

Why are critique groups important for a writer?

I posed this question to Terry Jennings, who facilitates critique groups for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) MidAtlantic chapter. 

She said, “A critique group serves as a sounding board for your writing. Critique groups can tell you what you’re doing well, as well as what is confusing about your piece. You can use the group to talk through a problem and get ideas about how to solve it. A critique group also provides validation of your work. It pushes you to write and teaches you to meet deadlines. And by critiquing others, you learn what works. You grow as a writer.”

What are the important elements of a successful critique group?

I asked this question of number of writers involved in critique groups. The answers were surprisingly consistent.

• Respect: It is crucial to respect each member’s work, their personality, and their process. Remember, they are entrusting you with their creative baby—treat that gift with care.

• Generosity: Members genuinely want to help each other find the best path for telling their stories. They applaud what works and make suggestions for improvement.

• Honesty: Critique partners must be honest about what is confusing or doesn’t work. Oftentimes, discussion leads to insight, and insight leads to the best fix.

• Commitment: When you join a critique group, you are making a commitment to yourself as well as fellow members. Giving thoughtful feedback takes time. Meet deadlines. Carve out the time needed.

How Do Critique Groups Work?

This varies from one group to another. Both of my groups exchange manuscripts for written feedback prior to meeting. However, one group sends comments before the meeting while the other sends them afterward. Some groups read a submission aloud during the meeting, organize their responses, and then discuss. Still other groups exchange feedback entirely through written comments without ever actually meeting.  

Groups vary in size, the most workable being 4-6 members. Meetings vary from weekly to monthly and last about two hours. What’s important is to meet regularly, set guidelines for number of pages and rules for discussion, and follow them. Every writer should get equal time. A timer is crucial for this purpose.

What are my responsibilities in critiquing others?

Meet deadlines. Take time to read your partners’ work carefully and give thoughtful comments both on what works and what doesn’t. When possible, suggest a fix. Be specific, but don’t rewrite it yourself. Always remember, it’s the author’s story. Confidentiality is important, too. Don’t talk about your critique partners’ work to others. It’s their decision when and how much they want to share about their projects.

What are my responsibilities when my work is critiqued?

Listen openly and attentively. Take notes and ask questions if you don’t understand something, without interrupting or becoming defensive. Don’t dismiss what others are saying—upon reflection, you will often see the wisdom of their comments. At the same time, remember it’s your story. Know your story so you aren’t unduly influenced.

 

Other Insights from the Writers I Interviewed:

• Go into it with a spirit of collaboration, not competition. Celebrate each other’s successes, large and small. Be cheerleaders for each other! Since writing is such a solitary endeavor, camaraderie and support can be as important as the actual critique.

• A good group needs to concentrate on both the big picture and the nitty-gritty. It’s more than proofreading.

• A good fit is crucial. Look for a group that writes for the same audience or genre as you. Join on a trial basis and see if you feel comfortable. Do you like the members’ work? Does their feedback meet your needs? “It’s like a relationship,” says critique member Joyana McMahon. “You’re not only choosing each other; you’re choosing to commit and foster each other’s growth over time.”

Joyana McMahon, Julie Phend, JoAnn Sanchez Kenyon, Amy Thernstrom on Zoom

 

Like any good relationship, your group will have its ups and downs. The make-up of your group may change over time, but your commitment will stand. There is no better feeling than having one of your group members publish a new book and knowing you helped it on its journey.

This sounds wonderful! How can I find a group?

There are many resources online. SCBWI offers resources. A local chapter can put you in touch with people who live near you. (SCBWI MidAtlantic maintains a list of writers looking for critique groups in its member pages.) Other writers’ organizations offer similar services. Put out a request on their Facebook pages and on your own. Check out the writing community on Twitter. Talk to other writers at conferences. 

Let people know you’re looking for a group, and you will find one. Then give it your best, and you will reap the rewards!

 

Fab Five Critique Group: Eileen Meyer, Carmela Martino, Dana Easley, Natalie Rompella, Julie Phend

Resources:

For more insight on critique groups, check out the following related Grog blog posts:

https://groggorg.blogspot.com/2017/12/critique-groups-critique-partners-we.html?fbclid=IwAR2mvpDyvY4uPGvLrgyaTJoBBY_qeEWLd_f2X8oTVKb0KbNPETkxlmfFVOc

 

https://groggorg.blogspot.com/2015/08/rx-for-your-critique-group-by-patricia.html?fbclid=IwAR3vqRbTz_HUIPMgIEkQtxVmao6aL9_3HxuJLe52-PiNfo8yk_MJITo2-sU

 

https://groggorg.blogspot.com/2018/01/critique-groups-part-2-by-kathy-halsey.html?fbclid=IwAR3MfQ9fs11oY-GAi-UWYJhkV8TIJl5gOHx9Lr6sBe2kuqwsPapLVTA_jt4

Another helpful resource is THE WRITING GROUP BOOK: CREATING AND SUSTAINING A SUCCESSFUL WRITING GROUP Edited by Lisa Rosenthall

 

 

Talking Shop at SCBWI Shop Talks

by Sue Heavenrich
 

Writing can be a pretty solitary business and sometimes we need to connect with other children's writers. I find my tribe at the local SCBWI Shop Talks. Our regional chapter of the  Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (which we refer to as Skib-wee here in the rural outback of upstate NY) hosts an annual conference and a couple of workshops and retreats. But many of us hunger for a way to connect more locally. And more frequently.

That's where Shop Talks come in. Our group meets once a month in a book store. It provides an opportunity to meet up, network, share information, and develop ourselves as writers and illustrators. Sometimes we bring works-in-progress (pages or artwork) for critiquing. Other times we share wisdom gleaned from conferences, workshops, and retreats. It might be an idea on how to approach revision, a technique for helping find voice, or advice on making book dummies.

Some evenings our gatherings feel like "mini-conferences" or writing workshops. For example, our shop talks have featured:

• a workshop on plotting with a local author
• using screenwriting techniques to map the emotional arc in a story
• when to use rhyme in a picture book
• digital illustration with our regional illustrator advisor
• a storytelling duo sharing what they learned when they put their stories on the page

One night the youth services librarian at the county library spoke about how they select books for their collection. Another time we did a "picture book field trip", collecting new books from the shelves of the bookstore and bringing them back to our table to study, dissect, and discuss (no books were harmed).

Shop talk inspires me to keep on scribbling. Now, as co-leader for the group, it provides me an opportunity to encourage and support emerging writers and illustrators.

How to find a Shop Talk Group
Check out the SCBWI website. Scroll down the home page to "Regional Chapters" and look for your state - or, in the case of California, New York and a couple others, your part of the state. Click on that and you'll find that many of the regional chapter pages have a list of conferences, events, and local meetings. They may even have a link to shop talks. At the very least, the regional adviser can help you find a local group.

No Shop Talk group? Start your own.
I asked one of the founding mothers of our shop talk group, how they got started. She had been a member of an active shop talk group in a larger city - four hours to the east - before moving to Ithaca. She attended a regional conference with a couple friends, and they thought it would be great to get a shop talk going in the Ithaca area. They were able to send out an email invitation to SCBWI members who lived in the area and then set up a list serve to connect writers and illustrators. They worked with an independent book store to secure a space to meet once a month. Over time the group has changed but the mission has remained the same: to provide fellowship, share information, and develop the craft both as writers and as illustrators.

What happens when you send out the invites and only a few people show up? Consider meeting in a public location where there is more visibility. I know of a group that meets in a library and their meetings are advertised on the library calendar. Not everyone who shows up is a SCBWI member, says the shop talk leader, but they are all serious about writing for kids and young adults.

To be a Writer, You Need a Community ~ by Christy Mihaly

This is a story about writing, and community, and giving back. Like a good picture book, it's also about coming full circle.

Ten Thousand Hours

You’ve probably heard that to master a skill you must practice it for ten thousand hours. . . . I suspect ten thousand isn’t the precise number for every person in every field, but you get the idea.

In this book,
Malcolm Gladwell
discussed the
"10,000-hour rule."

And . . . if you keep doing the thing you’re learning (here, we’re referring to writing), then somewhere along the line you get better, and you start to understand the journey that you’ve begun. And after that, maybe a piece you wrote gets some recognition, or an editor doesn’t immediately reject a manuscript, and you revise, and take some courses, and join a critique group . . . and then one day, even though you haven’t completed your ten thousand hours—or, in any event, you know you aren’t finished practicing—someone asks you to share what you know. To give a presentation, in public.

Sitting up Front

I've posted previously about my local indie book store, Bear Pond Books. Among its other virtues, Bear Pond hosts an informative Author/Educator speaker series. Children’s book buyer Jane Knight organizes these wide-ranging talks. Over the years, I’ve attended many enlightening Author/Educator programs, given by many talented authors and educators.

Author Linda Urban speaks; Jane feeds the crowd

But. My place was in the “audience” seats, where I could soak up the wisdom of those sitting in the “presenter” chairs up front. When Jane asked me to give a presentation this year, I was taken aback. Surely I wasn’t qualified. Jane, however, knew that I’d recently published a book, and she also knew that many of the folks attending the speaker series, or hanging around the book store, were interested in writing for publication. She thought they’d like to hear how someone with a day job (teacher, librarian, parent, attorney) could break into publishing. I gulped, and agreed. (This is the giving-back part.)

Once these flyers went out, we were committed!

But I didn't agree to do it alone. I recruited Ryan Kriger, a former colleague from my former job as a lawyer, to co-present. 

Ryan is lawyering full-time. He’s also a writer, and has both a literary agent and several manuscripts making the rounds. I thought it might be helpful and relevant that he does stand-up comedy as well. Ryan named our talk: “Don’t Quit Your Day Job: A Working Writers’ Workshop.”

Doing the talk!

On the morning of the talk, we settled into the unfamiliar chairs up front. People filled the space before us. Ryan and I just knew that some of those audience members were better writers than we. Nonetheless, we plowed ahead. We distributed a list of resources we’d compiled, and introduced ourselves. We each summarized our parallel tales of how we’d evolved from doing “hobby writing” to identifying ourselves as actual authors.

As we did, a truth emerged: the key to becoming a “real” writer was joining a community of writers. If you're serious about writing, find your community.

It takes a community to publish a book

Of course, writers must hone their craft: write, revise, re-revise, and polish. (See above re: 10,000 hours.) But the next stepping stone on the path to publication is to acknowledge you can’t do it alone. Venture outside your writing garret, and participate in the writing world.

Push yourself: Conferences can be fun

Writers aren’t always good joiners. But that fantasy of toiling alone in a lofty studio, perfecting a Great Work, never emerging except at last to mail the freshly minted manuscript to some eager editor? Not going to happen.

Working writers, with M&M's

Publishing a book takes teamwork. Unless you self-publish (and even then) you'll work with others (critique partners, agents, editors, experts, illustrators, designers, marketers and more) to get that book out.

SCBWI New England conference

Where can you find your team? If you write and/or illustrate children’s books, join SCBWI. After that, seek out local writers’ associations, online groups like 12x12 (for picture book writers), challenges such as NaNoWriMo, courses, and community events. Haunt your local book store, library, or community center, and check out their writing-related offerings. 

On the Writing Journey

I’d been writing for a decade, and making precious little progress, before I first attended a writing workshop (at Highlights Foundation). It changed my life. I started solid friendships with several experienced writers, and one even invited me to join her critique group. (I was too embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know how a crit group worked!) It’s now been almost four years, and the same e-mail-based critique group is still thriving. We’ve made each other’s work stronger, shared ideas, inspiration, and disappointments, and celebrated one another’s hard-earned successes. AND, I’m now co-authoring a book with a member of the group.

GROGgers at SCBWI

At every conference or workshop or writer’s meeting I’ve attended since then, I’ve pushed my way a little farther along the writing path. I haven’t scored a three-book deal yet. But with each event, I become less ignorant about writing. I've met my tribe. I've found support. I've learned more about the craft. I've begun to understand publishing and marketing. I was introduced to the writers who became the GROG, and others who are my neighbors in rural Vermont.

But most important: I stopped feeling like an imposter when I said, "I'm a writer!"

Ryan told a similar tale. He lived in Brooklyn (that hub of the publishing universe) for several years, before he’d joined any writers’ groups. But he didn't really get to know people in publishing during his time there. Then he moved away, joined SCBWI, and began meeting writers, editors, and agents. The more involved he became in writing workshops and critique groups, the more confident he grew in seeking (and finding) an agent and submitting his manuscripts. While his books haven't (yet) been published, Ryan has joined the writing community as a “real writer,” and recently published a piece about using humor in writing. Ryan also reminded me that, although he and I had met at our workplace, neither of us was aware that the other wrote outside the office, until we crossed paths at a local SCBWI event. You have to get out there and meet up!

Now, years later, we were sitting in the chairs at the front of the room, sharing what we've learned, meeting more writers, expanding our writing community. Thanks, Jane. (This is the full circle part!)

Who's in your writing community? Let us know in the comments. Share your recommendations! And if you'd like more information, here are a few community-oriented posts from the GROG archives: 

A newbie's guide to two helpful writing groups

The write conference for you

Is your critique group right for you?

Introverts attending conferences: words of advice
Writer-driven Facebook Groups

Thanks so much for stopping by!