rebecca-schaeffer:

So, as writers, we often hear people talk about how important their CP was to improving their writing, or agents telling aspiring writers to get beta reads before submission. Nothing comes out perfect first draft. You need other eyes.

Well, that’s great and all… but where do you find these mythical CPs?

This was the position I found myself in two years ago. I’d written a book. It wasn’t the first book I’d attempted to write, but it was the first I felt good about. 

So, I sent it to a friend. She’d read other things of mine before and shredded them to pieces (in a good way, in a way that helped improve them). She loved the novel. But, she warned, I should get other opinions.

I agreed. I needed truly fresh eyes.

But how to get them?

Thus started a saga that lasted about 8 months, where I swapped feedback on multiple different projects with at least 52 different people.

Yes. 52.

I was very committed.

Of those, it’s a pretty small subset that I still keep in touch and work with. But over those months and working with so very many different people, I learned a lot. I also make a lot of mistakes. Hopefully, this post will help people find CPs and not repeat my screwups.

Part 1: BEFORE YOU GET A CP

Step One: What is important to you in your story?

The first thing to do, before even looking at critiques is ask yourself: what was my goal with this story? What things am I firm on? What things are important to me?

For example, one of the things I was firm on for my novel was the grey morality of the characters. That was not up for discussion. I had critiquers who didn’t like them, who wanted them nicer, who couldn’t understand them. That’s fine. But I wasn’t going to change them into conventionally nice people.

Now, that’s not to say they weren’t up for critique. They absolutely were.  Because I WANTED to have them be compelling and dark. This was my goal.  I ignored advice telling me to make them nicer. But when the critique was, for example, I don’t understand their motives, or, this interaction is falling flat, that’s different. That’s something I can look at and improve in order to reach my goal of compelling and dark.

That’s why it’s so important to understand your goals before you dive in.  What do you want to the story to do? If you don’t know, or you haven’t clarified it, it can be difficult to see what advice to take and ignore, and you may end up “fixing” something in the story that wasn’t broken or ignoring something important.

Step Two: Decide what you want out of a CP

When hunting for a CP, I cannot stress enough the importance of figuring out exactly what you want and need from the relationship, and what the other person wants.

There are a LOT of different styles of critique partners. What you want will depend on what stage of writing you’re at, time commitment, the star alignment your book was born under, etc…

Do you want….

— Someone to keep your accountable? Maybe you want someone to swap a chapter each week to keep each other writing.

—  A cheerleader? Someone to encourage you to write and finish, rather than point out ways you can improve. 

– Someone to bounce ideas off? Maybe you want to get feedback on an outline, or the premise of the book rather than actually swap the novel itself. 

— a copyeditor? Someone who focuses on the nitty gritty craft level stuff to help you with the general technique of writing.

— a beta reader? Someone to read your novel as a whole and give constructive feedback on it, usually broad strokes on a structural, plot, and character level.

— a fan? Someone who will read and compliment your book just as is.

You can also have a CP who is all of these, or two of these, or any combination thereof, or something else entirely. But figuring out what you want from the relationship is key before wading in. It’s not helpful for example, if you want someone to focus on the overarching plot and all their comments on on the nitty gritty sentence level craft stuff. Or vice versa. 

Communication is key. 

Step Three: Something to Keep in Mind about choosing CPs

One thing to always keep in mind when choosing a CP is what the person reads. They may be a professional editor, or a fantastic writer, but if they don’t read your genre, then they may not be the best CP. They may be a great critiquer – but not for you.

It’s like making cookies. Lets say you want to make a raison oatmeal cookie. And you consult a pro at baking chocolate chip. That pro will have useful advice for making batter, and how long to cook, and how much salt to add, but when it comes to taste – how many oats to put in, or raisons, etc, they’ll be in the dark, and so they’ll try and turn your raison oatmeal cookie into a chocolate chip one. Which isn’t what you want.

Cross-genre appeal is important, and I definitely don’t advocate avoiding other genres. The romance writer may have spot on comments about your romantic subplot the military SF writer may not be able to see. Just remember what your CPs read and write has an impact on how they critique.

Part 2: FINDING CPs

So, now you’ve thought about all these things and you’re ready to find a CP. So… how do you find them?

In person

Large cities often have multiple different writing circles. You can find them online and contact them and ask to join.

Here’s a few places you can try:

Meetups


SCWBI


SFWA

Writer’s guild webpages for your state/province

University clubs

Let’s say you can’t meet in person.  You live in a small town, or a non-English speaking country, or you don’t feel comfortable meeting strangers. Never fear,  the internet is here!

There are a lot of ways to meet people through the internet.

Twitter

CP match: Run by Megan Lally, it happens every few months. Post a pitch of your book, browse other books on the hashtag, and comment on ones that interest you. Then swap a chapter and see if you’re a good fit!

Pitch contests like DarkPit, PitMad, DVPit and many others are a great way to scope out other peoples pitches. Comment on them and ask if the person needs new readers. Maybe they don’t, but it doesn’t hurt to ask!

Writing Contests

There’s lots of writing contests out there, like pitchwars, author-mentor match, and more. Aside from being great opportunities for exposure and mentorship, the community of writers is invaluable for soliciting beta readers, crit partners, etc. Apply!

Even if you don’t get in, stalk the hashtag for other hopefuls. Start a conversation, see if they need readers.

Critiquing websites

There are a lot of these out there.  They all have their positives and negatives

Wattpad - there’s a lot of great success stories coming from wattpad. I’ve never used it,  but I’ve heard it can be a great platform for gaining other writer friends and fans!


Scribophile - This site is designed for critiquing, rather than reading, like Wattpad. Scribophile also has a lot of different sub-critique groups, so it’s easy to find a niche.

Absolute Write - It has a query critique section where you can polish your query writing skills and find critique partners along the way.

Note:  Some websites take rights. Scribophile, because it’s password locked, does not. However, with wattpad, you can lose some rights (you can find a great post on Wattpad and rights here). Always research any website you’re posting work on to see what rights it keeps.

There are many other networking and critique websites out there. Google is your friend!

But Remember…

All of this is, at its core, about networking.  You will get the most out of websites, twitter, and any other platform if you work to cultivate partnerships with other writers. For the introverted writer, that can be daunting. This is why many writers prefer….

Classes

Writing workshops online provide a structured format with guaranteed critiques and assignments without actively requiring you to network. These classes can the the form of one-off classes, masters degrees, retreats, etc.

Some places that offer classes:

UBC online masters
Writing the other workshops
Workshops offered by authors
Gotham
Clarion and Clarion West
And many many more

One final note

Always research any course, contest, or website you plan to use. Look at who’s participating in them, check out their history, read up on success stories associated with them. 

And remember, if a relationship doesn’t work out, you don’t have to stay. There’s always more people willing to swap!

Good luck finding critique partners!