Today, I'm going to write about something very near and dear to my heart: critique groups. I participate in two - one is composed of online writers, who I have never met in person but have given me some amazing advice, and another is an in person group of fellow members of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators. My critique groups have been absolutely amazing at giving me helpful advice, and also giving me a confidence boost when I really needed one. A few weeks ago, I went to my group for SCBWI, and as I was reading I kept thinking to myself 'This is horrible. This is garbage. This is the worst thing I've ever written. I am so embarrassed. Why on Earth am I reading this out loud????' but I'd already started, so it was too late to quit. I finished reading my chapter, and sat back, waiting for my critique partners to eviscerate me and...they didn't. They actually had very nice things to say, suggestions too, but the general consensus was that they liked it. And once I took a deep breath, I realized that what I'd written was actually not so bad and even had some really nice moments.
Writing is like any other subjective thing, where there are going to be days that make you feel like everything you're doing is horrible. It's like waking up and deciding that you are terribly unusual looking, even though you know that in reality you look exactly the same way you did yesterday when you felt just fine (or maybe that's just me). There are times where I read things that I've written and think to myself 'Uuuugh, this is horrible. Why do I bother?' but I'm learning to push past that and to stop being so hard on myself. And to accept that while my inner editor has done me a lot of good, sometimes I just have to tell her to stop being to hypercritical, shut up, and take a nap until she stops being so cranky. And for the most part, it works.
Ok, you are thinking, but what on Earth does this have to do with American Idol? Well, dear reader, I'm glad you asked. I think that a good critique group should be like Randy Jackson. A Simon group will only discourage you and tell what they dislike about your work (That opening was weak, you ended four sentences with prepositions, that entire page was an info dump), while a Paula group will only tell what they loved about your writing (That was so good! I loved your main character! It was so exciting!), but a Randy group will tell you what was good, and what you can do to make your story even better. They'll also tell you when you're just way off base and need to do some major revisions. Randy has always been my favorite American Idol judge (I know the judges have changed now, but I only watched the first few seasons so bear with me.) because he knows when to say "That was da bomb!" and when to say "Sorry dawg, not feelin' it." And that's what a great critique group does. Although maybe not in those exact words....
If you're interested in starting up or joining a critique group, I recommend you check out querytracker.net or one of the other many websites where writers post, and let people know you're interested. If you write for young people, joining SCBWI is another an awesome way to connect with other writers, and there are local chapters all over the country. It isn't free, but it's totally worth it. And no, they didn't pay me to say that. (Although I wish they had. I'm going to a conference next month and those things are NOT cheap!) Joining an SCBWI critique group seems like a pretty safe bet to me, because the people involved are all serious enough about writing to have paid to join, but online groups can be a bit more sketchy. I guess I just got lucky because my online partners are amazing!
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