Long-Term Critique Partnerships: Myth or Magic?

Way back when Middle Earth was still in existence, I started trying to write a book because my husband thought I should have a hobby. I think he figured if I spent a year or two writing a romance novel, maybe so much of our monthly budget wouldn’t be spent on the book aisle in Walmart. I’ve been a voracious reader all my life, so it seemed to me that I would’ve learned to write by osmosis or something. I’m not really sure what I was thinking.

Point of view? Yeah, I had twelve of them. Backstory? No worries--I covered that in the first paragraph. Conflict? Who needs that? I wanted my characters to like each other.

After my first rejection, which was a much nicer letter than I deserved, I realized maybe there was more to this than I had imagined. It was about that same time that I decided writing a book was pretty stinkin’ hard. I needed help. I needed a critique partner.

I met Sierra Donovan on a Harlequin message board. Neither one of us was published at the time, but we had similar interests and were at a similar place in our writing, and we clicked. Over time, we learned we could trust each other with our work, and after all these years, we’re friends, too. We certainly never imagined we’d still be working together more than twelve years later. 

So what makes our CP relationship work for the long haul?? 

We have a similar tolerance for grammatical errors.

Everyone makes mistakes. Some people make the same mistakes repeatedly (cough...me...cough). However, if you’re the lieutenant of the grammar police (rules are rules for a reason) and your critique partner is a grammar flower child (let’s use all the grammar and be happy) then you might have a problem. It’s hard to get to the meat of what your critique partner is writing if you can’t get past the grammar.

We share the same commitment to timely critiquing.

The meaning of timely is different for everyone. Long-term critique partners and bestselling authors Catherine Mann and Joanne Rock have written well over 150 books between them. Because they’re often up against deadlines, they have a 24 hour no-excuse turnaround time. According to Rock, “It honestly never feels like a chore because we are paid back in kind--given help when we need it most.”

Sierra and I shoot for returning critiques within 24-48 hours and sometimes less, but it hasn’t always been that way. This timeline works for us at this point in our careers, but...if you have seventeen children or a full-time job outside of writing or it’s football season, you might need a looser timeline. The key is finding someone else who works at the same pace.

We are each other’s biggest cheerleader. 

One thing I’ve learned about writers is that we celebrate the milestones--all the milestones. When I got my first real rejection, a writer friend brought over a bag of mini Snickers bars and unwrapped them for me as I cried. Every step of the journey represents hours, sometimes years, of work. No one knows that better than a CP. 

Superromance author Dana Nussio has been a part of the same critique group for sixteen years. These seven women have been together through many published books, but they’ve also supported each other through cancer, surgeries, teenagers and more. The key to their longevity, according to Nussio, is “truly wanting success for each other and willingness to be invested in that success.”

We give--and receive--feedback with respect. 

Criticism, even constructive criticism, is never easy to take. Having respect for your critique partner’s gifts, talents, and time, can change the conversation. Frank Clark once said, “Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots.”

I love it when my CP tells me she likes my writing. Her praise gives me a boost of confidence--and I need that! But honest constructive criticism makes me a better writer. And I want that even more.

We trust each other to “get it.”

Another way to put it is that your critique partner’s comments have the ring of truth for you. Sierra Donovan says, “That doesn’t mean they only tell you what you want to hear, but their comments feel right to you--they seem to get what you’re going for and gauge whether you’re on the right track or not.” 

A long-term critique partner isn’t a myth, it’s a marriage. It takes work and compromise to make it work consistently.  Which brings me to one final pro tip: 

Expect to kiss a few frogs. 

Sometimes a trial period is a healthy choice. Agree to critique three chapters and re-evaluate the benefits. Both people come into the relationship understanding that sometimes it’s not a good fit--and that’s okay! Just like finding romance, finding the right critique partner is a combo of chemistry and perseverance and...sometimes it doesn’t work out. But when it does, it’s magic!

So, how about you? Do you work with a critique partner? Do you have any tips for making that relationship work? (Or, even better, things not to do?)

Today, Stephanie is giving away TWO double packs. A copy of her Love Inspired release, The Dad Next Door by Stephanie Dees and We Need a Little Christmas by Sierra Donovan. Print or ebook. Winner's Choice. Leave a comment to be entered in this fun giveaway. Winners announced in the Weekend Edition!

A Place to Call Home 


Lawman Joe Sheehan is desperate to bond with the daughter he's just discovered he has. But as a virtual stranger to twelve-year-old Amelia, the task seems impossible. Until Claire Conley moves to town. A social worker renovating a mansion into a foster home, Claire is the first person to get through to Amelia. Falling for the single dad was not on Claire's to-do list. But with Joe and Amelia around, the house finally starts to feel like home. Claire's ready to fight to convince Joe that together they've done more than fix a house…they've built a family.

Award-winning author Stephanie Dees lives in small-town Alabama with her pastor husband and two youngest children. A Southern girl through and through, she loves sweet tea, SEC football, corn on the cob and air conditioning. When she’s not writing, she’s chasing kids and drinking coffee, not necessarily in that order. Her new series for Love Inspired is one that’s close to her heart, featuring families built by love in unexpected ways. For more information, visit stephaniedees.com and sign up for Steph’s newsletter to be entered into a Kindle Fire giveaway!

We have donuts! Pass the box!

Live Brainstorming Session with The Shredder aka Danica, Camy & Cheryl and CRITIQUE GIVEAWAY

Hey all! Cheryl here...

Have a special treat for you. Today's guestblogger is my good friend and critique partner-extraordinaire, Danica Favorite-McDonald. Danica, Camy Tang and I are in a critique group together. Because of our raw honesty we refer to our crit group as The Shredder...hence the photo.

Dream uses those horns to point out my plot holes. Camy keeps those fangs sharp and ready to chew my heroine's arm off at the first sign of whine or wimp. And of course there's a halo above my head because I NEVER say anything bad about their books...ahem! Well, errr...maybe I DO since the halo is black. LOL!

In addition to talking about cohesive critiquing, Danica and later Camy, will help me brainstorm a book in real time, here in the comment section of Seekerville. Feel free to dive in with input, questions, etc.

Everyone who leaves a comment by Midnight CST tonight will be entered into a drawing for a free, first chapter critique by moi.

Be sure to leave your e-mail address as you chime in with questions or thoughts as we go along. How this will work is I will post my scenario in the comment section and the girls will respond and this will go on until I've worked the bugs out of my plot. Danica, Camy and I have not yet brainstormed this story...so what you see unfolding in the comment section will be live and in real time and what you'd hear if you were with us during one of our brainstorming sessions either by phone or IM.

We hope you will see how a cohesive critique group can help on the front end of your writing too, during the brainstorming phase, which is going to also be the time you'll be able to determine whether your story has a solid foundation of structure. Without further ado...here's Danica:



Working with a critique group-


Hey Seekers! Thanks for having me back again. Cheryl asked me if I'd join you for a discussion on working cohesively with a critique group. For those who don't know, Cheryl Wyatt and Camy Tang are my critique partners. Today's post is going to be a little different from what you're used to (we hope!), so bear with us if it seems a bit weird. Because today, you guys are going to get a peek inside how we work together. At the end of this post, you're going to see a sample of what it looks like when we brainstorm together. Throughout the day, keep checking back, because we're going to continue the critique in the comments.


Before we begin, I want to share our rules for critiquing.


1.

Be honest!! It hurts a lot less to hear from each other that
there's something wrong than it does to hear it from an editor.
The very worst thing in the world to hear as we're sharing the
rejection letters is, “oh, I thought that too.” Really? Then why
didn't you say so in the first place!!


The guiding principle here is Proverbs 27:6 “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” I'll be honest. We like hearing what we do well. But when all we hear is “your writing is so wonderful,” it does not help us grow as writers. We are VERY tough on each other because we love each other enough to want to help each other grow.


2.

Be open to changing. If you're looking for the kisses, send your
book to your grandma and don't expect to sell. Your grandma will
give you little gold stars and frame your babies. However, your
critique partner may ask you to kill them. Every baby I've had to
kill has made me a better writer.


3.

Don't take it personally. Whew! This one is hard. We all put a
little of ourselves into what we write, and sometimes being told
something doesn't work feels like an attack on who we are. “I hate
this and this about your heroine” can feel a lot like “I hate you”
when you've put those pieces of you into her. Just remember, this
is fiction, and what sells fiction is different than what we love
(or don't love) about our friends.

4.

Understand and accept each other's processes. Camy ripped one of
my stories to shreds. She didn't say she liked it, so I assumed
she hated it. In her mind, since she didn't tell me she hated it,
I should have assumed she liked it. Once I realized that Camy's
process is more about telling me what to fix, I learned to trust
that if she hated a story, she'd say so. She learned that I always
assume the worst, so she needs to reinforce the positive.

5.

Remember to tell each other the good. Camy, Cheryl, and I refer to
each other as the shredders because we literally shred each
other's manuscripts. But we LIVE to hear the compliments. After
I'm done critiquing, I go back through the manuscript and find a
couple of places where I can show them something they've done
that's really good.


And now for the critique!!

Check the comment section for Cheryl's set up then Danica's (and later today, Camy's) response:

Cheryl, Danica & Camy aka The Shredder :-)

Mentors

Critique groups, we’ve all been there (and if you haven’t, you’ve missed a time-honored, initiation ritual).

Go back in time to your first encounter with the “writing pros.” You’ve attended your first chapter meeting or spent a couple months on an email loop and now you’re filled with excitement over joining a group of writers honing their craft.

I need to qualify my opinions before I go any further - there is definitely a place in the life of a writer for critique groups. Many of them are very helpful. Some are not. . ..

Now, as I was saying, the critique group. While attending my very first meeting of my local RWA chapter, I found a group of romance writers who lived relatively close to me and met monthly, rotating meetings at the homes of the members. Each month we brought 10 pages of our best work, distributed copies to each member and then proceeded to read aloud our genius. No one interrupted, no one asked questions. At the end of the reading, the torture began. Journaling furiously, each of my “friends” wrote their opinions of my work and then the discussion began:

“I think your story needs to start here…”

“A bear wound never heal like that…”

“If you want to show luxury, forget the Caddy. Give them a Jag…”

And then, the sets of pages I’d handed out all came back to me scribbled over in various colors of ink that dripped off the pages like blood from a puncture wound. I’d come home devastated, avoiding the computer at all costs for at least a week. My husband grew to hate that time of the month. He hated seeing my enthusiasm crushed. He was ready to go fight for my honor.

To this day, I still love that man.

As I faithfully digested the comments, it only took me two years to realize most of my fellow writers never heard my story. They were too busy trying to show me how they would write it if it were theirs.

And after two more years, I woke up one day and realized I’d lost my voice. Not laryngitis. I’d lost my writing voice…my inner voice…the play of words and ideas that stamped my projects MINE.

Yep, a mere 6 years into my writing career, I was ready to pack it up, convinced none of my ideas were worth the dot matrix they were printed on, and I sure as shootin’ couldn’t express myself believably.

Then along came Connie.

Connie Rinehold is a multi-published author of romance novels. She read my entry in our local chapter’s contest and gave me a perfect score of 100 while the other two scores barely graced the mid-60s. She invited me to meet with her, to discuss my talent.

Yes, she called it talent.

As it turned out, my writing really was worthy of the scores I’d been receiving in contests, but what she saw in my writing only needed tweaking, a little direction and few more words here, a few less words there. We began meeting every couple weeks.

In that little office in her home, we discussed the elements of story, talked of character feelings, we explored “what ifs” with vigor. Through all the blood, sweat and tears of tearing apart my first book, Connie never wrote my book for me. She made me come up with the answers. We discussed my ideas and she made me think the threads through.

She’d asked my opinion of her drafts. We bounced ideas for her characters around the room. She wrote the most incredible books, and I marveled that she could use my ideas in any way, shape or form.

Critique groups are a wonderful concept as long as you keep the multiple opinions of your work in perspective. Don’t allow others to distill the part of you that makes your work unique. Look for fellow writers who have your best interests at heart and who want build you up so you can fix the potholes in your own yellow brick road.

I know I’m blessed. My fellow Seeker sisters watch out for me, as I them. We encourage, we celebrate, and yes, we smack down when appropriate. But we do it out of love. And that just ain’t something you come across every day.

I pray each and every one of you finds the person or persons who love you enough to be honest in their opinions of your work without ulterior motives.

I wish you all mentors with a capital M -- or in my case CR.

I’m a long way from that starry-eyed novice writer of fifteen years ago, but I’ve discovered what I want to be when I grow up. And I pray I do it with all the grace, dignity and generosity Connie Rinehold poured over me.

Now it’s time to share. How do you feel about critique groups? Has anyone looked beyond the surface to reveal the special in you? Have you dug out any diamonds in the rough?

Do tell!!

And make sure you include your email address!!

If one doesn't have a mentor, then while waiting for the real thing to come along, chocolate will have to do. There's a bag of to-die-for Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate with Raspberry Filling squares just waiting to encourage someone on!

Winner will be announced in the Weekend Edition!!!

Blessings!
-audra