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Critique Group Criteria
By Carol Peterson
PART II – Getting up and Going
Once you determine what type of group best fits your personality and lifestyle (in person, online, or other), how do you find a group or form one yourself? There are lots of resources to help you. If you’re a member, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI – www.SCBWI.org) can help either hook you up with an existing group or help you start your own. Many regional chapters of the SCBWI have a person in charge of helping people with critique groups.
Alternatively, you may be able to find a group through one of the online writing boards. Yahoo, for example, (www.yahoo.groups.com ) has several discussion boards related to writing in general and children’s writing in specific. Once you join a board, you can post a request for information about existing groups in your area, seek out membership in an online group or find out if other writers are interested in forming a new one.
If you locate a group that is open to new members, you and the group may first need to spend some time determining your compatibility. If you are not compatible, don’t take it personally. You’ll be happier if everyone in your group gets along personally as well as professionally. So keep looking until you find the right fit.
If you end up forming a new group, then take the lead. Gather names and background information of prospective members. Consider limiting your group to a specific size. If the group is too small it may fizzle because there is not enough action or feedback for each person. If the group is too large then individual members may feel overwhelmed by the number of other people’s manuscripts they are required to critique. Additionally, too many members may cause problems for meeting locations for in-person groups or too much chatter for online groups. The best size for a group is generally 5-8 members. But each group will have unique dynamics, so don’t be too restrictive either way until you know the personality of your own group.
Another thing to keep in mind is genre. Do you all write in the same genre? If not, are members willing to cross genres for critiquing? If one person writes only non-fiction, for example, the other members may not feel able to provide the critical feedback needed for that member. And although fiction techniques are often used in non-fiction writing, a person who only writes non-fiction may not be able to provide as much feedback on areas of fiction writing such as character growth, plot, and resolution.
Similarly, if 3 people in the group write only picture books, one person writes middle grade novels and two people write YA, then you need to determine if that make-up will work. As a general rule, you may want to start a group with members who all write in the same genre. But that’s not an absolute. Often you will find that members move into additional genres over time.
Once you have a group of writers, make sure all members agree to the group’s rules. That way everyone knows what’s expected of them and others.
Setting up your rules
Consider at least some basic groundwork for groups.
1. Everyone participates. Life happens, but if you expect others to help you then it’s only natural that others should be able to count on you, too. So everyone participates. That means everyone comes to the meetings if it’s an in-person group. Everyone participates in critiques and submissions if it’s online.
2. Submissions
a. If the group is small, you may be able to simply let each person submit whenever they want—with a limit on the number of submissions per week or month. Alternatively consider creating a submission schedule. For example, if you have six members, 3 people might submit one manuscript one week and 3 people would submit one manuscript the next. And everyone would critique every week.
b. Other things you might consider include setting rules on include manuscript submission length (word count or number of pages) and whether revisions count as a new submission or if revisions of the same manuscript can be submitted within the same time frame.
3. Timely participation. Set expectations on when to submit and when critiques are due. When it’s one member’s turn to submit, that’s when they should submit, not 3 days later. Timely submission will allow other members to have the opportunity for timely critique. Likewise, establish a time frame when members are expected to critique other members’ work. If you set up a submission schedule, for example, you might establish 3 members who submit each week by Tuesday with all critiques due by the following Saturday or Monday.
4. If the group meets in person you will need to determine how meetings will be run. Will members snail mail copies of their manuscript to each member ahead of time? Will each person email their manuscript to other members ahead of time so that they can print out their own copies? Will time allow for each member to have one manuscript critiqued at each meeting? Will you need to set a time limit for discussion of each manuscript so that all submissions can be covered within the allotted time?
5. How will you handle the issue of new members? If you have established an upward limit on the number of members, then you will need to keep that in mind. Determine ahead of time how you will handle requests to bring in new members or replace members who leave.
6. It goes without saying and therefore absolutely SHOULD be said, that the first and foremost rule of any writing group should be ultimate confidentiality. Every member should enthusiastically and seriously agree never to share manuscripts or confidential information outside the group.
Now that your group is up and going, enjoy your new friends and the journey you are on—together.
For more helpful tips, see Part III of this series—“Critique Etiquette.”
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