Critique Groups: The Good, the Bad, and Run-for-Your-Lives! 10 Kinds of Critique Groups that Can Drive you Batty

By Anne R. Allen

Critique groups are a great way to get feedback on your writing. But groups can fall into bad habits. I've been in dozens over the years and I've seen how one or two dominant members can change a group’s tone and direction.

Here are a few common deviations from the helpful critique group we're looking for. Some can be helpful in spite of flaws, but often you have to move on.

1) Enforcers

They’ve never met a writing rule they didn't love and enforce each one with zero tolerance. For them it's all about shaming rule-breakers, not improving a fellow writers' work.

They have a search-and-destroy policy for adverbs, and insist the word "was" is taboo. (For a rebuttal, see my post on the "was" police.) They allow no prologues, EVER.

Put up your deflector shields and let most of their “advice” bounce off.

2) Fact-Checkers

Some groups are dominated by detail-oriented people who want a novel to be as close to real life as possible.

Everything must be "realistic" down to knowing when and where your heroine relieves herself when she's running from mutant raccoons on Mars.

One will say your Regency duke would have terrible B.O. after fighting those ruffians, so the kiss the heroine has been anticipating would not be the glorious experience you describe.

Remember your genre’s norms and ignore the noise.

3) Group Therapy

The tendency to slip into psychotherapy is a common pitfall, especially in groups with memoirists writing about divorce, wartime, or health issues.

The line between creating and confessing can blur. Critiquers often give supportive, "attaboy" feedback out of compassion, no matter the quality of the writing.

When you come in with your breezy rom-com, you feel like you're crashing the pity party.

Plus these tender-hearted folks may try to stop your protagonist from making bad choices. She mustn’t dance with that judgmental aristocrat Darcy or accept that owl's invitation to wizard school.

Conflict-free stories are not what you’re aiming for.

4) Golden Girls

A group dominated by an older demographic can have memory issues. (Hey, age happens to us all, with any luck!)

Unfortunately, members often forget what they heard in the last installment, so they’ll ask you to repeat yourself. Often. Which can make for some unreadable prose.

Give them a separate recap before you read your chapter, and DON’T put it in your WIP.

5) Punctuation Police

This happens in online groups or in-person meetings where readers bring printed copies. Critiques can devolve into drawn-out arguments over use of the Oxford comma.

Groups that focus on grammar and spelling will do little to help with big-picture storytelling, but if you want to brush up on basic grammar or need a proofreader, they're fine.

6) Literary Salon

Usually dominated by readers and writers of literary fiction. They may write brilliantly and have a vast knowledge of literature, but their critiques can be…less than helpful.

They tend to be old school, so won't consider self-publishing. They may send out a few half-hearted queries comparing their work to Kerouac or Karl Ove Knausgaard, but probably don't attempt to get published outside of small literary journals.

They can have useful things to say about character and setting, and are fantastic at weeding out clichés. But on plot, structure, and pace, not so much.

7) Coffee Klatches

These groups never get around to more than a couple of critiques because so much time is spent chatting over the elaborate refreshments. Providing snacks can become a competitive sport. If the group meets in the evening there may be some lovely wine.

These groups can be a godsend to a writer who's been holed up in a writing cave and needs some human contact. And wine.

But feedback can be skimpy and useless to a writer on a path to publication.

8) The Literary Death Match

Whether or not the members are poets, meetings can be like a competitive poetry slam. The dominant member (s) want to perform, and tune out when others are reading.

Critiques careen from lavish praise to savage criticism. Somebody will probably order you to write an entirely new plot, which they’ll outline for you in detail. Their goal is to establish dominance, not improve your WIP.

These people can build you up one week and crush you the next—saying anything that comes into their heads.

Find another group. Narcissists are dangerous.

9) The Mutual Admiration Society

Like the Coffee Klatch, this group is all about schmoozing. Also bolstering flagging egos. To give them credit, they’re not focused on the ginger-pear Linzer torte and imported Gewürztraminer. They are actually interested in the work.

Unfortunately, everything brought for critique is always WONDERFUL and worthy of publication. They don't want you to change a thing.

You’re not going to grow much in this environment.

10) The Vicious Circle

This group is dominated by a handful of Dorothy Parker-wannabes just waiting to slip a verbal dagger into your heart.

They may have published a bit—which makes them "experts"—but it was some time ago. Maybe in college. When they got harsh feedback from the writer-in-residence, who used words like "puerile" and "derivative."

Since then, they've been honing their bitterness till it cuts like a samurai sword.

It only takes one or two of these—plus their devoted (and fearful) minions—to turn a critique group into one of the darker circles of hell.

A workshop like this at a well-known writers' conference was the inspiration for my comic mystery, Ghostwriters in the Sky. I got to kill off the workshop leader who created this Vicious Circle.

Run before you resort to real-life homicide.

~

Anne R. Allen is a multi-award winning blogger and the author of 13 published and forthcoming books, including the bestselling Camilla Randall Mysteries. She’s the author, with Amazon superstar Catherine Ryan Hyde, of HOW TO BE A WRITER IN THE E-AGE. Her latest book is THE AUTHOR BLOG: EASY BLOGGING FOR BUSY AUTHORS. Her next Camilla mystery, GOOGLING OLD BOYFRIENDS will launch in December 2018 with Kotu Beach Press. You can find her, along with NYT million-seller Ruth Harris at Anne R. Allen’s Blog…with Ruth Harris.

Anne’s latest book for writers

THE AUTHOR BLOG: EASY BLOGGING FOR BUSY AUTHORS

An easy-does-it guide to simple, low-tech blogging for authors who want to build a platform, but not let it take over their lives.

An author blog doesn't have to follow the rules that monetized business blogs do. This book teaches the secrets that made Anne R. Allen a multi-award-winning blogger and one of the top author-bloggers in the industry.

And you'll learn why having a successful author blog is easier than you think.

"I’m already a massive fan of Anne’s blog, and this book is written in the same humourous, yet highly informative style as her blog posts. Sharing her own blogging successes and mistakes…Anne makes the whole blogging process seem accessible to everyone, no matter what you’re working on or your level of technical expertise." …. Mark Tilbury

Only $2.99 at Nook, Kobo, Apple, and Amazon.

Blogging: An Inexpensive, Powerful Marketing Tool for Authors

By Anne R. Allen 

Do all authors need a blog? Nope. But blogging sure can save you a lot of time and marketing money…and it's the easiest way to establish your author brand.

All writers need to be on social media these days—and a blog is the only social medium where you're in control. Your Facebook page's reach gets more restricted all the time. New Google Plus is unfathomable. Pinterest and Instagram are all about images.

And you're a writer. Blogging is writing.

NOTE: I'm not telling you to use a blog for direct sales. Social media is not about hard sales. It's about making friends, networking and letting people know who you are (also known as "building your brand".) Once people know you, they'll be more likely to buy your book than if you throw your title at random strangers.

I'm amazed at how many new writers still think a book launch involves an expensive party at a local bookstore, a big splash at a nearby book fair, press releases and interviews with hometown newspapers and radio stations.

Today, a writer's market is global. And blogging is the best way to reach the most number of readers all over the planet.  You can reach more readers with one blogpost than with months of those painfully ill-attended "signings" or those $1000-a-pop book fair booths.

I'm not saying you should go on an expensive blog tour, either. An informal series of guest posts and interviews with other writer-bloggers in your genre can get your book in front of just as many potential readers.

In fact, blogging can be absolutely free. A blog at Blogspot.com or Wordpress.com costs nothing.

Blogging also:

·         makes you visible and gets you into search engines.

·         allows you relate one-on-one with potential readers.

·         connects you with other authors (via groups like IWSG) and publishing professionals.

·         puts YOU in the driver's seat.

·         lets you show off your writing chops

·         gives you a regular writing venue

My blog sure has made all the difference in my own career.

Seven years ago my career was over. My publisher had gone under. My fourth agent had dropped me. My freelancing jobs had dried up.

I was bloodying my knuckles on the doors of agents and publishers, invisible to Google.

So I started a blog. And yeah, nobody read it. But traffic started to pick up after the first year. I started to network with helpful people (some later formed the IWSG.)

Fast forward a few years and miracles happened. 

• Publishers came to me—I didn't have to query.
• I shared my blog with one of my idols, Ruth Harris, the NYT million-selling author. 
• I was invited to write a book with another NYT bestseller, Catherine Ryan Hyde.
• I was asked to speak at writers' conferences—and magazines and anthologies solicited my work. 
• High-circulation publications from slick fashion magazines to the American Bar Association Journal contacted me when they wanted an interview, because the first thing that came up in a Google search on various subjects was posts from my blog. 
• I was invited to contribute to the Novel and Short Story Writer's Market for 2016
• I had 10 books in print and two were on the Amazon humor bestseller list for over a year.

And I'm not the only author who's found blogging the key to career success. Listen to what Nat Russo said after an expensive launch that failed to make any book sales.

"I slashed the number of book ads…and went back to blogging…sales rocketed…they leaped from 3/day to over 70/day, where they’ve remained ever since."

Got that? He stopped buying advertising and went back to blogging. That took him from a negative bottom line to making a nice living from his books.

And not only is a blog free, it doesn't have to take much time. I've never blogged more than once a week. A working fiction writer doesn't need to post as often as the "monetized" blogger. More on this in my blogpost 9 Tips for a Successful Author Blog.

How about you? Do you blog? How has it helped your career?

Anne R. Allen is an author-blogger who writes the hilarious Camilla Randall Mysteries. She's also the author, with Catherine Ryan Hyde of How to be a Writer in the E-Age: A Self-Help Guide. She blogs, with NYT million-seller Ruth Harris at Anne R. Allen's Blog…with Ruth Harris. And her book blog is Anne R. Allen's Books. She's working on a book on the author blog, due out early next year.  

Writing Resources - A - Anne R. Allen's Blog

Welcome to the Insecure Writer’s Support Group website! Our A to Z Challenge theme – Writing Resources!


Anne R. Allen’s Blog

Run by authors Anne R. Allen and Ruth Harris.

They cover everything about writing and marketing, and in such great depth. You’ll get stats, facts, details, and more with each post. These ladies really have a finger on the publishing world’s pulse.

Anne writes funny mysteries, how-to-books for writers, poetry, and short stories on occasion, and she’s a contributor to Writer’s Digest and the Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market for 2016. Ruth is a 1,000,000 copy New York Times bestselling author, Romantic Times award winner, editor, publisher, and news junkie.


Quotes for the day:

“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” ― Philip Pullman

“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” ― Ernest Hemingway

Are Your Dreams Getting in the Way of Your Writing Goals?

By Anne R. Allen


What’s the difference between a dream and a goal?

Short answer: reality.

A dream is a creature of the imagination, full of sparkles and rainbows. It’s our magic castle where we live our fantasy lives. We all need them. But we also need to recognize them for what they are.

A goal is something doable. Like getting a college degree, saving money to go to a writers' conference, or finishing that novel.

"I want to be a rich and famous writer" is a dream.

"I want to write a novel and get it published" is a goal.

Here are some common writers' dreams that can stand in the way of writing success.

1) The Travel-Adventure Dream

You know the one—most writers have it at some point. We're going to travel around the country in a camper/sports car/motorcycle—writing our own version of On the Road.

Or we're going to go live in Paris and become the next Hemingway.

I plead guilty to this one. When I was a kid, I always pictured myself traveling the world, having adventures and turning them into lovely novels.

Thing is, I got the traveling and adventures part right, but until I was nearly forty, I’d never actually produced one of those novels.

I didn't realize writers don't need adventures. We need imaginations.

2) The Award-Winner Dream

When you were twelve, you probably rehearsed your Oscar acceptance speech in front of your mirror and thanked your hairbrush for the great honor you knew you deserved. A lot of us have been there.

But that dream can hold us back. Whether it’s winning an Oscar, Tony, Pulitzer, or making it to the top of the NYT bestseller list—picturing that kind of rare occurrence as your sole image of success can freeze you at square one.

Real success comes in baby steps.

You need to consider yourself a success when you finish your first novel, send your first query, self-publish your first book, write your first blogpost, get your first royalty check, etc.

Otherwise, you’re going to be overwhelmed by the huge gap between where you are now to where you want to be and you'll be defeated before you start.

3) The Literary Kudos Dream

This was one of mine, too. In my dream I made a lovely income from my books (somebody had to pay those Paris cafe bills.)

But I didn’t have a clue how to write stuff that could make money.

I mostly read literary fiction, so I wrote Alice Munro-wannabe stories and poems.

Yes, I loved reading romantic suspense and mysteries, but I didn’t want to be a genre writer. Oh, no: I wanted to be reviewed in the New Yorker!

I didn’t take into account that pretty much everybody who's published in the New Yorker has tons of academic credentials and teaches at a prestigious university.

I didn't want to teach. I wanted to write. So now I write mysteries.

4) The Rich Writer-of-Leisure Dream

Richard Castle has a lot to answer for.

Don’t get me wrong; I love the TV show Castle.

But do you ever see that guy writing books?

Movies and books are full of characters rolling in money they've earned from writing fiction. But the truth is, even successful, bestselling authors don’t make as much as the average lawyer, professor, doctor, or accountant (and they don't get benefits.)

The vast majority of writers have day jobs. Either we teach or edit or work at something entirely separate from writing. And we don't have much spare time to go solve crimes for the NYPD.

5) The “I Never Interfere with my Genius” Dream

There’s a quote sometimes attributed to Oscar Wilde: "I never rewrite. Who am I to interfere with genius?"

Some writers believe talent is all they need, so they never subject their tender feelings to the editor's red pencil.

But writing is like any other skill: you have to learn the rules and practice, practice, practice.

No matter how great your natural golf swing, you have to learn the rules of the game, or you won’t win any tournaments. Writing's the same.

But I often meet writers who refuse to edit or learn about POV, story arc, or pacing. Then they're devastated by rejections or dismal sales and scathing reviews.

Here's the thing: real genius is learning to rewrite well.

***

What are your writing goals? Can you clear your brain of the misty fantasies and figure out what you really want—and then map out a step-by-step path to reach it? Have you been snagged by any of these dreams the way I was?

***

Anne R. Allen is the author of seven comic mysteries and co-author of the bestselling How to be a Writer in the E-Age: a Self-Help Guide, written with Catherine Ryan Hyde. She blogs at Anne R. Allen's Blog…with Ruth Harris,, which Writer's Digest named to their Best 101 Websites for Writers in 2013. She has an article coming out in the November issue of Writer's Digest on the renaissance of the short story.

How Not to Spam: An Etiquette Guide for Authors

By the awesome Anne R. Allen!

Most marketers don't tell you the biggest secret about social media:

It should be used for making friends, not direct sales.

Direct selling on social media is spammy. Spam is not friendly. And vigilante groups can be cruel in enforcing anti-spam rules.

So what's the line between "savvy marketing" and spamming? Unfortunately, rules are different for each site:

Facebook

1) Don't link to your blog/site more than a few times a week or they'll put you in Facebook jail (freeze you out of your page). I learned this the hard way. (But they have no problem with links to your buy pages on Amazon—go figure.)

3) Don't friend too many people in a day. Yeah, they hound you to "friend" people, but if you friend too many, you'll land in FB jail.

4) Don't post a promotion in a group without checking rules. Many will kick you out.

5) NEVER post promos on somebody else's page. It's invading personal space.

6) Never market through a DM. If you're not friends, it will go in the "other" folder nobody sees. Plus it's guaranteed to annoy.

7) Never add somebody to a group without permission. 

 
Twitter

1) Don't send those automated DMs that say, "Now that you've followed, subscribe to my blog, like my Facebook page, buy my book and pick up my dry cleaning, minion! Mwahahah." Creepy.

2) Don't send direct messages unless you have a prior relationship. Thank for a follow in a @Tweet. Or better, not at all.

3) Only tweet your book a few times a day (or less) and never in a @ message.

4) Don't tweet everybody else's book just because they ask. Spamming for somebody else is still spam.

Amazon

1) Don't link to your book in a review. You can put a title in your signature: "Susie Scrivener, author of Scribblings," but without a link.

2) Don't mention your book in the Amazon Forums. Better yet, don't go: it's troll habitat.

3) Link to your blog ONLY in a designated thread in Kindleboard forums.

Blogs

1) Never subscribe to a newsletter or blog and hit "reply" to send the blogger an ad for your book.

2) Don't link to your buy page from a comment. I don't mind links to a blog—in fact I find them useful—but some bloggers don't.

3) Don't pitch your book or blog in a comment unless it's relevant.

• "I respect your opinion on adverbs, but I've got testimonials from 101 adverbophiles on my blog." is fine. 
• "This discussion of Marcel Proust reminds me of my book, Fangs for the Memories, a vampi-zombipocolyptic romance, $3.99 on Smashwords." Not so much.

Forums

1) Lurk. Don't speak until you've hung out and learned the rules. Most ban book-pimping.

2) Beware "share" buttons. I made the mistake of sending blog links via the "share" button Blogger provides. This sent them to Reddit forums where I got flagged as a spammer.

Goodreads

1) Don't join a group to promote your book. Take off your author hat and discuss books you've read, not ones you've written.

2) Don't send mass friend requests. 

3) Don't thank a reviewer or someone who has "shelfed" your book. The new Goodreads author guidelines prohibit it.

4) NEVER engage with somebody who's given you a bad review or put you on a hate "shelf." Goodreads reviews are notoriously snarky. We live with it.

Google+

1) Don't post a link on multiple community pages without separate introductions.

2) Try to post links with at least 100 words of introduction. They want more content written exclusively for Google+.

What about you, IWSG? Have you ever been criticized or punished for spamming when you didn't realize you'd broken the rules? What kind of spam bothers you the most? What can you add to the list? Can you offer rules for sites I don't know about like Pinterest or Tumblr? 

***

Anne R. Allen is the author of the bestselling Camilla Randall Mysteries and comic novels Food of Love, the Gatsby Game, and The Lady of the Lakewood Diner. She collaborated with Catherine Ryan Hyde on a guide for writers, How to be a Writer in the E-Age: a Self-Help Guide (new edition due out this month).

Anne R. Allen's Blog…with Ruth Harris was named one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers by Writers' Digest and one of the seven "best resources for writers" by Indies Unlimited. Find Anne on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Goodreads, or her Amazon Author Page.