Why Your Critique Partner May Be Hurting Your Career

One of the things most new writers hear is the need to find a great critique group. Because writing is a solitary affair, you need someone to work with, to solve problems together and to make those stories great. While this certainly has some truth in it, the one thing most writers fail to see is a single concept in that sentence - finding a GREAT critique group.

I often cringe when I hear authors tell of all the great advice they get from their critique groups. "We really support each other." "We get a lot of great ideas from each other." The problem though is that this is an issue of the blind leading the blind. These are people who have no clue whatsoever about writing giving you advice.

Too often the reasons writers never make it is due to that critique group.

One of the first is just what I hinted at here. You have people who really do not know how to write, giving advice. Not a good approach. You need to have people who are educated enough guiding you in your writing. Many of the plot issues I see with authors stems from those critique groups suggesting these great plot ideas to "add depth" or to "provide background information" to make the story better. The end result, however, is a story filled with distracting material.

The second reason is that those critique groups often give you a false sense of your success. Because you are all in this together, you are there to provide positive feedback. We never want to discourage someone and tell them their story sucks. We never want to tell them the premise is bad. When they finish that story, we push them to start pitching, even though they might not be ready.

I am all into positive feedback! But, I am also someone who believes it is important to tell someone the truth. Guiding your fellow writers directly into a brick wall is not going to help them at all.

So, before you go out and get into that critique group, as yourself if this group is just going to be a cheer squad for you, or if they are really educated enough to make sure you and your writing is going to be a success.