Thursday, October 31, 2013

The Magic of Critique













by Maggie Marr

The first critique group I attended was in *ahem cough* 1998.  While I'd been a writer since 2nd grade (GBC Post 9/13).  The idea of becoming a published writer didn't take hold until sometime after grad school.  I knew I could write because I had these stories that dropped out of my head onto paper, all I had to do was sit down and listen to the stories.  But listening and transcribing the stories was not then and is not now the same as crafting a book.

I needed a critique group.

When the student is ready, the teacher appears.  Enter The Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Capital Hill Critique Group.  The first and third Thursday for four years I printed up my ten pages and went.  The group was a mixed bag.  Some pedigreed writers (MFA), some blue collar writers, some mommy writers, some daddy writers, some white collar writers, some retired writers, some student writers and even (gasp!) published writers--but everyone was a writer and everyone (save one member) was a reader.

The first night was brutal.  The first time you get critiqued is always brutal.  I read my ten pages aloud to the group.  When I finished there was silence.  There is always silence but the first time you are critiqued it seems as though the silence is longer and louder.  Even as I read the pages aloud, after listening to other critiques before mine that night, I could see where I wanted to edit, what I needed to change--even before my critique partners started the critique.  That was magic. 

They were gentle.  They were kind.  I went back.    

I've now, 15 years later, written over one million words.  I don't know the exact count although if I had a whole day and a calculator I could probably suss it out.  I've been a member of two other critique groups.  I was even a critique group trainer for the RWA WFA chapter.  I believe in critique.  I believe that writers help other writers to become better writers.

Again, because this line is important:  I believe that writers help other writers to become better writers.

This is fundamental.  This is a core belief for me.  But the even bigger benefit, the unspoken truth about critique, the magic of critique, is that critique doesn't just help the critiquee with their writing,  critiquing also helps the critiquer.  I learned as much or more by critiquing other writers work as I did from receiving critiques of my work.  That is one of the great beauties and the magic of critique.  Of life really--by the act of giving you receive more than you ever gave.

Maggie Marr is the author of Hollywood Girls Club, Secrets of The Hollywood Girls Club and the soon to be released Hollywood Hit (Dec. 2013).  She also wrote Courting Trouble and Can't Buy Me Love.  The first book in her New Adult book series, Hard Glamour publishes January 2014.  She is legal counsel for the Women's Fiction Writers Association and a member of RWA and LARA.  She lives and works in Los Angeles.  You can find her on Twitter and FB.  Don't forget to enter to win a $100.00 gift card from Maggie!  She's giving them away on 11/15 and 12/15.  Enter here.    

      


13 comments:

  1. Our critique group has been together for over 25 years! And it's amazing.

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    1. 25 years is amazing! You must know each others writing -- both bad habits and good habits so well. What a wonderful gift to have in your life.

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  2. I wholeheartedly agree with you, Maggie! Don't know if you saw the latest LARA Confidential, but I wrote a little article about the The successful Critique Partnership. I know I would never have gotten published if it wasn't for my critique group.

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    1. Thank you, Lynne! Yes, I am quite certain that critique group is the primary reason I ever got pubbed. Not only did it make me a better writer, but it also made writing a habit. I knew a needed clean pages to take to critique!

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  3. I'd been a member of a LARA critique group and loved it, but then three of us moved away, many became published, and everything changed. One of the original members moved to DC, she and I continued, and we still critique today. I love her advice, and she knows my voice, and I know hers. I agree with you on the value of critiquing, and seriously, I think I'm a better reader from having been in critique groups.

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    1. Thank you, Robena for coming by and commenting! Yes, critiquing makes us better readers and writers.

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  4. Great post and so true. I think in the beginning, it's only natural to approach these things with, "What's in it for me?" But over time, you learn that you get so much more out of critiquing the work of others.

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    1. Plus there is the joy of seeing a writer grow over time. How we all (hopefully) deepen our own unique voice. Sometimes it is our critique partners who see it first and polish it a bit for us with their comments.

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  5. Maggie,
    There's nothing like reading your work aloud to other writers, is there? I had that same experience with my local RWA chapter (Chicago-North) -- during the very first read, there were places where I *knew* I was going to need to edit, things I didn't fully understand weren't clear until that very moment. I'll always be grateful for the insights they shared with me that night, and their gentleness, too! Glad you found the experience with your critique group so valuable as well :).

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    1. No, reading my work to other writers, even now, is unnerving! I love writing and I grow more comfortable with my voice which each book, but I always want to be better. To write a better book. I know writers are people who can see the parts of the machine and how the whole thing does or doesn't work.

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  6. Great post Maggie! I never had the nerve for a whole critique group, but through my local RWA chapter (yay LARA!) I found a wonderful critique partner named Sheila who very patiently, very gently, taught me how to write! Then I entered the LARA mentor program and got paired with the amazing Lynne Marshall...who took me to a whole 'nother school!! And then I got published, which never would have happened w/o my CP and my mentor!

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  7. This is great. One of these days when I get organized I want to make a plan for getting involved in one through WFWA!

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