Critique Partners: What and Why (and Book Giveaway)

A week or so ago, someone requested a post on critique partners and someone else requested another entry into the “When Good Advice Goes Bad” series. Being the brilliant blogging mind that I am, I thought to myself: why not combine these ideas and thereby decrease my number of eligible blog topics, thus ensuring another opportunity for me to whine to Sailor Boy about not having anything to write about and for him to say, “I know, write a book and sell it, then you’ll have plenty to blog about,” which is, as we all know, Sailor Boy’s favorite topic. He has it in common with my father. And my agent.

Ahem. So I started writing about critique partners (CPs), and the entry got longer and longer and eventually I realized that I have a lot to say on the topic. Therefore, instead of one GAGB post on the subject, we’ll have several CP posts, only one of which will take the form of a GAGB. Ready? Here we go:
Critique partners: what? A CP is a person who reads your work for you before you submit it to agents/editors/what-have-you. Sometimes, they take the form of a group, whereby the word “partner” becomes “group.” Aliases include: beta readers, first readers, workshoppers. Aliases do not include “my mom” unless your mom is a writer/editor/literary critic/otherwise capable of intelligent critique.

Critique partners: why? I’ve read a lot of discussions on this topic, in blogs, on lists, and in the comment trails of pretty much every agent or industry blog I’ve seen. Some people think that critique partners can do nothing but stymie your writing, give it a “too many cooks in the kitchen” flavor, or at worst, be the blind leading the blind. I have seen this happen. But this is not an example of “critique partnering,” it’s an example of BAD critique partnering.

A good critique partner:

* Ensures you are saying what you think you are saying.
* Points out parts where you can say it better.
* Helps you figure out how to say it better.

Note: This is not anything like a complete list.

And, if you’re really lucky, like me:

* Acts as a career counselor, shoulder to cry on, cheerleader, idea bouncer, and marketing expert.

I hear you say, Diana, I can understand newbies needing CPs. They don’t have pros paid to tell them what’s wrong. But don’t you have an agent and an editor already? Don’t they read your work? What do you need another reader for? Good question. I do, in fact, have both an agent and an editor (hi, ladies!). They’re the best, and give me excellent advice on improving my work.

But in order to get the work to a stage where I am ready to show it to the pros, it needs to go through a few drafts. And though at least one of my CPs has told me I’m the harshest judge of my own work (and to her I say, um, have you seen some of those Amazon reviews?), it’s not always the easiest thing for a writer to figure out where she’s not saying what she thinks she is. Justine has an awesome blog entry, or perhaps musing, on this subject, but I can’t find the link. (J, any hints?) Sometimes we’ve used the wrong word, or forgot to inform the reader of an important fact, or accidentally made our heroine seem like a slut and our hero like a stalker (doing it on purpose is different). A CP can spot these problems before we embarrass ourselves in front of our editors and agents.

To put it bluntly, I think that agents and editors, being people who enter your life when your writing has reached a professional level, deserve to receive professional-quality work. That’s not a first draft. But you do need outside eyes on that first draft. A CP is your lab partner, the person who sees you boil over your beaker and snarf your pipette. They aren’t the one grading you, deciding whether the project is worth shopping or printing.

And sometimes, they see things that our pros do not. And sometimes, they help us realize that our pros were so right, damn it, in the following manner: Writer gets crit back from CP, who is troubled by X. Writer decides CP just doesn’t get it, and sends to CP2 without changes. CP2 loves Writer’s brilliance but has a problem with X. Writer decides that CP2, like CP, has no taste, and sends to editor. Editor says X has to go. Whereas Writer may have died on that hill had she been surprised by it, the overwhelming arguments from both CPs and editor make her realize how wrong she is about X and axes it.

And that’s just the beginning.

The best CPs don’t just fix what’s wrong with your story, they point out ways to take it to that next level. I recently read a book for a CP and it was unbelievably “clean.” Better than most of what’s on the shelves, in fact. But why stop there? Cleanliness is not, in this case, next to godliness. I want my CP’s book to be as good as possible. I have an obligation to make suggestions that will help it get there. (She does not need to take them.)* And for this reason, though a writer may outgrow a CP, they do not outgrow the need for them.

Okay, now that I’ve talked you into getting a CP, the next step is finding one. Where do you do that? Stay tuned…

Oh, and for this week’s giveaway, we have the following books:

DIPPED IN CHOCOLATE is the second romance novella collection by Renee Luke. Check it out. It’s a very romance-and-food themed week here at Diana’s blog.

Enter as usual. Leave a comment in this post. Winner chosen on Friday.

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* And if you are one of those people who think that writers should sabotage other writers, and that any assistance towards other writers is “helping the competition,” and shouldn’t be done, feel free to leave this blog and never come back. I doubt I know anything that will be of assistance to you.