Collaborating in a Critique Group
We are currently participating in a writing workshop with author Carolyn Turgeon. The format is quite different from our regular critique group, but in both cases we, being collaborators, are unique. Perhaps I should say that Rune Skelley is unique. Jen and Kent are equivalent, and thus non-unique.
Pedantry aside, how do collaborators participate in a critique group? Do you alternate who offers feedback from week to week? Do you take turns finishing each others’ sentences? The way we’ve chosen to handle it is by presenting one piece of work for critique, and adding two voices and opinions to the discussions of other authors’ work. Our co-critiquers seem to like this arrangement. It gives them twice as much input on their own piece, without requiring twice the time commitment to read our stuff.
It does take discipline though, not to launch into a private conversation with your co-author during the meeting. A reader will ask a question or make an observation that sparks a Big Idea and you’ll want to talk about it. You really will. But you have to stay focused on the meeting. No one wants to sit and watch the two of you talk cryptically, or argue. You have to save all of that for the car ride home.
The car ride home is the best time to discuss the feedback you’ve just received, while it’s all still fresh in your minds. Having a writing partner to go through it all with is an invaluable tool. There will sometimes be comments that you don’t feel are valid, and if your partner agrees, then you can probably dismiss them. Other times though, one of you will be dismissive and the other won’t. That’s when things get interesting. Chances are the critique is valid, and without that second set of ears it might have been ignored.
One caveat: when you’re both madly in love with your project, it can be terribly easy to talk yourselves out of taking any of the critique to heart.
Kent: Man, I can’t believe how blind our readers were this week! None of them noticed the clever anagram of the name of that obscure scientist, or that we used the word “eight” exactly eight times!
Jen: I know! How could they ALL have totally missed the point of that scene?!
Do you participate in a critique group? Do you want to know more about how ours operate? Let us know in the comments.