Critique groups are great.  Beta readers are amazing.  Those of us who have these resources are writing on the right path.  We have our heads on straight, and we have people to bounce ideas off.

BUT:  Please read on, this is a huge BUT……

Who is critiquing you?  Are they published?  Do they work in the industry?  Do they hold an MFA (or any degree) in writing?  Does this sound snobbish and am I opening myself up to CRAZY upset commenters?  Yep.  But keep reading, I have a point.

Our Beta readers and our lay crit groups are important because they give us some great ideas, they are honest (hopefully!) and they READ the whole ms. We all know that readers for our entire ms is priceless.  And I do believe that this is an important part of the journey, but after that part of the critique is over…. bring it to someone who can give you an opinion based in knowledge in the business or in the craft.

There are many out there.  Agented writers, published writers, agent assistants, editors or editor assistants, professors, students in MFA or Journalism programs at a local school itching to get in some editing practice.

Why?  The best way to do this is to give examples, I have two and then you can rip me to shreds!

1.  In the final draft of my MS I had a chapter called Seasons of Anne.  It was, everyone told me, my strongest chapter.  The prose was lovely, the emotion was valid.  When I felt unsure of my ms I went back to read it over again and it made me feel like a writer.  AND THEN:  The agent wanted to know… how did that chapter move the story along?  It was a pretty road block.  And THEN I took it to an English Professor, who took the paragraphs apart and helped me to re-insert some of it into other places in the book.  Ouch but necessary.

2.  Our own First Five Lines contest:  I queried for several months and had a lot of interest in my book.  Those who declined representation did so with the following “I just didn’t make the connection right away that I needed to.” SO I rewrote the first chapter and sent it off again.  The first request for a full based on that new beginning came forty five minutes after I pushed send on the query.  Here is a direct quote “I was immediately drawn into your story.”  NOW, push ahead to my first five sentences…. they were a dramatic bust on this site (no hard feelings girls….) but it was another example of how we need to be focused and remind ourselves that we are the authors, and we have to believe in our work.  If I didn’t already know I was getting good reception on those lines, I might have changed them!

SO… the lesson?  Let your crit groups and beta readers help you form your drafts and first revisions.  Trust yourself and only change the things that you feel you really agree with.  And DON’T automatically assume that what everyone on the interweb says is great…is great.

THEN: once you have a product you are really confident with.  Bring it to someone in the business, no matter what rung on the ladder, and ask them to review it.  You will be amazed by that feedback, and you will have a full spectrum of revisions.  Then hit:  SEND.

I would like to end this with three important qualifiers:

1.  I realize not all of us get the opportunity to give our work to people already in the business.  But the Internet is full of people at different places in their journey.  Make sure to hook up with someone who has “been that way before…”

2.  A good thing to do if you are relying solely on beta and interweb critique groups, is READ their stuff!  Do you like what they are writing?  That is important.  Style can influence opinion.

3.  Last one, important one, remember what a critique actually is.  It is not a simple opinion.  It is a crit.  If you someone doesn’t like something, they should follow that with a suggestion or example.  If there are grammar errors, they should tell you where they are.  Opinions are one thing, and they have their place, but a true critique is hard.  Make sure you can tell the difference.

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