Critique Groups

 By Thomas Kies

In my creative writing classes, I often suggest that the participants join the North Carolina Writers Network and the local organization, our Carteret Writers.  It’s good to be in the company of people with similar interests. 

In addition, I suggest that they join a critique group.  Indeed, when my last class ended last spring, everyone asked if I would stay on and lead a critique group.  They even offered to pay me.  I told them that I would do it, but not for money.  I was working on a book at the time, and I wanted them to critique chapters as I wrote them.  

I loved it.  Plus, I finished the book. Oh, plus plus, we held the group in the side room of a cozy wine bar called the Club at the Webb.  It's in a historic old building that used to be a library and now is a meeting place and a coffee shop (and serves some of the best wine in the county).  See the photo above.

Writing is a lonely activity, but humans are social animals, and we crave community. We want to be part of a supportive environment.  As we write, we need feedback.  That’s why I strongly suggest that if you’re a serious writer, you join a critique group. 

When I teach a class, I try to be as positive as possible. Maybe, overly so.  My success is when a participant continues to write even when the class ends.  But in my critique group, the participants wanted me to be more forthright, less positive.  A good critique group should be honest but should offer constructive feedback.  It’s meant to help writers improve their craft.  

Sometimes that feedback is difficult to hear, but hopefully, it’s offered in a way that’s not hurtful but helpful. 

Different people offer different insights.  There were occasions when I thought certain pieces that were read in class didn’t work.  Not everyone would agree with me.  And that was okay.  Writing is an artform that’s subjective. 

A critique group forces you to write.  I know that life can get in the way and it’s easy to let your writing slide.  But if you have a meeting scheduled on a weekly basis, it makes you make time and that’s important if you’re going to succeed as a writer. 

A critique group can help you become more critical in your reading and your listening skills.  You’re spending more time thinking about the words and the context and how they’re put together.  

Yes, critique groups can be scary.  After all, you’re sharing your baby with the world.  You are asking people in the group to tell you what they like…and what they don’t like.  That’s not easy.  But one thing I tell my class when I teach, if you want to be a writer, you’d better have a thick skin.  Not everyone is going to like what you write. 

So, the bottom line is if you’re a writer, spend time with other writers and, of course, readers.  I can’t recall ever meeting another writer that wasn’t helpful and friendly.  

Head Hopping

 

By Thomas Kies

For the last few months, I’ve been mentoring a critique group that meets every Monday night at a local wine bar.  The perfect location for the perfect Cabernet or Malbec and pleasant discussions about writing.

Most of the members of the critique group are holdovers from my last creative writing class. Once the class was over, they surprised me by offering to pay me (real money) to run a critique group.  I declined the cash but instead said that I’d run the group on one condition—that they critique chapters of the book that I was working on at the time. 

They accepted and we’ve been working together and drinking wine ever since.

One of the more heated discussions we entered was initiated by a writer who has self-published four books (a series of mysteries) and is eagerly looking for an agent and a traditional publisher.

When she read chapters from her new work in progress, I mentioned that she “head hopped” and I couldn’t get invested in the characters. 

I had warned them that I would be honest in my critiques of their writing.

Head hopping is when a story or a chapter is being told from a character’s perspective or point of view and then abruptly, it changes, and the story is being told from a different character’s perspective. 

When I mentioned this, she couldn’t believe that she’d done it.  I took her chapter home and physically marked off all the places she changed points of view…sometimes in the same paragraph.

She asked, “Why is that bad?  How else can I tell the reader what the characters are thinking?”

Let’s start with why it’s bad.  For one, it’s distracting as hell.  One of the reasons I was having a problem relating to the characters was that I was never sure who I was supposed to be relating to. When I read a book, I want to be immersed in that world, which means I’m seeing it through the eyes of the characters in that particular scene.  

You can’t do that if you’re flip flopping from character to character, hearing the thoughts of different people from one sentence to the next.

I suggested that the writer show me what someone is thinking.  If Sally is having angry thoughts, demonstrate it.  Have Sally throw a coffee cup across the room, screaming words that would make a sailor blush.

If Charlie is embarrassed, have him blush and turn away, staring at his own shoes.

Head hopping keeps the reader from becoming emotionally invested in a character and, worse yet, is confusing.

So, can you change POVs?  Of course you can.  Especially if you’re writing in omniscient third person POV.  But when you do, you should do it in some kind of scene break or in a new chapter.  Otherwise, it’s jarring and confusing.

So, that was a discussion that lasted over more than one glass of wine. 

Same writer, different discussion was the value of plot over character.  We’ll save that for another blog.  That also was a two-glass discussion.