First Readers and Critique Partners

, 23

Today’s post is sort of a catch-all post on critique partners. Links, terms, and advice (hopefully good advice!) follow, but to start, I’ll share the question that prompted today’s post:

Okay, so I was wondering how you set up your critique partnerships and if you have any general rules for who first reads your manuscript, or parts of it… So, how to safely navigate the ‘finding your first readers’ stage? Are there stages within that stage? [Read the entire question here.]

I know I’ve touched on critique partners before, but it’s always worth refreshing and perhaps delving into more deeply. Plus, I know sharing one’s work is always hard and is probably on many of YOUR minds.

CPs

Sharing Your Writing Is a Must

I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep saying it until I die: having a critique partner is hands down the most effective way to become a better writer.

Period.

I ended up with a book deal in <1 year BECAUSE I worked with other writers. I am a better and faster writer with each new book BECAUSE I work with other writers. On top of that, one of the main ways I maintain passion for a story is by…*drum roll*…working with other writers. 😉

A Note on Terms

There are many ways to share your work and earn feedback, and I’ll explain a few more common terms below.

Disclaimer: I’ve heard people use those terms to mean all sorts of things, but below is how I differentiate.

An alpha reader is someone who reads your first drafts, perhaps AS you’re drafting. Sarah J. Maas and I alpha read for each other. We find this method keeps us from veering off-course with character arcs and it ALSO helps us maintain excitement for the story.

A beta reader is someone who reads your whole manuscript once it’s finished and revised. He/she looks at the story as a whole. I have a few go-to beta readers for once my book is finished and I need high-level feedback. They are invaluable to me for when I want a final gut-check before turning in a book to my editor.

A critique group is a group of fellow writers with whom you meet/exchange work on a regular basis. Maybe you meet face-to-face or maybe you  share your writing online. The point here is that you’re critiquing multiple things at a time and you’re also receiving multiple critiques. I don’t do critique groups, but I know loads of authors who do (and who love them).

A critique partner (abbreviated as CP) is someone with whom you exchange chapters, scenes, entire manuscripts, etc. You critique his/her work (be it a first draft or revised) and he/she returns the favor by critiquing your work. Sarah and I are critique partners. I’m also critique partners with Erin Bowman, and sometimes with other people (a lot of my partnerships depend on who has time/deadlines!).

I seriously cannot stress enough to you guys how important and incredibly life-changing a good critique partner/group/alpha/beta can be. THAT SAID, it’s not easy to find The One. I’ve likened finding a good CP to dating, and honestly, the process is VERY similar. You’ll go out with (a.k.a. exchange scenes with) a few duds–or maybe a lot of duds–before you’ll eventually meet someone with whom you click.

Now, rather than reinvent the wheel on WHERE to find a CP, I’ll just direct you to this fabulous overview from Erin Bowman. Once you’ve found your “date”, take a look at these guidelines to see how best to approach this possible partnership.

A Few Guidelines for “First Dates”

1. Always start off with just a few chapters. If you hate the person’s writing, you do NOT want to be committed to reading an entire novel. For that matter, if you hate the person’s style of critiquing, you don’t want to waste his/her time by making him/her critique the whole darn book. So only exchange 10-50 pages to begin with.

2. Agree on a turn-around time. Nothing sucks more than waiting and wondering and slowly freaking out because a reader is taking forever. We all have busy lives, so if you don’t have time to critique, then don’t agree to do it. If you do have time, agree on a reasonable return date–and stick to that date!

3. Make your critique sandwich DELICIOUS! A “critique sandwich” is a method I learned from Sarah in which you frame your critique (the issues) within positive points. In other words, you open your email/doc/critique letter with what you LOVED. Then you offer the issues you spotted. Then, you wrap up with more of what you loved. This way, you really emphasize that, despite problems, there’s still a lot of potential and wonderfulness in the manuscript, AND you leave the poor writer with a good taste in his/her mouth. Make sense? Good feedback + issues + good feedback = a delicious critique sandwich!

4. Know that your skin will get tougher. If you’re new to criticism, then I’m going to send you to this ooooold post from me for dealing with it. Just know that the more you receive criticism and the more comfortable you become with your CPs, the easier hearing negative stuff gets. After all, your CPs are just trying to help you! We’re all in this together. 🙂

5. If someone who IS NOT A WRITER offers to read your book, I urge you to SAY NO. Many people will offer to read your book for you, but as a rule, only fellow writers will have the proper knowledge to help you pinpoint issues. My husband and my mother mean well (and my mom is AWESOME at spotting grammar/punctuation problems), but they can’t verbalize what’s wrong on a larger scale. They might sense the setting is wonky, but they won’t be able to tell me there’s a confusing infodump in scene 2. For that matter, they can’t even spot issues that an experienced writer might see (like character inconsistencies, plot devices, wonky emotional dominoes, etc.), and they definitely can’t help me find solutions to my issues.

How I Get Feedback

Since the questioner specifically asked who reads my manuscripts, I thought I’d share a basic timeline for how I seek feedback and from whom.

First, as I write the book, I will usually send chunks to Sarah J. Maas (and she will send me chunks of what she’s writing in exchange). We tend to chat on the phone to discuss issues–it’s just easier than typing out thoughts. PLUS, since so much of our books are “collaboratively inspired”, chatting on the phone allows us to brainstorm/snowball/bounce ideas.

Sometimes, we might spend 1-2 hours a day on the phone. For a while, Sarah was drafting her fourth Throne of Glass book at the same time that I was drafting Truthwitch. We would exchange scenes and then chat the next day about what we liked/didn’t like in each other’s work. We have SO MUCH FUN doing this. I’m not gonna lie. It’s why we love coauthoring The Starkillers Cycle–exploring ideas and characters together is so, so, so exciting. Even if I don’t always agree with Sarah’s suggestions/ideas (and vice versa), her comments ALWAYS help me snowball into what does feel right.

As I draft this way, I will make notes of the issues Sarah points out, and then I will address those issues when I revise.

Second, once I have a finished manuscript, I will revise based on Sarah’s feedback. Once I have a revised book, I tend to break it up into 3 parts. I send part 1 to Erin Bowman (unless she’s busy, then I have a few other dear CPs I turn to). Once I have her feedback on part 1, I’ll revise part 2 based on that feedback. That way, I can send Erin a modified part 2 without making her read an entire manuscript with some gaping plot hole or broken character arc.

After I have Erin’s feedback on part 2, I revise part 3 according to that feedback and send that along to her. 🙂 Then, while she’s reading part 3, I go back and revise parts 1 and 2 to line up.

Third, I EITHER send my revised book to my editor now. Or, if I changed a lot based on Erin’s feedback, I’ll try to find 1-2 beta readers. I will give the WHOLE book to these people (*waves at Meredith McCardle and Vanessa DiGregorio*), and then await their feedback. 🙂 After receiving and revising according to their comments, the book is usually strong enough to give to my editor…So I do!

A Whole Bunch of Links on Critiquing and CPs

To wrap up this post, I have some links from my blog and Pub(lishing) Crawl about critiquing. Also, if you guys want, there’s still this forum for CP-matching from 2013’s NaNo. We can revamp it/restart it if any of YOU are in the market for The One. 😉

Now, you tell me: How do you meet readers for your writing? How do you like to critique/receive feedback?