Last night, in a bad rainstorm and worse traffic, I drove for over an hour to downtown Baltimore and attended a writer’s critique group meeting. Why such a journey, when closer in-person groups exist, and when online groups such as Scribophile and Critique Circle are only a click away?
I was active for a while in on online group (Internet Writing Workshop), back in the 90’s, and although a lot’s changed in the online writing community, I know firsthand some of the relative strengths and weaknesses of online critique groups. The strengths are considerable, but an in-person critique has, for me, two great advantages. First, if you’re reading your work, you can see how the story’s affecting the audience. Reading your story out loud is useful; it’s a good editing trick, but when you read to an audience, your acting emphasis can help elucidate what you’re trying to do, particularly with regard to character emotions. If you don’t think you can read well, remember, it’s just a skill, and will get better with practice. Seeing how your story affects your audience first hand is priceless- remember, that’s why you’re writing in the first place. It will pay good dividends in your writing.
The other advantage of in-person critiques is that there’s a give and take of ideas, the ‘what if’ that tends to be missing in online critiques. Online written critiques are more focused.. but this is case where the lack of focus can be a good thing. It’s brainstorming.
As for why this group, it’s a genre thing. The south / central PA writing scene is vibrant, and there are great organizations in this area, but by numbers they’re heavy in romance and mystery. The group I tried is hosted by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. BSFS is one a very few SF clubs in the country to own its own building (LA and Boston being the other two), which tells you how seriously they take their science fiction around here. If you needed another clue, it would be the 12,000+ volume speculative fiction lending library which lines the building’s walls.
The Writing Circle is open to new attendees, another factor in choosing a critique group. Often, when in-person groups work well, they’ll closed to new members. Many closed groups run for years, and it’s a form often favored by published writers, due to compatible writing skill levels and styles of the members. Speaking of which, of the eleven of us who attended, by my count at least six are published authors. I took good advice from the critiques I got; these people are both serious and knowledgeable about their craft.