Oh, boy! At my Left Coast Crime workshop, there was quite a
reaction to the adamant directive that we should not be in writing critique
groups. (I work with three throughout the year, so my ears perked up!)
This mandate came from Jan Burke (workshop leader) and Sue
Grafton (guest author) during my day long, preconvention workshop. Jerrilyn
Farmer (co-leader) moderated her response by saying it might be okay with the right
people for a short time.
But no one of the three highly-successful writers thought
that staying with a writing group for long periods of time helped make you a
better writer.
In fact, the opposite.
Though none of them used the term, I connected their words
with “learned helplessness” from my educator days. Learned helplessness is a
condition of learning welfare that occurs when the student is given so much
support to succeed that she cannot continue learning without the support. She
abrogates her responsibility for learning, knowing she won’t be allowed to
fail.
How does that relate to writing groups? My understanding of
the views of Burke, Farmer, and Grafton is that they believe that writing
groups hold authors back from being the best they can be. And, in fact, a
writing group is the resort of the “lazy author” (my words as I interpreted
theirs).
Sue Grafton said words to this effect: Why would you listen
to other people who may write the same or less well than you? How does that
make you better? It is YOUR job to know when something isn’t working in your
manuscript, and you shouldn’t expect other people to do your job. Do the work. Put in the time. Brutally evaluate your own
output. That’s your job if you call
yourself a professional writer.
I can see both sides to the argument. (Of course I can. I’m
a wishy-washy Libran.)
I realize that I do
depend too much on my writing group colleagues to find and help fix my
manuscripts. That is going to change. I am going to take more responsibility
for being the professional I want to be.
By the same token, a part of me thinks that my critique
groups also represent my potential readers. So isn’t that input helpful? To
know what works or doesn’t? What is left out or extraneous?
"Nah," Sue Grafton, Jan Burke, and Jerrilyn Farmer would say. "That’s
your job."
Wow, that's a different way to view critique groups, but I see their point. We can't get lazy and start letting our critique groups do all our work for us,
ReplyDeleteI know, Patricia, I am really struggling with this notion. It's been a mantra I've heard and repeated for decades: Find a critique group. Their comments blew me away. I'm going to give it a try and see how it works with one manuscript. (I use different manuscripts with different groups.) If you try it, let me know how it works for you. I'll blog about my trial (and trials!).
DeleteA radical idea, one which I will have to consider.
ReplyDeleteI know, John. It is counter to everything I've heard touted for decades. But the notion of this is your job, no one else's, does ring true. I'm still on the fence.
DeleteI am so glad I happened by your blog. This is an excellent article and definitely food for thought. I'm in quite a few critique groups, too. I'm also a copy editor, and when I go through a client's manuscript, I find myself often thinking that the pros has been stripped so much that it no longer has an original flavor. Then I assume they were told by a critique group that they must weed out this word and that word... And pretty soon they weeded out the voice. With that thought in mind, then reading your blog post, I'm going to have to put more of my own brain behind my writing. Great post. Would you mind if I shared it on Facebook? I'm glad to be a follower of your blog.
ReplyDeletehttp://debioneille.blogspot.com
Debi, I'd be very pleased to have you share this post. Thanks for the compliment! I believe this is definitely a topic to discuss more since we have been told for decades to hook up. I have a new commitment to making my writing MY writing. Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!
DeleteI like my critique group. It's me and two others. They're very useful because they're way different than me and when they read something they have different view and though I don't alter things based on their suggestions all the time, it does make me think about how I'm presenting my novel and if something's going to work or not.
ReplyDeleteI agree that certain critique groups can hinder. I dropped out of one that was hindering me and joined this one I'm with now. But that's true of everything. Nothing is good if you are aligned with the bad.
I'd bet that if each critique group member committed to being the best writing professional each could be, the whole level of the group would be elevated. I've had wonderful--and not wonderful--critique group experiences. I'm thinking of giving the no-group idea a test drive. If so, I'll blog about that. Thanks so much for coming by and commenting.
DeleteAnd I meant to say well done on your post.
ReplyDelete;-)
DeleteNot much of a toe-dipper, are you, Sharon? You dive right into the rough waves. I love it!
ReplyDeleteI'd say, if a writer doesn't do many conferences/classes/books to hone their skills, a critique group would be valuable. For a more seasoned writer, an excellent critique partner or two can be wonderful, especially in brainstorming ideas. Of course all must be filtered through the writer's own vision and voice, as stated in other comments
Sandy, I absolutely agree, but then if one isn't taking classes/reading/learning, how can one call oneself a professional writer? That I am not on the fence about! lol I'm not sure where I am coming down ultimately, but I will blog about it more, for sure! Thanks for reading and commenting.
DeleteI was there too, and it cracked me up when Sue Grafton said—and I'm quoting here—"I hate writers groups! Please get out of them!" I do see her point that they can be a crutch, and no, you shouldn't over-rely on them to fix your work. But they can be invaluable at pointing out those blind spots where something makes perfect sense in your head but doesn't make sense to your reader. I could really argue both sides pretty easily; guess I'm a wishy-washy Libran, too!! :-)
ReplyDeleteSue Grafton does not hold back, for sure! lol They made sense, and yet . . . I am going to wean off groups to just a single critique partner and see what happens. I'll be blogging more about this experience I'm certain!
DeleteI'm actually desperately seeking a critique group, but I see their point. I just recently went through the process of having my book professionally edited by my publisher and I went through withdrawal when I had to do without a second opinion.
ReplyDeleteLaura Hedgecock
http://TreasureChestofMemories.com
I responded to someone else that I am going to wean off groups and cut back to one group this summer (4 of us) + my critique partner. Then no groups in the fall. I will keep the critique partner for brainstorming/problem solving rather than edits. I'll write about how that goes.
DeleteI prefer the beta reader concept myself. What I'm looking for is not a critique so much as an audience to test something out on, to see what works and what doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, Paula. Grafton said she didn't use beta readers either. Sigh! I'm not that good yet (if ever). I do need some feedback like you've described.
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