I'm so excited to welcome my critique partner to my blog today! We've been through thick and thin together, and she has a new release that I'm proud to be a part of. In honor of her new release, she's written a great guest post on critique partners and has offered to give away one copy of Defying Gravity to a commenter below!
Or you can support Cherie and buy it here!
Take it away, Cherie!!!
The Importance of Critique Partners
A good critique partner is worth their weight in gold. Yet, a bad one can ruin everything.
I’ve been very lucky to have two main critique partners.
Christine Rains (Link: http://christinerains-writer.blogspot.com) and I have known each other since our Harry Potter roleplaying days (mid-2000s). She was my first critique partner and the first one who pushed me to submit my work. Without her, I likely never would’ve submitted anything to publishers. Christine is quick to catch my typos (yes, even editors have typos) and point out the overall picture. Sometimes she finds more depth to my story and helps me portray that to the reader.
Aubrie Dionne (our lovely blog hostess here) and I have known each other since 2009 when we were authors with the publisher-who-shall-not-be-named. Aubrie’s so sweet and friendly. She was my first blog follower. Then, we began to trade short stories and often entered the same anthologies and such. I helped Aubrie with her grammar (We’ll get those commas one day, Aubrie!) and she helps me with the words of my story. She can take my idea and help me find the right phrase for it. She lets me know if something doesn’t make sense. If I need more, or less. And she’s great with those pesky repetitive words and phrases. As Aubrie said in a guest post on my blog (Link: http://cheriereich.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-chat-special-critique-partners.html), having a critique partner has made all the difference in her writing career.
I can say the same with my own. And I always pay particular attention when those critique partners say the same thing too.
So how do you know if you have a good critique partner? You shop around. Find writer friends in the same genre (or not) and trade a short story or a few chapters. You want someone who is supportive, who gets your work, who is honest with you about your work (preferably in a nice way and not in a “You suck!” way). It can take time. It will hurt. These are your first readers, and you need them to catch things before your work goes to the main readers, the people who will buy your book and may not be quite so nice. Not every critique partnership will work out, but when you find those that do, it’ll make all the difference.
Have you worked with critique partners before? What were your experiences with them?
Author Bio: Cherie Reich is a writer, freelance editor and library assistant. She enjoys writing horror, fantasy, and mysteries, but she doesn’t let that stop her from trying other genres. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies, and her e-books include Once Upon a December Nightmare, The Best of Raven and the Writing Desk, and Defying Gravity. She is a member of the Virginia Writers Club and Valley Writers and placed third in Roanoke Valley’s BIG READ writing contest.
Author Links: Website http://cheriereich.webs.com
Blog http://cheriereich.blogspot.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authorcheriereich
Twitter @bookworm0753 https://twitter.com/#!/bookworm0753
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Homesick upon the SS Perseid, Linia, a young linguist, thinks she signed up for a mission of peace, but her crew members have another plan: attack the planet Medusa.
Bored with his dying planet, Alezandros, a space cruiser pilot, joins the Medusan army in his quest for adventure.
When the SS Perseid clashes with the Medusans' cruisers, Alezandros and Linia's lives intertwine. Sucked through a wormhole, they crash upon a post-apocalyptic Earth and are captured by cannibals. In adjacent cells, Alezandros and Linia cast their differences aside for a common bond: escape. But when romantic feelings emerge between them, they might do the unthinkable because for a Medusan and a Persean to fall in love, it would defy gravity.
7 comments:
Would love to have a critique partner - very envious.
@Carole Anne Carr - It can be hard to find critique partners, and I lucked out finding two great ones. Sometimes asking around can help. :)
@Aubrie - Thanks for having me on your blog!
Good critique partners are invaluable. I don't think my work would be publishable without them. :)
Great start to the blog tour! And thank you for the mention.
@Christine Rains - I agree with you there. I can't imagine publishing something without my CPs at least glancing at it. And you're more than welcome for the mention.
My last critique partner and I had such different writing styles that I can honestly say we didn't benefit each other at all. So I'm definitely looking for someone in my genre and with similar goals.
I totally agree that a good critique partner can be a godsend. Like any other relationship you have to put in the work to keep things running smoothly and reap the benefits - plus sometimes it's worth having different critique partner for different genres.
@Jessica G - Yeah, unfortunately critique partners can have such different styles that it doesn't work out at all. That's the good thing about critiquing different people. I've found I learn more from giving a critique than receiving one.
@Selah Janel - It is sometimes worth having different critique partners for different genres. Everyone comes with their own strengths and weaknesses.
Thanks for dropping by, everyone!
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