How does a writer join Ladies Who Critique?
Log onto LadiesWhoCritique.com and click on ‘Sign Up’. The sign up form will ask you some questions about your writing and critiquing experience in order to create your profile. It’s easy, free and shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes. Then voila! You are part of the LWC family 😉
How does someone who wants to be a critique partner join?
The process is the same as above. You can choose to state whether you are “looking for a critique partner” or not and this will be displayed on your profile so that other writers know that it’s okay to contact you through our internal messaging system or not.
How was Ladies Who Created started?
Great question! It was born from my own struggle to find critique partners that “got” my genre (chick lit actually!). I attended a fantastic writers group for a year but I was about 20 years younger than everyone else there, and because the group was constantly growing in size we had to listen to 3 hours of reading for 20 minutes of feedback. As I started getting more serious about my writing I realized that I needed to step up the game a little!
You can read more about how the site fell into place here.
What are the benefits of joining Ladies Who Critique? What will writers get out of LWC that they couldn’t from just asking a friend?
Critiquing is certainly not for everyone and it does take guts to put your baby out there and receive good, honest feedback. A friend will most likely praise your work and give you some sugar which is great, and these so-called “beta readers” do serve a very important purpose of their own. But for the most part it is hard to hear honest feedback from friends and family. Plus they don’t often give it!
For writers who are serious about improving their style, seeking publication and to really “taking their writing to the next level” (the tagline for LWC atually!) a good critique partner will help you to see where you need to make improvements and also point out what you are doing right, objectively and without the emotional attachment. That stuff will do wonders for your writing!
What really goes into critiquing a novel?
There are a lot of different aspects; the bigger picture stuff and the smaller details. The bigger picture includes the consistency of the main character, the believability of the characters, pacing, description, setting, holes in the plot and so on. Smaller details include awkward phrases, repetitive use of words, unrealistic dialogue and so on. There’s a lot to consider! A good critique partner will help you work on this step by step, and many writers find that having several critique partners (all with different strengths) is the best way of polishing their novels.
Why is having a critique partner so valuable to a writer?
You can read the 11 top reasons why having a CP will rock your world here! In sum though, not only will they provide a fresh pair of eyes for your work (crucial when you have been so close to the writing for so long), they will also support you and raise your spirits when writing gets hard, share your successes when you get published, and also keep you on track with the editing process. Accountability is one of writers’ greatest motivations and a good critique partner can get your ass into gear with the process for sure!
Thanks for having me on Chick Lit Plus! I’d be delighted to see more chick lit writers at Ladies Who Critique. Join me over there or follow me on Twitter @LauraPepWu for more updates.
October 25, 2011
