Internet Writing Critique Groups
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Posted by TK Kenyon Mar 16, 2007 |
With the advent of the internet, writers have been able to congregate in a way that they never have before. Previously, to learn your craft, you could take a class at a local college or university, if one was close enough, or if they offered them, or you could find a critique group of struggling writers, which might be difficult to find, and the advice could be haphazard, detrimental, abusive, or stupid.
Now, however, you can join online groups and, while the interaction with other writers might not be up-close and in-person, at least you can find a wide range of writers and form alliances with the good ones. Here are some sites.
Massive
Zoetrope. One of the grand-daddies of online writing communities, this site was started by Francis Ford Coppola to foster movie scripts and provide a corral of tame writers for his literary magazine Zoetrope: All-Story. While this appears to have been idealistic, the online writing community is still there are thriving. You can submit short stories, poetry, novellas, and screenplays. The timbre of critiquing is generally good but a bit lavish and undercritical. Forums are interesting. The private rooms, however, is where you meet people. Great for the beginning to intermediate writer, okay for advanced writers if you find good friends. Free.
Edgy
“The Cult,” a site associated with Chuck Palahniuk, the blistering writer who gave us Fight Club, Choke, Haunted, and the forthcoming Rant, has really great forums with active, intellectual discussions. To access the writers’ workshop where one can critique and be critiqued, one must upgrade to a “premium membership,” which costs $40 per year. You can submit short stories or scripts. If you’re a beginning writer, I would advise you to first read Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain, work on your craft a lot, perhaps at Zoetrope, read Chuck’s books, then join The Cult. There are lessons by Chuck Palahniuk that you can follow, do the “homework,” then post your “homework” for feedback from the other writers in the workshop. Palahniuk’s theories of writing that he espouses in his essays aren’t the usual, but they are thought-provoking and worth your while if you’re serious about writing. Doing the lessons won’t make you a Chuck-clone, though there are worse fates, but it will make you more methodical and thoughtful about your writing. There’s also an innovative “speed-writing” section that will surely do something for or to your writing.
Competitive
The Next Big Writer is a professional site dedicated to a dynamic writing community. The fee to participate as a writer is $39.95 per year. Interestingly, they guarantee feedback on your writing. You can also upload entire novels, short stories, or poems. They have dynamic rankings that are sure to get your blood moving if you’re at all competitive and frequent competitions that include prizes like cash and critiques from published authors.
Small but Deadly Serious
Deadly Prose, a cozy critique group dedicated only to commercial fiction novels (mysteries, thrillers, and even literary novels will feel at home,) is the opposite of the above sites. Deadly Prose is small and free, but by admission only. You have to produce a writing sample and a critique sample that will be evaluated by three “DPers,” and you should have a manuscript that is finished or close to it. The current admission rate is well under 25%. Whole novels are critiqued by a circle of three or more writers. Critiques are bought on a “credit” system, meaning you must crit to be critted, so you should plan to critique three full novels before you are critiqued. Many DPers are published authors. The forums have lively conversations about advanced techniques for writing novels. For very advanced writers only, and for novelists only.
More essays on writing fiction can be found here, including technique articles like POV shifts, passive voice, dramatizing, creating characters, etc.
Author of RABID, A Novel, Coming in April, 2007