Critique Circle Online Workshop

[Cyclone Jack]

Critique Circle

One of the best critique/workshop sites I've yet encountered. Lots of members, fairly short waiting time for story submission, interesting point system to ensure fairness in critiquing, and some of the most ingenious formatting systems I've ever seen. The software actually lets you create WYSIWYG inline critiques on the fly as you read. Very clever!

The entire setup is designed to protect your first publishing rights.

There's also an active forum and I've found the people there to be dedicated and  friendly. What's more, the site also boasts a host of writing help tools (character templates, outlining program, etc.) and a nice database of links and articles on writing, editing and selling your work.

[meg_evonne]

Ahh, Jack...  I'm always hooked on hangman!  Looks like a really neat site.  Signed up and will spend some time there.   Thank you for the hookup.   

When you post on those sites how do you know that your stuff will be safe.  Critque Circle specifically mentions copyright, but how do you really know?

Thank you again... if nothing else I'll procrastinate with hangman.   

[Kiriath]

Critique Circle is pretty nice. I haven't posted too many stories as yet, because I'm working on novels and can't post all of my chapters yet.

I find it freaking difficult to find entertaining stories on there, though. I'm just picky, I think. If I could, and if I had more bloody availability, I would probably give them more critiques. I glance in every once in a while.

[blgarver]

I found this place a couple of years ago, and did a few things in the beginning.  But, yeah, most of the stories were very...erm...unpolished.  After I read one story about some dragon slayer guy that had the line "He strode heroically toward the dragon" I stopped visiting.

I never racked up enough points to submit any of my own stuff, so I don't think I got the full effect of the system.

[Suilan]

He strode heroically toward the dragon.

Lol. You just made my day.

[Cyclone Jack]

Unpolished, weak stories are ideal for critique purposes. The more you can diagnose wrong with the work, the better. The process of critiquing is about developing a critical eye, learning how to spot those mistakes in your own writing as you make them.

And remember -- even once published, the people who read your stories are not going to be talented writers, but readers. If a writer -- one you consider talented or not -- finds passages, ideas, etc. unclear, vauge, contradictory then rest assured that readers will as well.

And editors will sure as hell notice those things.

As to 'safety' -- if you're worried about plagarism, look at it this way. Placing a story online gives you a copyright by fait accompli. Not only that, but the server timestamps and dates your work. If it is plagarized, you have proof -- not only of prior ownership, but of every single computer to view that work. Excellent evidence for everyone from webmasters to editors to courts of law.

[Suilan]

And remember -- even once published, the people who read your stories are not going to be talented writers, but readers. If a writer -- one you consider talented or not -- finds passages, ideas, etc. unclear, vauge, contradictory then rest assured that readers will as well.

I don't know the Critique Circle, but I was a member (13 months) of OWW, where I workshopped almost the entire first part of my fantasy trilogy, which lead me to a complete rewrite, starting with making the beginning chapter more exciting. You learn as much from what the readers don't get as from their suggestions / analysis. For example, my first reviewers confused all my names and peoples and by page 100 or so still didn't get what the story was about. So I knew I had to introduce fewer people and events in dialogue, but add scenes where the reader can see for example the war-ravaged country with his/her own eyes, and also introduce the main plot element earlier.

So yeah, I do believe that a critiquing group can help. But only so much. Reviewers can sometimes not express clearly why they don't like your scene/chapter, or they recite rules they once heard (like: show, don't tell, or: passive and adjectives are baaad), whether they apply to your writing or not (not all telling/adjectives/passives are bad).

Imho, a lot of writing mistakes can more effectively be avoided if you read a couple of how-to's on creative writing first (you probably did, but the majority of people at a workshop didn't, and tend to get a little upset if you tell them something like: your one weak point seems to be description. You may find "Description" by Monica Wood helpful.)

Anyway, the most helpful how-to's on Creative Writing, imho, are:

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King.
Scene & Structure, by Jack Bickham
Description, by Monica Wood
The First Five Pages, by Noah Lukeman.

Also OK are:
Characters & Viewpoint, by Orson Scott Card
Plot, by Ansen Dibell.
Heroes & Heroines, by Cowden, LaFever, Viders

I read tons of other how-to's; most were absolutely worthless.

[Cyclone Jack]

Suilan --

Yep, workshops aren't the be-all and end all of polishing craft. No resource is as important in that regard as simple, old fashioned practice.

'Show, don't tell!' is, to me, the most annoying canard tossed out during a critique/review. Mainly because people seem to think it's some sort of Immutable Law Of Proper Writing. I've seen people pull it out while critiquing an epistolatory story! I wondered if they thought they were responding to the fictional letter writer.

It also ignores how well a writer 'tells'. R.A. Lafferty was an honest-to-God master of the short story and he 'told' almost exclusively.

[Kiriath]

Scene and summary, yeah, some things work better when they're not said at length. There are a lot of beginners who don't describe enough, though. It's one of my weaknesses.

I read tons of other how-to's; most were absolutely worthless.

Monica Wood's description is actually as good as Amazon says? I'll have to get it from the interlibrary loan.

Don't forget Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain. Old but good.