Website Review: Critique Circle (LINK)
July 23rd 2008 07:06
I so rarely point out any website that isn't Nanowrimo on this blog that I'm not sure if it's more sad, funny, or just plain obsessive. Well, I have another website that's just plain excellence for writers.
Critique Circle is an incredible site. The people there are friendly, and most often return the favour when you give them a crit. (Whenever I'm unable to return a critique, I feel a little bad; I do return them unless the story isn't in a genre I like.) In fact, people are so eager to return the favour that people have actually asked me when I was posting my next story on the site-they wanted to return the favour.
It's a site that I wish I could afford paid membership to, as I'm very fond of the idea of private queues where you don't have to wait to put up your work. Most of the time I like having one or two active so that I can get my reading done in chunks when I have all night internet.
You can read some amazing stories. Critiquing others gives you a better eye for similar errors in your own stories, and makes you learn more about the written word. Reading published books with an eye to critique-what works and what doesn't, why they got published, et cetera-is also helpful for a writer.
Not only that, but the people on the site itself critique very well. Of course, some of them aren't as talented at it as others-some have only just begun writing and critiquing, but from what I've seen, the majority of the people there know what they're doing. The critiques can be anything from a 'I liked this, this and this, but didn't like this' to a full fledged detailed crit.
The longest one I ever got was 1300 words for the beginning chapter of a sci fi novel-which had references because the person was a genetic scientist. Although I was grateful for it, I soon realized that I Just Can't Write Sci Fi, and since then, haven't even tried. The longest crit I ever gave was, I think, 1500 words.
It's a good site with a strong sense of community and opportunities to read many great works-some of which you might never see in print, either because they don't get published (a lot of good books don't), or because you're too broke to buy them, or because they only came out Over There.
It's a great opportunity and I recommend it to every fiction writer looking for a Critique group. It's almost as recommended as Nanowrimo!
Critique Circle is an incredible site. The people there are friendly, and most often return the favour when you give them a crit. (Whenever I'm unable to return a critique, I feel a little bad; I do return them unless the story isn't in a genre I like.) In fact, people are so eager to return the favour that people have actually asked me when I was posting my next story on the site-they wanted to return the favour.
It's a site that I wish I could afford paid membership to, as I'm very fond of the idea of private queues where you don't have to wait to put up your work. Most of the time I like having one or two active so that I can get my reading done in chunks when I have all night internet.
You can read some amazing stories. Critiquing others gives you a better eye for similar errors in your own stories, and makes you learn more about the written word. Reading published books with an eye to critique-what works and what doesn't, why they got published, et cetera-is also helpful for a writer.
Not only that, but the people on the site itself critique very well. Of course, some of them aren't as talented at it as others-some have only just begun writing and critiquing, but from what I've seen, the majority of the people there know what they're doing. The critiques can be anything from a 'I liked this, this and this, but didn't like this' to a full fledged detailed crit.
The longest one I ever got was 1300 words for the beginning chapter of a sci fi novel-which had references because the person was a genetic scientist. Although I was grateful for it, I soon realized that I Just Can't Write Sci Fi, and since then, haven't even tried. The longest crit I ever gave was, I think, 1500 words.
It's a good site with a strong sense of community and opportunities to read many great works-some of which you might never see in print, either because they don't get published (a lot of good books don't), or because you're too broke to buy them, or because they only came out Over There.
It's a great opportunity and I recommend it to every fiction writer looking for a Critique group. It's almost as recommended as Nanowrimo!
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