Critique Groups and Advice - by Harini Nagendra

Have you ever been in a critique group and, if so, what was most/least useful to you?

Okaayy - this is going to be the shortest column ever. 

No. 

No, I haven't ever been in a critique group. I haven't had the chance to, really - because I live in Bangalore, which is a city of 12 million, sure - but also a bit far (just a tiny bit!) from where most of the mystery writers whom I would love to have in a dream critique group live. Like my fellow Criminal Minds, for instance. Given how expensive it is to get on a flight from India to North America to attend a mystery writer's conference, I've only been to one - Motive 2023, in Canada - where the organizers were kind enough to fly me in and host me for the entire conference. I haven't met most of my fellow writers face to face.

I could join an online critique group, of course. But - somehow I've been reluctant. There's something about the chemistry and vibrancy of a face-to-face discussion group that I think (having never been in one, of course) would be a lot of fun, and very energizing as well. I do get a lot of online camraderie from Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Crime Writers of Color - the online mystery writer groups that I am a part of - but I have stayed away from joining a critique group online. 

My one concern about critique groups is this - how does one get potentially critical comments across to someone who just poured their heart and soul into a book, without damaging their confidence - by building them up instead of tearing them down - but with honest inputs. As a teacher, I know that requires skill. In any critique group, some will have that skill, and others - won't. I wonder how that plays out - if there are writers who had the nucleus of a good idea but were scarred by harsh critique and just never picked up the courage to write again. If so - and I have read some social media threads indicating that's the case - that's just plain sad.

But I have participated in a couple of manuscript swaps, organized by some of these groups. That has been very educative. I am writing from a context with which many of my potential readers may be unfamiliar - and when I sent around a mystery set in contemporary Bangalore to a couple of other writers, they asked me some questions that helped me see that what was obvious to me (writing from my context), was not at all obvious to my readers. And conversely, some of what I took for granted as 'that's just the way it is' was shocking to them. That manuscript is still with me, unrevised - but when I do get around to revisions, I'm going to find this very helpful. I have also participated in reviewing other writer's books, including unpublished authors' agent submissions. I have no idea if my inputs were of any use - but the process has certainly helped me a lot, in how to edit while thinking like a reader and editor, instead of just looking at a book through a writer's lens.

I thought this would be a very short blog post - but I guess it's been longer than I anticipated! If you made it this far, thanks for reading - and do let me know, in your comments, if you've been in a critique group - and if so, what's your experience been like? Do you have suggestions for anyone who'd like to form a group of their own?