critique groups

I've come to the conclusion that my critique group is what keeps me writing day after day. Whenever I keep procrastinating by playing just one more game of solitaire, I remember that group day is coming and I should have something to share, so it's back to the computer.

Critique groups can be very good or very bad. The one I'm in now is good--I get constructive criticism and it's given to me kindly! I've been in groups where the participants didn't get along all that well and tended to be a bit more blunt than they needed to be.

I try to keep to the same rules I used as a teacher during parent-teacher conferences- always say something nice first, then say what could be made better and how I think it could be changed to make it more readable and I always offer it as an opinion that may or may not be right. That's how I want to be treated and the golden rule applies here. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Applies to life in general, not just critique groups.

I also like to tell others what I have learned from them. One person in our group is great at making all her characters sound different from one another so you would always know who is talking even if she didn't mention their names. I've gone back over my novel and realized that a few of my characters sound exactly alike so I'm in the process of individualizing the way they speak. A man will be a little more blunt, an elderly lady will use words like my dear girl and heavens, and so on, making them just a little bit different from each other.