Seeking a critique partner

I’m looking for a fellow writer who loves fantasy and is interested in building a long term critique partner relationship. I promise I can be helpful. If you might be interested, please read on and get in touch.

The title says it all. I’m looking for a critique partner (CP) for my writing. I think.

Okay, I’m 95% sure I’m looking for a CP. If you think that might be you, read on.

What is a critique partner?

Amidst playing Minecraft Dungeons yesterday, I did some research for this post (and for my search for a critique partner).

I tweeted:

Do you have a critique partner?

How does the relationship work? What do you do for each other? How often? What do you value in them? How did you know they were the right person for the job?

I wanna know everything!#amwriting #WritingCommunity

— A.S. Akkalon 🌌 (@AkkalonAS) July 10, 2020

And I read a dozen blog posts. K.M. Weiland has some great advice on finding the right CP, as do Kristen Kieffer and Leslie Wibberley.

My takeaways were that there is no one right way to work with a CP, but it really matters finding a CP who’s a good match for you.

(Also, good CP relationships can last a decade or longer. I want this!)

I realise I haven’t answered the question. What is a CP? Leslie Wibberley sums it up:

A fellow writer/author who provides thoughtful and informed feedback on your work, based on their own skill set and knowledge as a writer, in exchange for your own.

Leslie Wibberley

That is, I’m looking for another writer to work with in a mutually advantageous way–to help us both improve our writing, bounce ideas off each other, and provide encouragement and accountability.

Why the doubt?

Yes, I have doubt.

It stems from a few sources.

Am I confident enough to share unpolished writing with another author?

Am I passing the buck? Will I rely on my CP to find problems in my writing that I should find myself? Will I take praise and decide not to change something that I know isn’t as good as I can make it? Will I take suggestions without using sufficient judgment and make changes that disimprove my WIP?

Am I committed enough to writing to make someone else’s writing career dependent on me in this way?

I think the only way to answer these questions is by trying it. I’m serious about working with a CP, but there’s a chance it won’t work out. Consider yourself warned.

Why now?

I have been writing quite happily (largely) without a critique partner for years, so it’s fair you should ask why I’m looking for one now.

First, my good friend Jan M. Flynn suggested it.

Second, I’m a little bit stuck in my current edit.

Third, I want to make the most of my extra time while I’m only working half time.

Fourth, I love helping and supporting people in their writing endeavours, and I (humbly) think I have a lot to offer.

Fifth, who doesn’t want a new close friend who elevates their writing to greater heights?

The kind of relationship I (think I) want

This might change with experience, but I think what I want is email (or similar) contact at least once a week. This might involve exchanging chapters when that’s a useful activity, brainstorming ideas, or just providing accountability (no, I didn’t spend all week building castles in Minecraft, I edited three scenes).

I want someone who pushes me to be a better writer without making me want to quit, and someone I can do the same for.

I want a friend, cheerleader, and critic.

I want a valuable CP relationship that will last ten years and multiple books.

Is that a big ask?

The kind of writer I’m looking for

In the post I mentioned above, K.M. Weiland gives a six-point list of things to look for in a CP. I like the list, so I’m going to start with it.

A similar level of experience to me

Because CP relationships are two-way, for both writers to get value it helps if they’re at a similar level.

What level is that for me?

If you’ve been following me a while you probably have a fair idea.

I’m not published yet, but I’ve written over 500,000 words of novels. I’ve finished the first draft of two complete novels (200,000 words and 150,000 words–too long, I know), the second of which I’ve taken through 9.5 rounds of edits, including three major structural edits.

I’ve never taken a writing qualification or course, but I’ve studied dozens of books on writing craft and uncountable blog posts. I even remember some of what I’ve read.

You can find some of my short stories (not my forte, but a bit of fun) here.

So maybe you’ve published, maybe you haven’t. You’ve probably completed a full draft of at least one novel, decided it was unsalvageable, and moved on to another.

Someone I like

A CP is a very special sort of friend. The relationship won’t work if we don’t like each other.

If we’re already online friends, I probably like you. Perhaps you like me too.

If we’re not, come and chat. Point me to your blog or other online home. Let’s get to know each other and see if we get along.

A similar level of professionalism to me

Right now, I work half time and write half time, but that’s not going to last. I will have to go back to full time office work.

Most writers work full time in another job, but I don’t think that says anything about their professionalism.

I’m looking for someone who is committed to their writing, to taking criticism and using it to make their work the best it can be, with the goal of publishing successfully, either self-publishing or through traditional means.

If you don’t write novels, or if you write fan fiction, we’re probably not the best CPs for each other. (I can critique short stories, but I don’t enjoy reading them much and I don’t have a deep understanding of them. And fan fiction is a different creature entirely.)

Right now I still plan to pursue trade (traditional) publication, but that could change. Ideally my CP would have the same goal so we could hold hands over querying and everything else, but this is less important to me than other things.

Someone who loves my story

If we’re CPs, you’re going to end up reading my stories a lot (and vice versa), so I want you to love them.

If you want to know what they’re like, I wrote a post about that.

My current WIP is medieval high fantasy. With dragons, of course.

Don’t worry–if we decide to go forwards you’ll have a chance to read some of my current WIP and decide if you’re interested.

Similar genre interests

K.M. Weiland suggests a CP should enjoy the same books and authors as you do.

What I’m looking for is someone who habitually reads adult fantasy (as opposed to YA fantasy), preferably fantasy set entirely in a secondary world.

I know that rules out most people, but I need someone familiar enough with the old tropes they can tell me if my twist on them is twisty enough, and if an idea I’m excited about has been done to death.

Different genres have different expectations, and I’m looking for a CP who understands the expectations for adult fantasy.

You don’t need to write this genre yourself, but you will need to write in a genre I’m excited to read (and preferably one I’m familiar with, so I’ll be more helpful to you).

Not sure what that is? Ask. Most areas of fantasy, possibly other genres too.

But please no grimdark. I’m too optimistic a person for that. Also, I can’t give advice on explicit sex scenes (though I don’t object to them).

Similar habits

I work on my WIP nearly every day, though not all of it is drafting or editing, and I want someone looking for contact every week.

I spend a long time planning, write a first draft quickly (my most recent was 150k words in about three months), and spend a long time editing (read, years). Ideally, I’d like to speed up my process so I was completing a book every year. That doesn’t sound impossible, right?

If you publish four books a year, I’ll probably feel overwhelmed by the volume of your output.

If it takes you a few months to a year to write a first draft, which you then edit, we could be a good match.

I don’t want us to be a burden on each other, but I’d like someone who can give critique on a chapter (say, 3k words) within a week in most instances. Hopefully usually within a few days. I’ll do the same.

I’m sure there will be times when this won’t happen, but as a standard response time I think it balances the need to do other things in life with steady forwards progress.

I’m happy to give big picture feedback or line edits as appropriate. I’d like to get the same from you.

Other requests

Exclusivity. Some people have just one CP, some people have more than one. I think I’m going to look for just one. I want to be super helpful and responsive to you, and I feel like having more than one CP would spread my efforts too thin.

Sort of like why the perfect number of friends is one.

I’m not going to say no because you have other CPs, but I would feel more comfortable if you were exclusive with me too.

Writing craft advice. I don’t mind how you learned to write or whether you’re a plotter, a pantser, or a gardener. But I’d really prefer you to have a certain respect for writing craft advice.

I know you can figure things out for yourself, but we won’t have a happy relationship if I refer you to some advice that will be super helpful for just the problem you’re facing, and you refuse to read it.

Literary theory. I never studied literary theory. Perhaps you did and I’m fine with that. But if you keep throwing big literary theory ideas at me I’m not going to understand and eventually I’m going to cry. So please try not to.

At least, not too much.

A cat person. This is (probably) not a dealbreaker, but you should be a cat person. There’s something about dog people that I never quite click with.

What I have to offer

I want to help you and hold your hand and make your character arcs sail like rainbows, your plots stand as solidly as fortresses, and your dialogue sparkle like unicorn wings. (Yes, my unicorns have wings. Don’t yours?)

And help you weed out excessive similes.

I want to help you build an amazing writing career and be there every step of the way. (At least ten years, remember?)

I’m ambitious for my writing career, and I want to be equally ambitious for yours.

I’m positive (usually), empathetic (to a point), insightful (arguably), reliable (when it matters), and possibly I know a few things about writing.

I’m honest but kind in my critiques, and I thrive on similar feedback. What you want to say, I want to hear. Don’t hold back and I won’t with you either. I want to grow as a writer with you.

I’ve done my fair share of beta reading, and the people I’ve beta’d for have told me my comments were extremely helpful (though I still can’t spell beta’d). Somewhere down the track I can put you in touch with some of them, if you’d like to hear it firsthand.

I’m better at plotting than characterisation, though I’m a lot better at both than I used to be. As I said before, I’ve read an elephant’s weight of writing advice and understood more than half of it.

Finally, I read often and widely, and have done so most of my life.

What next?

If you think you might be interested being CPs with me, even if you don’t meet all these criteria, please get in touch. Don’t be scared off if you don’t think you’re brilliant. I’m not brilliant, but I want to get more brilliant with you.

You can email me at a.s.akkalon (at) gmail.com, DM me on Twitter, or comment on this post.

I expect finding the right CP match will take some time and exploration. You’re welcome to pull out at any stage, with no offense taken and no questions asked.

If we haven’t (virtually) met, I’d like to chat first so we can get to know each other, talk about our favourite books, ambitions, and work habits, and discuss our WIPs.

You might want to spend some time trawling through my blog to see if you like my personality and sense of humour.

At some point I expect we’ll exchange chapters for a trial critique.

Beyond that… I don’t know. We’ll find out when we get there.

Do you have a CP? Any advice based on your CPing experience?

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