My experience of Critique Circle

Well, I took the leap and signed up for Critique Circle.

So how did it go? It's probably too soon to say for sure, but so far I have mixed feelings about the experience.

First I signed up, browsed the site and tried out the different features. Among other things I filled out a few of the fields on "My profile"-page, and checked out the forums. I'm still a little disappointed the romance forum seems a bit slow, no one's been active there since the very beginning of May. The fantasy forum on the other hand seems pretty active, too bad it's not my cup of tea.

In order to submit my own writing I needed to critique a few other works first, so that's what I did next. Again, much of the works are fantasy, and honestly I don't feel experienced enough to make much comments in a genre I'm not all that familiar with. I was also a bit paralyzed by all the great writing by many of the members - what could I possibly attribute? finally I decided just to plunge in, head first so to say. I picked a work I felt I could help by providing both positive and constructive critique. From the responses I received I may not have been completely wrong or too blunt in the way I put it together.

Finally I submitted the first chapter of my novel draft, First Impressions, Second Chances. It is scary to put it out there in order to get critique. Despite that I'm an adult, despite that I on a daily basis are giving others critique (not quite of this kind, but it is still critique) I was terrified. At first I was terrified that no one should read or comment at all, which would be the worst of all, right? And then, this is my baby. I've put a lot of time and emotion into this work, and in this particular draft at a time when my life has been a turmoil of fear and sorrow and anxiety. It's not Nobel prize quality, it's not publishable quality, but I'd still like to imagine that there could be something worthwhile with it, something redeeming about it.

The second fear is that I'd get critique, and it would be all along the line that my writing was a complete waste of time and effort.

So how did it go? So, so, I'd say. It's difficult, if not impossible, to make anything out of three or four or five critiques. So far the response is tepid at best. No one of the critics are m/m romance readers (but at this point I don't think it would matter). One is bold and honest enough to outright say that what I've written is boring, dull with too much focus on trivial details. That one hurt.

Among some friends of mine we used to say the worst opinion to give about someone was to say: "At least s/he is kind." It's like saying that person is so bland, so average, so dull that you in all honesty have nothing else to say about them. And that's how I felt about the boring comment. As if anything but boring could have been correctable.

It doesn't help if your writing is technically good, if you know how to handle multiple point of views or if you're a grammar wizard. None of that matters if your characters are flat and the plot is dragging. It's like that saying - horrible grammar and spelling can be corrected, but if you don't have an interesting story to tell, there's no point.

As for now, I think it would be impossible to put the entire 20 chapters of First Impressions, Second chances through Critique Circle. I don't think there would be anyone interested enough to keep reading. And if it was possible I think it would take too long. When I recover from the "too boring" part I may put it up at Fictionpress and maybe Wattpad. That way, I'd at least be able to find a few readers.

But I'd still like to get critique on my writing. Maybe I'll try to put up some writing exercises instead. For one, I think it would be easier to get critique on shorter pieces. For the second I think it would be easier to get critiques on pieces that isn't part of a bigger work, but stand alone pieces. For the third, it would give me a possibility to improve, and maybe, just maybe, become a little less boring.