How to Run a Critique Group

What do you need to run a good critique group?

First you need people. But once you have enough people, running a good critique group needs something more than just kind words and cheerleading.

critique group

Keep it real – but Include some positive

They need structure.

We’re working on tightening up our critique group structure in our SCBWI group and I feel like we’ve hit on a good formula.

  1. We use a Doodle poll to find a morning date and an evening date that works for the majority, but not everyone.
  2. We keep our day meetings at the coffee shop and our evening meetings at a local restaurant.
  3. We have a Facebook group and are encouraging members to share their work at least a week in advance.
  4. We ask a different member of the group to run each meeting.
  5. The meeting runner decides the total time we spend on each person and informs the group.
  6. The person running the meeting picks the writer we are starting with at that meeting.
  7. Critiques begin with the person to the left of the writer being critiqued. The meeting runner keeps track of time.
  8. Each personĀ gives their critique and tries to include positive details and places that could be improved.
  9. We try to avoid chitchat during critique time and save it for when the meeting is done.
  10. We rotate jobs!

How do you run your critique group?