Critique Partners Network - Need Your Help

I have found the social platform, finally for designing the Critique Partners Network. I have my domain, and I'm busy trying to pull it all together.

Now, I need some collaborators, or at least opinions.

1. When looking for a critique partner/group what attributes are important to you?

Here' what I have so far:

Looking For: multi-select (On-Line Critique Partner(s), On-Line Critique Group, In-Person Critique Partner, In-Person Critique Group) The difference between multiple critique partners and group is that you meet with your partners separately. They may have other partners you don't, so you aren't a group.

Critique Experience: multi-select (None, Have Some Critiquing Experience - not a lot, Have dabbled in Critiquing, Belonged to Long Term Critique Group, Facilitated Critique Group)

Turn Around Time: (It doesn't matter, ASAP, Once a Week, Every Other Week, Once a Month)

Contact Level: (Whatever works, One pass with editing/critique marks, One pass with editing/critique marks and willingness to have dialog over key points, In-depth work with discussion and rework critiques)

Skill level: multi-select: (Beginner, MSS out to Agent/Publishers - No Luck So Far, Unpaid Publication or Writing Award, Paid Publication in ($) or Paid Writing Award (in $), Agented, Published)

Critique Strength: multi-select:   (story, character, flow, plot, grammar)

Revision Preference: multi-select (WIP, 1st Draft, 2nd Draft, Final Draft)

MSS Type Preference: multi-select (Novel, Novella, Short Story, Non-Fiction, Article, Query, Back Flap, Synopsis, Screen Play, Graphic Novel)

Market Age Group Preference: multi-select (Childrens, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Adult)

MSS Genre Preference: multi-select (Contemporary, Fantasy, Historical, Horror, Humor, Literary, MagicRealism, Mystery, Paranormal, Political, Thriller/Suspense, Womens Fiction)

Thickness of Writer's Skin: (I'm new to this be kind but honest, Just find my flaws - my story and voice are fine, Seasoned Critiquer - have at it, Please be brutally honest I want to get published)

2. Once a member search is done, you will be able to go to the person's profile and see the following:

a. Up to 3 Critiquing Samples (members will choose from a list of 3-5 page writing samples to copy to an editing box on their profile page to critique as an example of their ability and style)

b. The member's 3-5 page writing sample

c. The member's About Me description.

d. A description of the member's work in progress they need critiqued (will allow for up to 3 WIPs)  I am trying to figure out how to link partner names with wip.


e. Pet Peeves (or some other name). For me, I can't work with constantly changing POVs. I can do chapter changes in POV, but every other paragraph or even scenes in the same chapter just throw me off. So that would be my major pet peeve, and I feel if I list it, those who do change POV often won't contact me about partnering up with them. I have a few others, but you get my gist.
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3. For Critique Groups

Users can also put out notices to form groups. Groups can be done within our website on Group pages or they can be held outside our website. What we care about is that they find each other.

In-Person Critique Groups can come and post they are looking for new members, or they can do a search on our members by city, state, and country.

4. Honest Factor

One of the hardest part of being a writer is knowing if your work is truly up to par. For those seeking standard publishing, we will offer polls where we put out back flaps, queries, and opening paragraphs to ask the community if they would honestly be interested in the book. I wrote a novel and when I hit the road with it, all I was told is: "No one wants to read about schizophrenics." Now had I known that upfront, I would have still written the book, but the schizophrenia would have taken a less major role. Whether these polls will be followed up by comments is something to figure out. 


Okay, that's it for now. Use the comment section to leave your two cents, or if you want to help me in the program's design, send me an email to my first name at aol.com. Please hook up with my blog to keep track of my progress on building this site. My hope is to have it done by mid October if not sooner.


Read why I'm doing this at my previous blog entry: Critique Partners Network

The other thing I'd like to hear is if you think this is overkill and not needed in the writing community.

Did I mention this website will be free? I am thinking of making it private in that the search engine bots don't hit us so everyone feels more comfortable sharing work on-line.

Critique Partners Network

One of the things I'll list in that list of odd things about me for the Versatile Blogger Award will be how obsessive I am once I set my mind on something.

In my hunt for critique partners or groups, I appreciated the help from Erin Schnieder over at the YAwesome Writers Writers on the Write Brained Network, for setting me up with a great group of peer critiquers. I have searched for years for a group that would work with me on a peer basis.

It was pretty much luck finding Erin's website and her list of resources. I had done so many Google searches for on-line writer groups and in-town writer groups to join. I did find many, but they were usually closed to new members.

So, I got this idea. What if I created a social network website just about critique partners and groups. A place for people like me to  do look ups for writers based on their writing interests, their writing abilities, and their critiquing abilities. I kept telling myself, I didn't have time for this, but like I said, I have an obsessive personality type and couldn't let it rest.

I spent last weekend looking for social networking platforms that would let me create profile fields we could sort on. What a nightmare. I finally found one, and have been struggling to get it working properly, but I won't give up. I'll figure it out and have my social site up and running in a couple of weeks.

What I would love to know is what other writers would like to see in a site like this. I would love some collaborators. The site would be free to everyone.

I am thinking of adding the following to the site:

Profile lookup based on interests, writing level, critiquing level, whether they are looking for partners or a group, on-line or in-person.

Sample writing and critiquing attached to each writer's profiles

Then as a community work on building honest critiques with polls on back flaps, queries, and synopsis and invite readers to vote as well.

Are you interested in helping design this?