What I Want Out Of A Fiction Critique & Accountability Group

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So I want to start this with a bit of context…

Back in December of 2014, two other copywriters and I were in West Palm Beach meeting up with a mutual client when I brought up the idea of starting a fiction writing accountability group. Now the reason why I wanted a group like this was because – despite my aspiration since Kindergarten to “write books” – I always managed to come up with excuses. (Up until I was 25, I felt like I didn’t have enough “life experience” yet… then between 25-30 I started a family and business… so on and so forth).

I knew an “accountability group” would get things moving because they’ve worked wonders for me in other endeavours in the past. In my opinion, (and in fact, based on clinical trials for weight loss groups as well)… there’s nothing like “good peer pressure” to get people to commit to habits and routines and stick to them.

So here’s what we did…

Every week, one of us would send everyone else a “prompt”. It could be a photograph, a painting, a song, a poem, an article or whatever. (We would rotate who’s turn it was to send a prompt each week).
During the week, we would write at least 1000 words based on that prompt. (Now, it’s important to note that we did not care if you incorporated, mentioned or even use the damn prompt. It was a crutch for you to get inspired however you wanted… AS LONG AS you wrote something that week).
Then at the end of the week, usually Friday morning or whatever, we jumped on Skype and critiqued each other’s work. (Assuming you submitted your writing Thursday evening so we could read and review it before the call). We taped this call and turned it into a weekly podcast.

What made this work was the commitment to PRODUCE every week. I don’t know if you’ve heard of SMART goals (which is something thrown around in the corporate world, self-help books and project management). But it stands for specific, measurable, accountable, results-driven and time-based.

In other words, in order to get any project done you want specific measurable goals (that’s 1000 words/week here), you need someone to hold you accountable… it has to a definite desired result and there has to be a clear deadline.

I truly believe that real writers write. You can’t get by just talking about writing, thinking about writing and planning your writing. You write. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. As three professional copywriters, we knew that too. If we didn’t write and meet deadlines, we didn’t get paid. We knew the practice and craft of storytelling required the same amount of discipline.

And this worked really well wonderfully for 36 straight weeks. But then I went on a trip to Tokyo and we decided to “take a break”. And that was the death knell. The thing with being busy freelancers is that you will always find an excuse to NOT write when all you do at your day job is write.

Anyway – I’d like to recreate that atmosphere. It was supportive, we focused on the CRAFT of storytelling, and we PRODUCED work.

(If you’re interested in hearing what the chemistry of a group like this is like, here’s a special episode we did in Orlando while we were at a conference: Episode 00)

I don’t know if you’re interested in a podcast or not. That’s not a component that’s necessary. But I can say this, it added a second layer of accountability knowing that our podcast was posted publicly online so anyone can “peer in” and hold us accountable too.

But I do know that a weekly voice call where you jump on and talk about what you did (or didn’t do) is incredibly embarrassing if you didn’t follow-up on your commitment of 1000 words that week. You sound like a jackass and shame and disappointment works really well here.

Now - I’m not saying this was a perfect system. But you got at least 1000 words down on paper a week. At the end of the year, you’re 52,000 words closer to something or other. And let’s be clear here. 1,000 words is the suggested metric. You’re more than welcome to write 2,500. 5,000. But having a specific metric helps keeps your pacing and discipline and momentum.

So here’s what I would like to see in a Fiction Critique and Support Group:

Everyone in the group (preferably 5-6 members max) COMMITS to writing at least 1,000 words of fiction a week.
Everyone in the group COMMITS to reviewing everyone else’s work and have notes ready for a critique (that’s why a member cap is helpful)
Everyone in the group COMMITS to getting on a weekly call to share their critiques with each other. A centralized time as opposed to a stream of critiques creates more accountability in my opinion. You don’t have to chase people down via chat.

What I would REALLY like is for everyone in the group to COMPLETE at least ONE SCENE… which is about 1,000 to 2,500 words. I like breaking down stories to SCENES just like how films and TV does it in scripts.

A scene is the most basic unit in any given story. If you can write a good scene, you can write a story. A scene is defined by a CHARACTER with a GOAL, who meets CONFLICT and either gets it or not (RESOLUTION). Did the character get what he/she wants? The reader should be keenly aware of the STAKES of the goals as well. What happens if character doesn’t get it? This is what creates tension and drama.

PREFERABLY – I would also like to see the following in the group members:

They are in this to get published.
- That means they are here to write stories with protagonists, goals, stakes and conflict.
- That means there’s a resolution as well (Did the protagonist get what he/she wants or not?).
- That means it’s a story that a professional magazine/website would actually pay money for.
- That means we’re not interested in poetry, post-modernist literary writing, experimental writing.
- I’m interested in the CRAFT OF STORYTELLING.
They are in this to improve their CRAFT of story telling.
- That means they are ready to breakdown and dissects SCENES like professional TV/FILM/Fiction writers would.
- That means they are interested in manipulating the tension, drama and conflict in a scene until it’s entertaining and engaging.
- That means they are interested in creating emotional moments with depth.
- That means they are interested in meaningful stuff like revealing the human condition, but never at the cost of not being entertaining.
- That means trying different things and rewriting things until a scene WORKS.
They drop their ego at the door.
- Feedback is feedback. Someone took the time to read your stuff and review it. Listen respectfully.
- It doesn’t mean you have to do what they say. In fact, critique should ideally not venture into “how to fix it”.
- But you shouldn’t get defensive, be confrontational, or start fighting. Writing is personal I get it.
- But that’s why I like calling this the CRAFT of STORYTELLING instead. There are objective metrics here.
- It should be as simple as C.U.B. Which leads to the fourth point…
We establish a “common language” for critiquing work (THIS IS IMPORTANT)
- Otherwise, we end up commenting on different things and using different criteria and it’s just a mess. I like C.U.B. which stands for:
  1. Reader got CONFUSED
  2. Reader found it UNBELIEVABLE or
  3. Reader got BORED/stops caring.
- These are three simple metrics to analyze any scene or story.
- The critique giver should note points in the scene or story where he/she got confused, bored or found it unbelievable.
- If the writing is confusing, it means you didn’t make the protagonist’s goal clear enough or what the stakes are. Or your writing style or prose is just bad. Too complicated, too poetic, or whatever.
- If the writing is unbelievable, it means you have plot holes or your world-building is breaking its own rules.
- If the writing is boring, it means we’re not emotionally attached or engaged to any of the characters. We don’t have to LIKE the protagonist, but we still have to be COMPELLED by him (Tony Soprano and Don Draper are unlikeable anti-heroes… but they’re compelling as F to watch).
- Does this mean the critique giver is right? If it’s one person, then no, not necessarily. But if two or three people all say they got confused on line 57 on page 2… hmmm… that’s something.
We push each other to submit these damn things once they’re ready and CELEBRATE every rejection because it means we’re one step closer to publication.
- I’ve been selling my services, selling my client’s products and services for a long time. Sales is a numbers game. When a magazine, website or publisher rejects your story, it may not be because your story sucks. Oftentimes, it’s timing. It could be because they already have a similar story with a bigger name author coming up. It could be because your story simply isn’t a “right fit” for them at this time. It could be because the editor read your story last on a long day and they were tired.
- The key is to have a long list of websites/magazines you want to submit to and as soon as one rejects you, you submit it to the next one.
- That’s how all the professional fiction writers I’ve read about do it.
Of course, if you get published, we celebrate even more. :)

That’s it. That’s the kind of writing group I’m looking for. Let me know if this interests you.

P.S. By the way, here’s my list of professional markets (paying magazines/websites) I’m aiming to get my short stories published in. If you have others in the sci-fi/fantasy/horror genre I missed, please let me know: