Hang on. Isn't critiquing the same as editing? Well, yes and no. Critiquing is part of the editing process, but it's slightly different to the editing itself. Now, critiquing can be done by you, but this is your piece of work, your child, your creation. It's very hard to critique your own work, because you must be harsh. Really harsh. You might think that you can do that, but if you think of one of your little creations, and your honest with yourself, you probably can't yet. Critiquing, therefore, is usually done by someone else.
Maybe you have a few writing friends who can do this for you. Even if they write different pieces to you (say articles on the stock market as opposed to books about faeries), they will still know the general rules for writing. If you don't know any writers, you can ask your friends and family, but often you'll have to ask them to be harsh, and pick out any tiny problem or thing they don't like about. After all, they aren't writers. They haven't trained themselves to critique.
Sometimes, however hard you try, you can't find enough people to critique your work to a point you're happy with (or the point a publisher is happy with). That's where sites like Critique Circle come in.
These sites are full of writers, both published and unpublished, ready to work together to help each there get published. I'm on Critique Circle, and I find it works really well. It's free to join too. You might want to look over the FAQs first to make sure you don't break the rules.
The great thing about critique circle is it makes sure people will get critiques because it works on a point system. Every critique you give, you get a point, and once you have enough points (usually three), you can post your own piece. I recently posted my unfinished chapter 2 of Karcess: Wolves in Turmoil, and had great feedback.
Critiquing can also help you find out how engaging your work is. Even if it's a piece that one person doesn't really like, or isn't written that well yet, anyone reading it can usually tell if it would interest someone else, or is an idea worth working on.
Even if you're not looking to have your work critiqued right now, there's heaps of other things on Critique Circle. Sometimes when I'm not feeling the writing flow, or just not up to even putting pen to paper it helps me to log in and look a the quote of the day. There was a great one by Robert Benchley: It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous. This really bought a smile to my lips and allowed me to continue writing that day.
Critique Circle also has words of the day to improve your vocabulary, and a large forum to read and talk about all things writing, and exercises to help jump start the creative juices. It's also great if your looking for something short to read that's different or new. Just remember to add your critique on the work you read while you're there.
Happy writing!
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