My opinion is the same as your whole group's! I think that most people can offer valid critiques on any project, to a point. There are many conventions that people who don't participate in a given genre will miss that are important to the context of the book. Sometimes that means their commentary will be almost worthless -- i.e. if you have a group of people immersed in contemporary mystery novels trying to critique a regency romance.
However, I think it's always helpful for writers to get an outside perspective -- someone who says, "This doesn't work. Is this a particular trope of romance? Why are you using it here? What is it supposed to accomplish?" can almost always help the writer. THe helpfulness is not as much their critique (of "this doesn't work for me") but rather in the questions they pose which are specifically designed to help the writer figure out why part A works and part B doesn't make sense.
I particularly think that groups who all write the exact same thing inevitably end up acquiring each other's flaws rather than helping each other succeed. I've seen quite a few manuscripts come out of some people in particular writing groups that look the same and have the same errors, to the point where I have suggested that the try a new writing group. Ten women in their middle age with teenage children getting together to critique each other's contemporary romance manuscripts about women in their late 20s and men in their early 30s (or wahtever the genre/trappings are) are, I think, too similar in too many ways to do each other much good.
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Date: 2006-03-18 10:15 am (UTC)However, I think it's always helpful for writers to get an outside perspective -- someone who says, "This doesn't work. Is this a particular trope of romance? Why are you using it here? What is it supposed to accomplish?" can almost always help the writer. THe helpfulness is not as much their critique (of "this doesn't work for me") but rather in the questions they pose which are specifically designed to help the writer figure out why part A works and part B doesn't make sense.
I particularly think that groups who all write the exact same thing inevitably end up acquiring each other's flaws rather than helping each other succeed. I've seen quite a few manuscripts come out of some people in particular writing groups that look the same and have the same errors, to the point where I have suggested that the try a new writing group. Ten women in their middle age with teenage children getting together to critique each other's contemporary romance manuscripts about women in their late 20s and men in their early 30s (or wahtever the genre/trappings are) are, I think, too similar in too many ways to do each other much good.
Does that make sense?