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Participating in a writing critique group can be a wonderful opportunity to meet new people who share the same passion as you, improve your writing, develop new analytical skills, and be exposed to different forms of writing and ideas. However, if the writing critique group you're a part of isn't the best one for you, it could actually end up having negative effects on your writing. So just what is a good group, and how do you find one?

To start off, evaluate your own needs. Are your plots dry and boring, with little happening from start to finish? Do your characters seem about as flat as the jokes you unsuccessfully try to incorporate in your work? Whatever your problem area is, try to find a group that can help. Likewise, consider your good points. Does your vocabulary cause all of your readers to admire you? Are your texts practically clean of any grammar, punctuation or spelling mistakes? If that's the case, then you probably shouldn't join a writing group where the attention is focused on enhancing the members' vocabularies and learning grammar rules.

If you're a student, try to find out if your school offers a writing critique group. If not, consult the local library, university, or the newspaper. If you live in a larger city, you could try to do a search online. Recently, more and more people have been participating in writing critique groups online. When you do end up finding a critique group, try to speak to a few of the members and ask them what areas are focused on during meetings. If a lot of their time is spent dealing with things you yourself have problems with, the group might be right for you.

Try to figure out the level of experience of the writers there. Have they all just started writing poetry recently as a fun pastime, or are they all published authors who have won several prizes? Finding a group closer to your own experience level will help you work at your own pace, instead of either going over things you already know, or feeling completely overwhelmed.

Also see if the group concentrates on a specific type of writing. Some groups dedicate themselves to poetry, while others won't touch anything but romance novels. If you mainly write fiction, and the writing group you're checking out deals with writing science textbooks, you probably aren't going to have very much luck there.

If you've checked out all of these things, and the group meets at a time and location convenient for you, try to attend one of their meetings as soon as possible. Concentrate

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