On Writing Romance_ How to Craft a Novel That Sells - Leigh Michaels [134]
Whatever the structure of the group, make sure it fits with your goals. What are you seeking from a critique group, and how does this group fit into your life and writing style? Are others in the group writing in the same genre or category as you are? If not, do they have wide reading experience? If you're writing his-toricals, a group of people who read and write only contemporary romances will be of considerably less help to you than a group familiar with the special requirements of historical fiction.
Critique groups that include published members may be of more practical assistance than those that involve only prospective authors. But publication does not guarantee that a member's advice will be helpful. More important is whether the group works with the writer's own strengths. Critique groups have been known to ruin work by offering too many bits of conflicting advice or by trying to turn the story into what someone else would prefer; it can be difficult to sort the helpful feedback from suggestions that lead only to deeper confusion.
Professional Groups
Romance Writers of America (www.rwanational.org) is a professional organization open to published and unpublished writers of romance fiction, as well as to editors, agents, booksellers, and others interested in the field. It is one of the few organizations for professional writers that welcomes the unpublished into membership and is open to writers around the world.
The organization provides its members with a monthly magazine, offers annual contests for published and unpublished writers, and holds an annual conference where writers can meet with editors and agents, network with other writers, and attend workshops and seminars.
RWA chapters are local branches of the national organization. Most major American cities have chapters, and there are online chapters for special-interest groups or members who can't easily attend a local chapter meeting. Writers must belong to the national organization in order to join a local chapter. Each chapter has considerable autonomy, within RWA's requirements, to organize itself and run its meetings to best serve its own members. Many hold monthly meetings that include a speaker or demonstration or exercise. Many sponsor critique groups that meet separately from the chapter meetings. Some sponsor contests or hold local or regional conferences.
In the United Kingdom, the Romantic Novelists' Association (www.rna-uk. org) is a group of more than seven hundred members promoting romantic fiction from category romance to women's fiction. RNA is open to published and unpublished writers, agents, editors, publishers, booksellers, etc., and offers contests and conferences.
Romance Writers of Australia (www.romanceaustralia.com) is open to published and unpublished writers from around the world, as well as others interested in romance fiction. It offers contests, conferences, and a program where writers who are isolated and unable to attend meetings are matched with mentors.
Your library will probably have a listing of other national and local professional organizations for writers. Each will have different requirements for membership and offer different benefits.
Contests
Writing contests provide encouragement; incentive to meet deadlines; practice in accepting feedback and failure; and great benefits to finalists and winners, including a credit that can be included in future letters to publishers and useful in getting an editor's attention.
But contests can also be expensive. Between entry fees, copying costs, and postage, you can easily rack up a hundred dollars in expenses for each contest you enter.
And contests can be dangerous. Because many of them require the submission of a first chapter only, some writers go no further—they write and polish the first twenty-five pages, then go on to the next contest entry without ever finishing a project. Writers who become contest-addicted may never write an entire book.
The contests