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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/5617
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I'm considering opening up my current work in progress to critique. In the past I haven't had very much luck with the local writer's group, but I'm willing to try again. Maybe not with them, but definitely with some writer's support forum, somewhere.

The writer's group I used to associate with would normally take an excerpt from another member's novel, short story or what have you and then promptly proceed to beat the living hell out of it.

I think that model might be flawed and what should be critiqued is not the individual excerpts but the overall cohesiveness of the plot. Almost anyone can make a bunch of pretty words, but that doesn't fix a broken story.

Then again, the best story in the world wouldn't be worth reading if it's full of bad writing and grammatical errors.

So, **is it more important in a writer's group (or other similar writer's support forum) to focus on critiquing plots for problems and improvements or to continue to focus on critiquing excerpts in order to improve the quality of writing?**

Original score: 6