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| Is Critique Circle really a perfect and awesome tool for writers? |
How does it work?
The basic premise is that you critique a person's work and they do the same for yours. So, it's a give-and-take (or tit-for-tat) relationship. You can post your story on the site and people can choose to critique it, giving you constructive criticism that can help you improve your writing, plot, characters, etc.However, before you can post your story to have it critiqued, you will need credits. You get credits by critiquing the works of other people.
It's only after you have the required number of credits (meaning, after you've critiqued a certain number of other people's stories) that you'll be allowed to post your own to receive critiques. It seems to be a pretty neat system that ensures that everyone's work will be critiqued.
Is Critique Circle really awesome?
I've been trying to find more information about Critique Circle since I wanted to join an online writing group and have my stories critiqued. I've found a number of positive reviews that recommend this site, however, most of them are dated several years ago.The site itself seems pretty okay, though the layout could maybe use an upgrade in terms of looking more modern. There's a lot of info on the site including help pages and the like. However, I noticed that they don't have a Terms of Use and Privacy Policy pages. At least, I can't find these 2 pages anywhere on the site.
I wonder why not? Do these pages even exist? If they do (and, really, they should), then where are they? If you try to register for the site, you'll be asked to agree to the rules, but there's no mention of their TOS and Privacy Policy. What's up with that? Weird.
Is Critique Circle still active?
Critique Circle has a Twitter account, so I thought I'd send them a tweet to ask about their terms and policies. But they never responded (even now, they've yet to respond). So, I wonder if the site is even still active?Unfortunately, you can't tell for sure unless you join because the main site itself (minus the help and FAQ and other such info) is locked and visible only to members. That's not really a bad thing.
In fact, I prefer it to be that way, so your work is only visible to site members, which should ensure you don't lose your story's first publication rights. But, on the other hand, if you want to know more about Critique Circle, this does mean you won't be able to find out much.
Who has joined Critique Circle?
Has anyone joined or tried out Critique Circle? What can you say about it? Would you recommend it? Is it still active? Does it really not have a Terms of Use / Terms of Service and Privacy Policy? Do you think it's a legit site?Other online writing critique groups
If you don't like Critique Circle, can you recommend other online writing critique groups (except Scribophile)? What other groups have you joined or tried? What can you say about these sites?Edited to add: I've joined Critique Circle and will be writing more about it in upcoming articles.
*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) using Pablo by Buffer based on the image by sayuko (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published on Niume on 14 December 2016
