First, register:

The critiques are free for members and nonmembers, but you must register to submit your pages to the critique.

Check our regional calendar for the monthly free critique.

https://www.scbwieasternny.org/

Check your email:

After you register, you will receive a confirmation email.

In that email, you will find a link to a Google Form. Please upload your submission through that Google Form.

Remember you are welcome to come as an observer or "bleacher-creature" if you have never been to critique before and you'd like to see how it works before you submit yourself. Register through the Google form and choose the “lurker/bleacher-creature” option.

Fill out Google Form:

Upload your submission as a Word.doc (or PDF for illustrated dummies) by the deadline posted above.

*Format your picture book manuscript or 5 pages of your novel (double-spaced) following SCBWI recommendations (see page 2 of the pdf under heading “Formatting Your Manuscript”)

About 5 days before the critique:

You will receive an email with a link to the color-coded Google Sheet.

This sheet will have the groups assigned by color and room number. You will read the submissions in your group before the meeting.

If this is your first time accessing the Google Sheet and participating in the critiques, please try to log on and view the docs as soon as you get the email. That way we have time to give you access and overcome any tech issues.

**If you have trouble accessing the documents, first click the “Request Access” button, and then send an email to our Critique Coordinator, John Ebbert: jecreative (at) optonline (dot) net

Read the submissions in your group before the meeting. Come prepared to discuss each submission and you can also leave comments on each Google Doc. This is not mandatory but many people find it helpful.

Critique Etiquette:

Peer critiques are meant to help us all grow as writers and illustrators AND to offer moral support to our fellow kidlit creators.

Being a writer or illustrator can be hard and lonely. The reason SCBWI exists is to offer support and guidance and community to our members. This is the place you will meet your writer buddies, so… don’t be a jerk—is basically what I’m saying.

Don’t forget to tell your peers what you like about their work, what’s good about the pages, what’s working?

But as our ARA, Kim says, “Don’t let your friends walk around with toilet paper stuck to their shoe.”

These critiques are meant to improve our craft and polish our stories ahead of submission or querying. So if something is confusing, let the writer know! Ask questions, recommend mentor texts, you may not have any idea how to fix their pages, but you can point out where in the text you were confused or taken out of the story.

Critiquing is a creative skill! You have to practice and being critiqued by people who are good at it will help you become more skilled.

Also read, read, READ! Read recently published books in the genre and age group you want to write in.

If you are basing your stories and your opinions on the books you grew up with as a child, you are going to be wildly off-base. Think of publishing as a landscape—a constantly shifting and changing landscape! The 10,000-foot view from above is pretty consistent: good writing and characters that the reader cares about. But the formats, word counts, subject matter, even what topics are age-appropriate, all shift and change. So be current. Make friends with your librarian and ask for current recommendations. Check out the School Library Journal for recommendations and reading lists.

Download and print your ms/pages with the comments from the critique

What you have to do is, within Google Docs:

  • Select “File”

  • Download and then save your file as a Word doc (.docx).

  • Then, from within Word, after hitting “Enable Editing",” you can print out your document and it will include all the comments.

https://www.howtogeek.com/742256/how-to-print-a-google-doc-with-comments/

Tech Tips and Formatting:

Loglines are something you will use for the rest of your writing journey, so you may as well start practicing now.

  • For YA and MG submissions, if it is not your first chapter, add a very short summary to bring us up to speed in your story.

(Very short summary means a paragraph or two.) 

  • Upload your submission as a Word.docx by Midnight, of the deadline date. If you are uploading a picture book dummy as a PDF or an illustration as a JPG, make sure the file is under 10MG. We will send out the assigned critique groups the following day or two.

  • You will receive an email with a link to the color-coded Google Sheet.

This sheet will have the groups assigned by color and room number. You will read the submissions in your group before the meeting.

If this is your first time accessing the Google Sheet and participating in the critiques, please try to log on and view the docs as soon as you get the email. That way we have time to give you access and overcome any tech issues.

**If you have trouble accessing the documents, first click the “Request Access” button, and then send an email to easternny-ra@scbwi.org.

  • Come prepared to discuss each submission. As previously mentioned, you don't have to leave comments, but you should read the submissions in your group before the meeting and be prepared to discuss. Be concise, each person will get around 3 minutes to give feedback for each ms.

  • Here's a short video tutorial on how to leave comments in the Google docs:

https://scbwi.zoom.us/rec/share/zupTPq7x1HlLeYmSyBzwXvYxNNrKX6a81iYb-_FexEs5eKCDqb7JpbA9soWw1U9V

Typos or highlighting passages that are confusing, or funny, or that you just think are very good, are great to leave on the doc. That saves time during the actual critique. And comments that are higher level, or feedback about themes or questions that you have are easier to give on the call.

Google docs autosaves your comments. So theoretically you don't have to do anything other than submit your comment-- instructions below--but sometimes Google bugs out and so you should double-check by closing the doc and then re-opening it to make sure your comments are being saved.