8 Benefits of Having a Critique Partner & How to Find “The One”

I first learned about critique partners through a Facebook group of writers. One author tagged her critique partner (CP) and thanked her for being her editing companion throughout the process. I was amazed. Writing is often a solo sport, but these writers were finding ways to make it collaborative. They were polishing their manuscripts in a mutually beneficial way without paying a book coach or editor thousands of dollars.

Then I went to lunch with my writing friends (we call ourselves the “Slice of Fiction” group because we try new pizza restaurants around Chicago). My friend Amy Melnicsak mentioned that she was writing a thriller for the first time just like me. Suddenly, it clicked. We wanted to read each other’s books. We both wanted to navigate the thriller genre and even booked a trip to NYC to go to Thrillerfest together (which was sadly cancelled due to Covid-19).

At the time, Amy had a first draft of her novel, so she immediately sent it to me. I read it and sent it back with my reader reactions, edits, and notes. And after reading Amy’s book, I worked on the first draft of my second novel. I finished the first draft after 8 weeks, read it twice, made revisions, and then sent it to Amy. I wanted to take my book as far as I could before sending it to her.