Critique Circle

TL; DR at the end

I joined this site in April 2022 and, assuming that it would be a helpful source while I write my novel, I immediately paid for a premium subscription (partly because some helpful features like being able to put novel chapters together all in one book are locked behind premium) without realizing that there was a free two week trial for premium. If I hadn't been so gung ho and paid off the bat, I wouldn't have continued to use the site for as long as I did. My paying for it is the only reason I've used it for the past five or so months because I didn't want to waste money.

The idea behind this website is pretty good and the site actually works pretty well! It works by requiring users to critique other people's work before being able to post a story. By critiquing, you gain credits based on how long your critique was (and yes, I'm fairly sure there are options to report to moderators if a critique is very clearly just long for the sake of it and has no real substance). When you post a story, you use three credits if you don't have any other stories queued, six if you've got a story in the queue already, nine if you've got two queued, and so on. I never experienced issues when posting stories or critiquing others' work.

The issue with this site lies in the userbase, though I wouldn't be surprised if other critique websites have the same issue. Almost everyone seems to believe that they have extremely valuable things to say and that they are right about everything. While I would agree that most critiques have some kind of value, a fair portion that I received (60% - 70%) were absolutely useless in the sense that they were written by people who have no clue what they're talking about or were plain mean. Some experiences I had within my first two chapters (for reference, I've posted ten total) were:

- Someone didn't seem to know what a metaphor was and interpreted my (very few, honestly) metaphors as stuff that was actually happening
- Someone complaining that my female main character wasn't acting realistically when she was guarded and defensive in response to someone approaching her. For reference, this was on a foggy night in the deep downtown portion of a large city...
- Someone trying to convert me to Christianity because I mentioned my fantasy world having multiple gods (yes, I'm being completely serious)
- Someone said my grammar was impossible to read and that they had to read through my chapter three separate times. I went to their page and their grammar was horrendous
- Someone just being indescribably rude and meanspirited throughout the entire first chapter

I realize that it's easy to take comments like this as someone being overly defensive about critiques they received, but I am being incredibly genuine: the comments I mentioned were from people with low reading comprehension. I ran those critiques by multiple people to make sure I wasn't being defensive and they all agreed that the critiques were objectively useless and didn't make sense.

There are good people on Critique Circle. 30% - 40% of people left me critiques that were sometimes blunt but INCREDIBLY helpful and kindly written. The issue lies in trying not to go insane when people won't stop leaving bizarre critiques on your stories.

TL; DR: The website itself works fine, but be careful of the userbase. You can take most of their thoughts with a grain of salt, but there are several folks who do give good critiques. It's a mixed bag that, if you're willing to deal with the negatives, can be useful.

Unless you're absolutely new to writing and don't care about response time or quality, don't bother. Shallow responses, terrible comments disguised as lazy feedback, and no way to regain lost points for wasted time.

Critiquing is also a pain with their system.

Forums or other sites will serve you better, unless you just want to trade fanfics with others.

Just joined. Spent almost a whole day of my life critiquing a story that promised 2 points. Clicked submit and what do you know, I got 0.5 points. This is a ripoff of your time. Don't use.
Note: this wouldn't have been such a big surprise if the rules were clear. But the FAQ doesn't say: dear user, you do this on your own risk and you might not get any payoff out of it because that's just how we roll. No, you're left to find out at your own expense. And there's the option to go bed a moderator, maybe you get your points? So you need to work more and spend more time, and ask nicely for what you were promised in the first place. Bait and switch, it's what this is called, and in a world where businesses are regulated it would be illegal.

I became a member of Critique Circle about a year ago and I highly recommend this site for writers. You can use this service for free or pay a small fee for premium memberships. I joined because I wanted to receive feedback on my writing and I've gotten invaluable feedback from other members and become a better writer because of them. I find it clever how the site works but basically, you receive credits for critiquing other writers and then you can use the credits to submit your work. I recommend you critique as much as you can because it will pay off when you submit your work. The staff is friendly and helpful, my experience has been excellent! I highly recommend Critique Circle!

I have to start this review by saying it's kind of impossible to parse a review of this site. Anybody who reviews it is naturally biased by their experience and their experience is shaped by their own abilities--and nobody believes their own abilities aren't at least good or they wouldn't be writing, right? Dunning Kruger is in full force when it comes to artistic endeavors, and CC is no exception.

That said, I'm a decent writer--as validated by many objective measures including making a living as a professional writer/editor my entire career--but I knew nothing about fiction. And I found people on CC who taught me SO MUCH. I promised to return a crit--at least once--but that I was ultimately looking for mutually beneficial critique partners. In that way, I was able to curate partners who knew more than I did. I finished my novel, which is much better because of these people. I think that writers will find their level; it's the natural way of things.

I will say, too, that I first joined this site in 2009 to put up some short plays. Up until I finished this novel, I never used the paid services because they weren't necessary. Once the novel was done and I had a date with an agent, I leveled up so I could get the most feedback possible before submitting to the agent.

Anyway, you'll get what you give, and you'll improve to the level of your abilities. If you don't have a thick skin, you haven't been writing and receiving feedback long enough. Also, the interface and credit system work amazing well compared to other sites; you can get feedback quickly and from many people, which allows you to find active users who best meet your needs.

Hostile environment which serves and protects its abusive members, encouraging them to slander and insult.

The site is fairly toxic. If you do use it just use it for critiques. If you try posting like a character interview, no one will respond.

I've checked out a number of other sites, but this site has the most going for it. It's well run, the set-up is fairly intuitive, has a free option and reasonably priced premium options, and best of all, the ability to give line-by-line feedback. I may be spoiled, but the line-by-line feature is a deal breaker for me, and it's a feature not always available at other sites.

If you are serious about writing and want to improve your craft, this is the place. Critiques run on a fair, well-organized system of points. Lots of knowledge on here, no problems. And a large enough site for lots of input. Excellent.

I've been on CC for about 2 months now, and I've had no problems with it. The basic, free membership is useful, the premium is more useful but not necessary. I've tried 5 other writing sites - including Scribophile, Wattpad, and ABCTales - and this is the most satisfactory so far. People give helpful and constructive critiques, and it's not too hard to earn enough credits to post more stories on. The critique system is fair. CC has given me a great opportunity to share my writing, receive useful feedback, and enjoy hundreds of other stories. It's exciting to watch novels grow and shift, especially when you, as a critter, have helped shape it. Everyone is very helpful and friendly.
The forum is interesting - members joke with each other, debate points, share their writing progress. It can get a little heated at times, but you don't have to participate if you don't want to, and members always debate ideas. In my 2 months of experience of actively engaging in the forum, an argument has never turned personal.

I recommend this site 100%!

(See my attached forum responses for a thread I started about writing a novel in the form of multiple short stories... if the photo-attachment worked.)