Spotlight Saturday: Critique Partners?

Bookies!

After writing my post on Beta Readers, I decided to do a mini series of what I am learning on my road to publication in hopes of helping out my fellow aspiring authors (it can be a brutal journey and we can use all the friends we can get) or quenching the thirst of those who just have curious minds. And so, today, I am going to talk about critique partners. I felt like this was an appropriate post since we spoke about Beta Readers last week. Having said that, as I was doing my research on Beta Readers I realized that is a common occurrence for writers -- aspiring and published -- to use critique partners.

But then my question was: What is the difference between critique partners and Beta Readers? 

On a NaNoWriMo forum dedicated to experiences writers had with Beta Readers, this is a comment I came across:

This is where the difference between a beta and a crit partner comes in. By the time a book gets to a beta, there shouldn't be anything left to edit. Crit partners come first and they point out major flaws that need fixed. Now, if you mean typos and such, yes, if a reader at any level sees a minor mistake, it should be fixed.

-Voirey-Linger

With that, I continued on my merry way to figuring out the whole critique partner realm. From the gist of it here are a few tips to keep in mind when seeking out a critique partner(s):

1. RAWR! vs. Rawr, perhaps?: Be open to constructive criticism

2. Quality not Quantity: be vigilant, get to know your partners well, plagiarism is a real problem
3. Renovations: Be prepare to put in overtime on improving your manuscript

4. Give and Take: Acknowledge that you may have to be a critique partner, yourself
5. Believe in yourself: Never let anyone make you feel inferior

Here is a short list of resources I have compiled for you guys if applicable:
*Proceed at your own risk*

- The Top 10 Worse Types of Critique Partners, thought this was a funny but informative article
- Ladies Who Critique
- YA Writers Reddit
- How About We CP

Are you familiar with critique partners? What are your thoughts?

Happy Reading!