Looking for a Small Online Writing / Chapter Critique Group

There are quite a few online writing groups around. Have you explored any of those? I'm not trying to discourage forming one here, but the administrative details of running an online group can be more difficult and time-consuming than you might imagine. Going with an existing one gets you over that hurdle.

 

That's really difficult to say. There are places like Critique Circle, SFFChronicles, Fantasy-Writers.org, Absolute Write's Water Cooler, and others. Every community is different, each one changes over time, and you as a writer will change over time.

My own experience has been this. At first, I joined pretty much everything. Then I let several places go slack as I concentrated on just three, because that was all I had time for. At around the same time, our local library started up a writing group, so I joined that. As the months went on, four of us who were each writing fantasy started to meet separately.

That provided me with two live groups (I was going to say two live crews, but then I didn't say it). In addition, one of the online communities also split off into a "fantasy faction" and there I was fortunate to find an excellent beta reader.

So now, I go to the live groups, mainly to support my fellow writers, plus I have my beta reader, who is worth twice his weight in gold. In short, each community helped me develop. I really do think those initial groups gave me valuable insight into how to critique, how to be critiqued, how to be responsible and considerate, and how to recognize when it's time to move on. And when one ought to stay.