Developmental Edit Critique Group

Welcome to the Evanston Writers Workshop Developmental Edit Critique Group! We're a group of professional and aspiring writers who help each other polish our writing through workshop style critique.

We will critique 1 submission (maximum 30,000 words) per meeting, with oral critiques at the meeting and a follow up in writing directly to the author by email. You do not need to be a member to attend or critique, however, you need to be a member in order to submit and have your own work critiqued and you must also agree to critique via this group at least two other works of similar length for each submittal of your own.

Fiction and Creative Non-fiction/Memoir writers of all level and all genres are welcome, ages 18+.

We will meet monthly on the second Monday of the month and alternate between online meetings (on even numbered months) and in person meetings (on odd numbered months). In person meetings will be held in the lobby of the Hilton Orrington, [1710 Orrington, Evanston, IL](https://www.google.com/maps/search/1710+Orrington,+Evanston,+IL?entry=gmail&source=g). If you have a submission for an upcoming meeting, please submit it via this link: [https://form.jotform.com/251125391424147](https://form.jotform.com/251125391424147) by midnight of the fourth Monday of the month *before* the meeting to allow approximately two weeks for members to review your submittal.

For more information, submission guidelines, membership dues and requirements, please see below and visit the Evanston Writers Workshop (“EWW”) website at [evanstonwritersworkshop.org.](http://evanstonwritersworkshop.org./) Or you can direct questions to Nora at nora@evanstonwritersworkshop.org For guidance on the kinds of questions that generate “Developmental Edits” visit the EWW website and click on the drop-down menu “Critique Groups” and then “Rules and Guidelines.”

To review the group’s current submissions, visit EWW’s website and click on the drop-down menu “Critique Groups” and then “Current Submissions” and finally “Developmental Edit Critique Group.”

EWW is a not-for-profit 501 (C) 3 organization founded in 2007. The Developmental Edit critique group provides authors with the opportunity to receive “big picture” critiques of large sections (up to 30,000 words) of their in-process manuscript, allowing for identification of issues at an earlier stage than a beta reader review of a completed draft, streamlining the writing process. Interactive comments from a group of readers in the Developmental Edit group can provide comprehensive feedback that an author simply can't get from a single beta reader. Filling a niche between EWW’s fiction/memoir critiques which review submissions of up to 3000 words and a beta reader critique which reviews a completed manuscript, the Developmental Edit critique can be especially helpful to authors seeking feedback on revisions to previously critiqued scenes, avoiding the time and hassle of workshopping each revised scene individually. That said, critiquing 30,000 words at a time is a significant commitment on the part of the Development Edit group members and deserves a reciprocal commitment on the part of the submitting author so any author wishing to submit to the Developmental Edit group must agree to critiquing at least two other works of similar length for each submittal of their own.