Writing … Without a Word Count – Tip 2: Buddy Up
Dr Rachel Sargeant Loves Writing … Without a Word Count – Tip 2: Buddy Up
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Welcome to my Substack. I post tips for emerging writers, monthly roundups of how I’m getting my writing done, and shoutouts for great books I’ve read.
My previous post – My Writing Year 2025 – made several mentions of my writing exchange buddies. I want to explain more about them today.
Get Feedback on Your Writing
No matter how many times you read through your draft, you won’t see what another reader will see. What makes perfect sense to you, might seem incomprehensible, far-fetched or weak to someone else.
If the second reader who sees your writing is an agent or a publisher, they are unlikely to have time to point out the errors. All you get is a standard rejection and you’re none the wiser as to why.
You need to find your buddies – people you trust to give you constructive feedback.
My Writing Exchange Buddies
My buddies arrived unexpectedly. I was at the beginning of my writing career and had still to learn the value of getting feedback on early drafts.
In 2013, I enrolled on a distance learning MA in Creative Writing. Although coursework and tutors played a big part in developing my writing, it was the other learners that changed the game.
We were allocated to syndicates and had to submit drafts every month for discussion. From the start, my syndicate of five took our responsibilities seriously and we gave each other line-by-line comments and advice. Never shying away from giving constructive criticism, we also remained encouraging. It was a privilege to read their submissions in genres and styles I hadn’t encountered before. By editing their work, I began to take a more objective view of my own writing.
After the course, with their ongoing feedback, I rewrote my MA portfolio as a commercial thriller and secured an agent. The book was published by HarperCollins and became a bestseller. Those students – now my writing buddies – transformed my writing life, and I’m delighted to say eleven years on from the end of the course I still exchange work with three of my syndicate*. We continue to act as writing exchange buddies for each other.
(*See the bottom of this post to read about some of their publications.)
Where to find your buddies
· An obvious way to find your writing exchange buddies is to undertake formal study like I did. This could be an in-person or online degree or a shorter course. The curriculum may well include a writing exchange schedule and you will almost certainly meet people at a similar stage in their writing careers.
· However, formal courses require a big commitment of time and money and aren’t for everyone. Instead, consider joining a local writers’ group. An ideal starting point is to gel with two or three writers and share short pieces of work on a trial basis. Be wary of putting work up to review by a large group of people as too much feedback can be hard to process. But I’d recommend exchanging with at least two writers. One person and their views could be an outlier, but if two people give you similar feedback, it’s probably worth revisiting your manuscript.
· By joining writers’ threads on social media, you can get to know like-minded writers. Be cautious about suggesting a writing exchange until you’ve established a genuine connection. This means long-term engagement on the online platform before you commit to exchange partners.
· If you haven’t found your buddies yet, consider paying for a critique by a reputable critiquing service. Getting an expert’s view of your draft could well provide the breakthrough you need to take your writing to a publishable standard.
· If you don’t want the expense of a full-length novel evaluation, consider submitting a short story. Henshaw Press, for example, offers a critique service to entrants to their competitions and also a bespoke service to non-entrants who want a story critiqued.
A Word about Beta Readers
You may have heard the term beta reader. I want to explain how this differs from a writing exchange buddy. Writing buddies are other writers who act as early editors, perhaps suggesting structural changes and pointing out inconsistencies in plot and character, or weaknesses in dialogue, as well as highlighting the manuscript’s strengths.
Beta readers are those – usually well read in your genre – who provide a pilot read of an almost finished novel, i.e. after the manuscript has been revised following buddy feedback. If you know they’ll be honest and constructive in their assessment, they could be family or friends. Their role is to read your work as they would any other novel and let you know what parts they liked/disliked, where the pace was too slow/too fast/confusing, what characters they engaged with/ didn’t engage with and why. You can then undertake another revision if you feel it’s required.
In summary, my SECOND TIP for both experienced and emerging writers is: Find writing exchange buddies and get feedback on your work.
* Let me introduce my writing buddies:
Fergus Smith helps me see the bigger picture with my work. He questions the direction the plot is taking and the motivation of my characters. I’ve had the privilege of commenting on early drafts of his political/war novels, the most recent being Punching Out. Set against political turmoil after the Brexit vote, the novel follows five men as they leave the British Army and struggle to forge new paths.
Peter Garrett is a details man, great at spotting typos, correcting grammar and punctuation, and at pointing out where dialogue needs expanding. His own writing is a riot. A physician by profession, he fuses science fiction with crime and comedy, often in a hospital setting. His novella Final Diagnosis published by Luna Press Publishing is a brilliantly bonkers blend of murder, medicine and mayhem, complete with Irish charm and alien dinosaurs.
Gillian Walker is a shrewd line-editor with razor-sharp instincts for cutting unnecessary words. She writes all forms of fiction. Her stunning pieces include her novella-in-flash The World at the End of the Garden about an English textile artist who goes to live in Arizona for a year. Her world shrinks to a gated community of strangers and the view of the arroyo at the bottom of the garden. It explores the discovery of self and the meaning of home.
Please spread the word to anyone you know who’s an early career writer or is starting out for the first time this year. My practical tips are ones that have helped me along the way and continue to do so.