How (and Why) to Critique, in brief

[Tin_Lizzie]

I believe that the most important skill writers can learn is how to assess and improve their writing. Critiquing others can be an important part of that learning process. When you learn to look at other’s work objectively, you can see what’s wrong in your own.

Comment on the strengths and weaknesses of a piece, in that order. It's much easier to be objective about the negatives in your own work if you get the compliments first. Point out the good aspects and make suggestions as to areas for improvement. Negative comments should always be constructive, and always be accompanied by an attempt to explain why it didn't work. Never make it personal, we are critiquing a particular story or poem, not a person. The phrasing of our critiques makes a huge difference between helpfulness and attacks. Starting a comment with “You didn’t do this right,” is an attack. Saying, “I didn’t understand the character’s motivation here,” is helpful. OK, so sometimes it’s hard to find the good part, buried under excess verbiage. Maybe there’s only an interesting concept. Encourage the writer to mull it over and start again.

My one hard-and-fast rule is to be kind to one another! Everyone's work has something good about it, it's our job to find it and help the writer to bring the good part into focus. By helping others, you are also helping yourself to write stronger. You learn to revise and edit your own work with a critical eye. You learn to forgive yourself and get past your mistakes.

[Tin_Lizzie]

Nah. After I tell Mr. Poe what I think is wonderful about his writing, he’d call you out for insulting a Lady. He might have been a fierce critic, but he was always a gentleman.

Critiquing is NOT literary criticism. I can deconstruct a novel on a literary level, but that has nothing to do with critiquing a fellow writer’s work-in-progress. Different skill set. If you want to shred The Davinci Code (ick, ptuey, bleh), I’m right there with you. Not that I’ve read much of Dan Brown, he makes my eyes bleed. One of my supposed friends forced his book on me - I’d never give money to read it. He should’ve paid me for the 5 hours of my life he stole. Most of the trash they sell in bookstores is the same. Idiots who buy one book a year keep the industry going. Literary people are forced to search for independent presses and obscure authors to feed our addiction for good novels. If just ONE of the newbie writers on this board can learn to write well, for art’s sake and not scramble for the almighty NYT bestseller list, my gentle critiquing will be worth it.

[Tin_Lizzie]

I'll enjoy critiquing anything you post. Really, we're not on opposing sides here. Anyone can string together sentences. It takes a real writer to work at it. Taking it apart and reworking it, analyzing, revising and rephrasing, those are the things that separate the writer from the dilettante. Genius is the infinite capacity for taking pains.