How to Critique a Writer’s Work: What to Do and What Not to Do
[Note from Steve: Today’s guest post is from author Deanna Proach.]
All writers need to have a second and third pair of eyes read their work. The trick is having to find two or three trusted persons to read your work. Some writers—like me—don’t have a parent, friend or relative who is a published author, editor or avid reader. If this is the case, you should seek out a reputable writers’ group where you’ll feel welcomed and at ease. If you’re not able to find any reputable writers’ critique group, you can form your own critique group.
Critique groups are not all about telling each other what’s wrong with our manuscripts. When critiquing someone’s work, you need to be considerate of his or her feelings and you should always provide feedback that is positive and constructive in a way that will benefit your fellow writer.
Always Give Positive Feedback
Feedback is central to a critique. It can give a writer hope or destroy her confidence. The key to a good critique is positive feedback. Positive feedback doesn’t mean that you tell a fellow writer that her story is superb and flawless. That won’t help her grow as a writer.
Positive feedback goes beyond praise.
When giving positive feedback, tell a fellow writer why certain parts are so good and then describe what makes them so good. Browse through the manuscript and pinpoint words, phrases and/or scenes that make the story so strong and engaging. Writers are looking for more than just praise, so when they receive positive feedback that is in depth, it keeps them moving in the right direction.
Constructive Criticism vs. Negative Criticism
Aside from positive feedback, all writers need their work to be critiqued in a constructive manner. There is a difference between constructive criticism and negative criticism. Negative criticism puts down the writer and his work, whereas constructive criticism is comprehensive feedback aimed at helping him improve the weak points in his manuscript.
When giving constructive criticism, circle words or phrases that convey a wrong meaning, underline wordy and run-on sentences and pinpoint areas where there is too much back-story or where a scene/character needs more development. Explain why certain words, phrases or scenes impede the flow of the story in a way that is understandable to the author.
Avoid any kind of negative criticism. It will deflate a writer’s confidence in his work. If a writer has some words or phrases in his story that is offensive, gently explain why they are offensive and then give some suggestions on how he can eliminate potentially offensive content while improving the written content of the manuscript.
A key thing to remember: every writer has his or her unique writing style. Don’t critique a manuscript based on how you would write the story. That’s like telling someone what to do and when to do it and it won’t foster a friendship. Rather, it will do more to cause that writer to dislike you.
Copy Editing as Part of a Good Critique
Copy editing is a completely different animal than critiquing. However, it serves as a very important component in a critique. If you can eliminate all of the grammatical errors in a manuscript while critiquing, then the critique is thorough. To improve grammar you need to know the meaning behind all of the copy editing symbols. So, before a critique, take a copy editing course or read information on copy editing. This will help develop and sharpen important copy editing skills.
Writers learn the best from more experienced writers who are able to give in-depth, comprehensive feedback that includes positive feedback, constructive criticism and copy editing.
Deanna Proach has written two novels–Day of Revenge (Inkwater Press) and To Be Maria. She also writes for discounts.ca, a website that deals with all kinds of coupons.
[Additional note from Steve: Deanna also has an interesting blog with more articles about writing: desstories.blogspot.com . There are many critique groups available on the web, by the way. The eZine eFiction, where yours truly has been an author, runs one, for example: www.efictionmag.com . Most of these have a give-and-take policy, i.e. you are expected to contribute critiques as well as receive them. Consequently, they can be very time consuming, but many things worth doing have that feature, don’t they? ]
