Furry Writers' Guild Forum

Best Methods of Critique

General Writing Discussion
#1

Reading through this year’s RF anthology, Furtual Horizons, I’ve found stories that have a lot of potential. Things such as poor sentence structure, poor balance between action and description, and ellipses love seem to drag down the quality of what could be a perfectly great story. There was one that I couldn’t even get through because the little editor inside of me was kicking and screaming the whole time >.< I’ll be revisiting it after I finish the other stories though.

Most of the authors involved are people I met at RF and have continued to stay in contact with, both here and on Twitter. A couple of them are people that I see face to face even out of RF. I want to give feedback so that I can help them come closer to their full potential, but in one or two cases I find myself struggling. They have great ideas, but their sentence structure is atrocious. I’m no professional, and haven’t edited much outside of friends’ works, so I was wondering what might be a good way to help them without being rude. They’re open to improvement and critisism, but are there key points to gentlify (is that even a word? O.o) the process when I know they’re receptive to subtlety? Would an email be better, or a pm through this site, or in the one case, face to face be easier? What are some methods you’ve used in the past that you’ve found works best?

I don’t normally struggle when critiquing other people’s work, even my friends. However, these need quite a bit more work than I’m used to seeing, and the last thing I want to do is dishearten someone with so many great ideas.

Thanks for any advice you’re able to give. It’s all very appreciated.

#2

Emails are pretty formal, better suited when the person has specifically asked you for feedback. If you’d like to use it, since it’s one of the more reliable methods of internet communication, then just make sure to open with the fact that you read the story and have some ideas on it. Essentially, ask them if they want your critique.

If they do, just make sure you have everything backed up with reasoning. The less vague your reasoning, the more receptive the author is going to be to the idea.

If you can do this face-to-face, then that’d be even better. I’d probably utilize the same tactic: ask if they want your critique first.

Unless you’re writing a full-on review of the story to be posted online, it’s usually a good idea to ask if your ideas are wanted first. Not a requirement, but it’s a professional move that shows tact right up front.

#3

As I said in the Shout Box, thank you! This was exactly the sort of advice I was looking for all around :3

#4

Personally, I always advise not doing critique unless the author has asked for it on that particular piece (either to you directly or just in general), or unless they’re asking you for advice on improving their writing and don’t care which stories are used. Coming out of the blue, even just to say “do you want me to crit this,” can make some people defensive, even if you mean well. At any rate, do ask, and then you can ask them at the same time whether they want crit via an email, tracked changes in Word, or whatever.

As far as methods, here are some links from the critique forum rules post that might help:

http://www.crayne.com/howcrit.html
http://www.therthdimension.org/FictionWriting/How_to_Cope_with_Critiquing/how_to_cope_with_critiquing.htm
http://www.critters.org/whathow.html

#5

Okay. Both authors have been asking in general if folks have read their stories in FH yet, and what they thought of it. I’ll keep it general then if it comes up the next time I see them. It helps that I’ve been more or less announcing on Twitter when I finish a story and who’s, including something positive about each >.>

I’ll definitely be checking out those sites before I talk with them though. Thank you.