Poetry is a mixture of common sense, which not all have, with an uncommon sense, which very few have. — John Masefield

How do you balance constructive criticism and the honesty required to give a helpful critique?

I try to always start by telling the author something I liked about their piece. Even when it is horrific, I can generally find at least one good character name or other trivial point to give a positive comment about.

After I have stated at least one positive thing I let the critique flow. A writer can’t improve unless they know their weak spots. Don’t waste time giving a fluffy feel good critique, tell the author what stinks so they can sweeten it up.

In graduate school the professors always said to end a critique on a positive note, but I generally forget to do this and thus far no one seems to care.

How do you balance constructive criticism and the honesty required to give a helpful critique?

Jacob

I asked my three year old son what he had done that day while we were driving home last night. He said “I went to the dinosaur museum with mommy.”

It was kind of silly to ask, but since he is three, I said “what did you see there?”

He said “really really big dinosaurs.”

I asked “where they nice or mean?”

He said “they were really really really scary daddy.”

For a three year old it was cute and effective to tell me about the dinosaurs, but for those trying to entertain readers or make a few bucks writing you have to learn how to show. You can learn more about show verses tell from our writing lessons.

Jacob

Have you ever been assigned to critique something that was written by a monkey dancing on a keyboard? Do you occasionally find yourself wondering if you have spent more time critiquing a piece than the author did writing it?

When I am assigned to critique something that makes my brain hurt I pick one area like character development, setting, structure, or voice to focus on. I know there is no way I am going to fix everything that is wrong with the dancing monkey in one critique, but I can help him swing to a higher branch by helping him understand how to improve one area.

How do you deal with a dancing monkey?

Jacob

The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.
— Eleanor Roosevelt

Poetry should be personal and imaginative. It should show your feelings and emotions.

As the freest form of writing poets often struggle to set the bounds each poem will live within. Without bounds you cannot have poetry.

Freedom is not doing what you want when you want to. Freedom is knowing how to use the rules to enhance your writing. Like all art forms, poets need practice, knowledge, and commitment to succeed.

What is poetry to you?

The protagonist has to face insurmountable odds. Pressure needs to sneak in from different angles to test his skills and strengths before he saves the day. The pressure applied by the antagonist should bend, but never break, the hero. There should always be one, and only one, helpless person in the story, and that’s the reader.

“If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To be a successful writer your readers must trust you. It is easiest to gain your readers trust when you write about your area of expertise. Why? Because you actually know something about the topic your are writing about.

If you don’t have an expertise then start reading and writing about a topic, it is the best way to develop and show off your expertise.

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”- William Wordsworth

If you don’t love what you are writing about then no one else will either. If you are not excited about your writing why should I be? If you are passionate about your writing chances are you will be able to find passionate readers for it.

Jacob

“Write without pay until somebody offers to pay.” - Mark Twain

When you first start writing it is hard to decide where to begin. Don’t spend too much time trying to figure it out. Just start writing about something you love. If you love what you are writing about your passion and energy about the subject will naturally come out.

If you can’t figure out what you love then write a blog post about how perplexed you are. Writing about confusion is much more therapeutic than simply sitting about pondering your predicament. Writing about your writing problems will almost always help you overcome them.

Jacob