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

“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

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” - Anton Chekhov

Showing sets a virtual movie camera onto the scene. You as the writer then record in words exactly what it sees. Best of all, this “camera” can record not only sight but all five senses.

Writing “the house was creepy” is telly. It doesn’t reflect anything the mental camera recorded—it’s an interpretation all by itself.

Use physical details that express how creepy the house is. The shingles are askew and the windows smashed, with pointed shards still clinging to some panes. Cobwebs drape across the porch. Add sounds and smells that send a chill up the reader’s back.

Telling is fine for armatures, but when you need to capture your readers attention use similes, metaphors, and vivid imagery to paint a picture.

Jacob

Why do writers seek out other writers to critique their work? I suppose there are as many reasons as there are writers, but I believe the desire to be read ranks pretty close to the top. Without peer review, what eventually makes it to the printed page is little more than a silent scream. Writers must be read. It’s simple, it’s elemental, it’s required. I once read somewhere that a physician who diagnoses himself has a fool for a patient. I suspect the same thing applies to writers who critique their own work. We need someone on the outside looking in if we’re to grow.

As a writer I participate in both live session and online critiques. Before you accuse me of being a masochist, know this: the more I critique, the more skilled and diversified I become as a writer. The more I am critiqued, the more tolerant and appreciative I become of both the limitations and gifts of other writers I’m exposed to. Critique is a necessary and important part of any writer’s life who is serious about craft. Period.

There are significant differences in live versus online critique; the most obvious being it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever get beat-up in the parking lot for hitting “post my review” on a keyboard. It can be tempting to take cheap shots online, because, after all, it’s completely anonymous. I would caution you about that. The only person you’re hurting is yourself.

When you open your mind to constructive criticism, even though it stings a little sometimes, you learn things. Before you know it, you’re navigating your way through nests of dangling participles and clipping comma splices with the best. You don’t have to like another writer’s style or story content to critique it effectively if you strive to be objective. I guarantee you will learn something. In order to be a good critiquer, you must also be a good critiquee. (I’m not sure those are actually real words, but you get the point

Don’t become one of those people who delights in finding every little flaw and jumping on it like they’ve found a fly in their soup. Other people are going to critique the same piece. Leave a little meat on the bone for them. Look for the good and break bad news gently. “Suggest” changes rather than arbitrarily rewriting a person’s piece in your own image. No one likes a show-off or a line editor tampering with their “baby.” If there are strong and compelling reasons for suggested changes based on technique, grammar and mechanics, people will listen and they will thank you for it.

You’ll know you’re getting the hang of it when you realize you are learning at least as much critiquing the work of others as you are from being critiqued in return. Suddenly, slogging through those bothersome critiques isn’t such an onerous task. You’re discovering things in other people’s work you can apply to your own. Understanding dawns. Congratulations, and welcome to the difficult and rewarding world of serious writing effort.

Now for the bad news and the Achilles heel of online critique. There is no known defense against the drive-by critique. You know the type. Looking to have their own egos assuaged at the expense of others, they do the minimum. Spewing mindless platitudes, they pepper the “comment required” boxes like a Mac-10 with their vague and unsubstantiated garbage. Take comfort in the sure and certain knowledge that they won’t be around long. Good writing is hard work, and ultimately, they’ll want no part of it.
Writing is art and critique is the canvas. Some of us strive to paint masterpieces, others are happy with stick figures. All took the time to write something. Surely that deserves respect.

By Vance H. White
(darkeyes)

Vance H. White is a published short story author and award winning essayist residing on Northwest Florida’s Emerald coast. Vance divides his time equally between writing, pestering New York agents to publish his latest effort, and co-chairing a critique group of talented local authors.

The famed Jedi Master Yoda taught a powerful lesson about writing good sentences when he said “Do or do not, there is no try.” I have found five ways to not write a decent sentence.

1. Slow starting sentences delay getting to the point by sticking an “it is” or a “there are” in the way. Why would you ever write or say “It would be appreciated if you could pass the yams,” when you can clearly and concisely write “Please pass the yams.”
2. Cramped sentences are formed when writers connect a series of related sentences instead of just ending with a period. Shorten cramped sentences by focusing on one subject.
3. Overloaded sentences are riddled with excess words. Passive voice or redundancy is almost always the culprit. Be concise.
4. Pompous sentences are filled with big words and trite expressions. Take time to prove how smart you are by selecting a well-chosen verb rather than a clause.
5. Run-on sentences drag on and on, packing an entire paragraph of detail into one sentence. Short sentences are easier to understand than long ones. Readers prefer to chew on bits and pieces of information instead of an entire cow. Varying sentence length will make your writing more interesting to read. The best authors us long and short sentences.

Jacob

I have compiled a list of free online writing classes. Please let me know what you think of these courses as you complete them.

Introductory Writing Classes

• Introduction to Literature: In this introductory course, you will take learn about character development, imagery, poetic language, and more. [Western Kentucky University]
• What is Good Writing?: Learn what constitutes good writing and the importance of effective writing. [The Open University]
• Start Writing Fiction: Dive into character development, setting, genre, dialog, and more. [The Open University]

Creative Writing

• Poetry: Learn about the form and elements of poetry. [College of DuPage]
• Writing Challenges: Tackle a series of creative writing challenges. [Warwick University]
• The Creative Spark: Discover how to create your own creative process with this course. [MIT]
• Expository Writing: This course focuses on narration, critique, argument, and persuasion in autobiographical writing. [MIT]

Grammar & Language

• English Grammar in Context: Learn about the importance of grammar, features of speech, and more. [The Open University]
• Form and Uses of Language: Examine the different ways language can be used by studying the varied works of Siegfried Sassoon. [The Open University]
• The Syntax of Natural Language: Dive into the theories and technical aspects of grammar and language. [University of Pennsylvania]
• Introducing Representation: Learn how to use language as a way to convey thoughts. [The Open University]

Persuasive Writing

• Rhetoric: Learn the art and theory of persuasive writing. [MIT]
• Advanced Essay Workshop: Dive into an advanced study of rhetoric and prose style techniques. [MIT]
• Rhetorical and Critical Writing Assessment: Learn how to distinguish between fact, and fiction, and support a position. [Western Governors]

Copyright & Plagiarism

• Text as Property/Property as Text: Take a look at ownership, plagiarism, and lots of other moral and legal topics in writing. [Rice]

Social Writing

• Writing and Experience - Culture Shock! Writing, Editing, and Publishing in Cyberspace: Learn how to write for an online audience. [MIT]
• Writing and Experience: Learn how to write about differing social experiences. [MIT]

Jacob

Last December we asked you which features you wanted us to add to our writing group. The majority voted for writing lessons and analysis. We recently added writing lessons. You can see the current writing lesson on your My Account page or you can view the writing lesson archive. We are currently adding one lesson per month so the archive will continue to grow.

What do you think about these writing lessons? Do you like or hate how we have done the lessons? Why?

Jacob

Right now we are working on version 2 of the private writing groups. Our changes will make it easier to interact with the different groups you belong to. We are planning on building the automated writing analysis after we revamp the private writing groups.

When I was in Thailand I met a shoe peddler who claimed to have the hottest new shoes. When I inquired about the brand of the shoes the peddler enthusiastically replied “Nike by Adidas” while pulling a pair of shoes that had both the Nike and Adidas brands from under his shoe stand. When I think about these shoes I wonder if they can be considered original.

The word original makes me think of something fresh, inventive, or novel. Based on this definition I would say these shoes are original. It certainly took inventive and novel thinking to combine two competitors into this crazy product. But can a mutant creation that blatantly rips off original creators really be original?

Original products like original writing are hard to find. A lot of writers waste their time trying to combine their favorite authors into the Nike by Adidas perversion. I think François R. Chateaubriand best described what originality means in the writing community when he wrote “the original writer is not he who does not imitate others, but he who can be imitated by none.” While originality is difficult to achieve, I agree with Herman Melville who said “it is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”

Do you wonder if your work is truly original? Please join our writing community let your peers help you evaluate the originality of your work.

Jacob

by Annette Lyon

A recent discussion among some writer friends had some asking the question: “Is WAS a bad word?”

The talk had a lot of writers developing WAS-phobia, because face it, sometimes WAS is bad to use in writing. But why? And how can you get rid of it?

The answers are pretty simple. Using WAS isn’t always a bad thing, but often it is, because there’s generally a better (READ: STRONGER) way of saying what you’re trying to say.

Here’s some simple guidelines:

1. Find a case of “was” and chances are you just found a case of “tell” instead of “show.”

For example: Emily was embarrassed.

Pull out “was” and replace it with vivid details: Emily’s flushed cheeks, her desire for the ground to open up beneath her and swallow her up. Now the reader knows she’s embarrassed, because you just showed it. Search for instances of whenever your character WAS something, and give showing details in its place.

2. Yank WAS 90% of the time when it’s connected to an ING verb.

For example: He was sitting. He was talking. He was writing.

Just say: He sat. He talked. He wrote. Generally speaking, the plain old past tense is more effective. It’s a punchier, stronger verb form.

Sometimes you can find an even stronger verb altogether. Instead of walked, how about stormed, strode, or sauntered?

Once I did a search for “was” in a manuscript (most word processors can do this quite easily) and challenged myself to have no more than one “was” per page. This required me to find strong verbs. I amazed myself at the creative verbs I came up with!

3. Passive voice.

Passive voice happens when things are acted upon instead of doing the acting themselves. But stories and conflict are most exciting when your characters are the ones who act, so bag the passive voice whenever possible.

Example: The boy was bitten by the dog.

Instead, say: The dog bit the boy.

Make it direct. Passive voice adds words to sentences, and fewer words makes a tighter story anyway. Even better, show the dog biting the boy in a scene. Give us action and conflict!

If your WAS fits another category than any of the three above, it might be just fine. Don’t panic; you can keep it. But when in doubt about a stray WAS, try to get rid of it. There’s a good chance you can find a way to notch up your verbs and make your sentence stronger.

Annette Lyon is Utah’s 2007 Best of State medalist for fiction and 2007 Whitney Award finalist. Her sixth novel, Tower of Strength, will be released March 2009. She edits for Precision Editing Group and blogs at The Lyon’s Tale.