Young Writers Society

YWS is full of all kinds of literary works. Some of them are about topics that are sensitive, possibly deeply personal to the author (and maybe explicitly deeply personal to the author).

What are your thoughts? What is your advice on reviewing such works without offending the author, especially if it's someone you don't really know? (And does a review on such a piece have to contain condolences, sympathies, or things you might find on a mental health informational pamphlet?)

Liminality wrote:Liminality's post

I think, one must first remember the fact that there is no objective or "perfect" way of reviewing any form of literature - it's all subjective to the feelings evoked in a person by reading it.

Secondly, we are the "Young" Writers Society, and most of us who have - well - gotten into literature want to express our feelings in a way we otherwise couldn't have. I myself, personally, am not too critical of any work I review (that's probably a fault, to some extent). But, I don't think the person one reviews a work of will be offended if you do not sympathise with them, but they will certainly feel better.

That's all I have to say.

@TheRebel2007 Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Yeah, I suppose avoiding being too criticism-focused is a good idea. I don't personally think that I give that many criticisms per review myself. My criticism section might look long, but that's mostly because I'm rambling or explaining myself or hedging or offering different options and alternatives. But I could definitely see myself editing it to make it short to avoid having that effect of seeming too critical.

Thanks again!

This is an interesting question! And relevant, I think, since I've seen and reviewed a lot of vulnerable poems on pretty serious/sensitive topics.

I think I would feel very awkward or apathetic if I were to just jump straight into a review without some kind of acknowledgement of the sensitivity of the piece. Usually this includes three parts for me:

• acknowledge that the experience or issue they're writing about is difficult, unpleasant, or otherwise sucks
• thank them for writing about it
• express some kind of appreciation about the fact that they felt comfortable sharing the experience or their perspective on the sensitive topic with the site

Boiled down to its shortest form, it could be something along the lines of "hey, this thing you're writing about is really tough—kudos to you for writing about something so sensitive and I'm glad you feel comfortable sharing it with us."

If it's something I have personal experience with, I might include a brief (and very surface-level, not triggering) anecdote or indication of my connection to the topic. I think when you're sharing something vulnerable it's just really nice to see people expressing that they connect to the experience and you're not alone.

Do you have to include these things? I don't think so. But for me it's the most natural transition into actually reviewing the piece, and a bit more compassionate than simply ignoring the emotionally charged aspects of the thing you're reviewing. Especially on a site with a young target audience—I think when you're young, the reaction that you get to sharing something vulnerable is pretty impactful.

Of course there are different levels to how far you want to take this, and sometimes really intense reactions are counterproductive or emotionally draining to receive. I personally don't feel comfortable taking on a super validating, personal role when responding to someone's experience on the internet, especially if I don't know them particularly well. I don't mean I aim to apathetic or distant or invalidating—I guess for me there's some kind of middle ground? But it doesn't feel like my place to say that, simply based on a poem or essay or novel chapter they've shared, that I now understand their experience and have all of this meaningful stuff to say to them about it.

So I guess my rule of thumb is that, if it's someone I don't really know, I include an acknowledgement of how difficult and emotionally heavy the topic is to experience—and subsequently write about—but I don't dwell on it too much or try to provide personal support/advice. Reviews are primarily for reviewing the merits and shortcomings of a written piece, not necessarily for discussing the validity or difficulty or complexity of the topic being covered. (I guess if you feel compelled to talk about those things exclusively, then maybe comments are the better spot for that.)

I think I rambled around the point a bit here, but hopefully some of this makes sense!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and tips @Hijinks! These are insightful and helpful to me. Taking a balanced position or middle ground sounds like a good idea. I guess it's something to work towards before I start reviewing personal works!