Young Writers Society

I've got a couple questions about critiquing etiquette. Please feel free to add your own questions.

First: how do you gracefully critique a piece that is clearly very emotional and personal to the writer? This differs from generic emo poetry because the author is writing about something intensely personal. How do you give the crafting feedback they need (eg: forced rhymes for the lose, whatever) while still being extra-sensitive to the fact that this is a very personal poem? (Or, do you just critique it like you'd critique any other emo poem?)

Second: how do you critique friends, especially friends who aren't "hard core" writers? I think we can assume anyone on YWS is expecting honest feedback, but what about friends who write a little bit and ask you to look over something personal (as opposed to a school assignment, which might not mean as much to them)? Are you as harsh as usual, or should you tone it down in the name of friendship?

1. I would complement the writer on their use of emotion, and then critique it as normal.

2. If a friend wasn't serious about writing, and didn't want harsh criticism, I wouldn't give it to them. I think I'd just casually talk about what I like, and what I think they could improve upon.

I hope that helps!

1. Critique it as you would normally but perhaps be just a touch more careful not to be offensive and such.

2. If they're your friends, you know what they can take. Usually, give them a normal, constructive critique but if you know they're perhaps a bit sensitive or in need of a confidence boost, tone down the harshness a little but still be critical and point out the weak spots. In fact, try not to remove any of your comments on what's bad and what needs improving but emphasise what you liked about it and which parts were strong.

1. If it was well written, I would have no reason to knock it. I've written a piece on something serious to me, close to me, and I expected them to critique it like they normally would. Just because it is close to my heart doesn't mean I want it ripped apart, but everyone isn't that way.

2. I don't. I don't have a lot of friends, and the one that I do have that does write refuses to let me look at anything she writes. She's very shy about it. I think she isn't too extremely serious about it, she's just working into it. She also realizes how extremely serious I am with it, so she might worry about what I have to say. I tried reading her work once, then she kicked me off the computer, and it was....not very good. But I didn't say anything to her. Though, my online friends, the people I'm very close with who write, I try to be as honest with them as I would be to a stranger, if not more so. My friend isn't used to criticism, since she hides what she does. Everyone else begs for errors.

Firstly, when critiquing steer clear of thinking of it as from the author's POV, but as the narrator's POV. We, as writers, do put a helluva lot in our work that is us, but still a a piece of writing is from the narrator's point of view. True, you can talk about writer's choice, and all that.



Secondly, be honest. Be be honest!



Ta,
Cal.

Cal makes a fine point. In poetry, you should try to refer to the "narrator" of the poem as the "speaker", not as "you" as if you were referring to the writer.

I know that sometimes people write because someone they loved died or left them or moved away, but I also expect that a person completely consumed by grief would not be posting their work on YWS. Writing can be very therapeutic, but some of it is best left in the diary; of course, we still see stuff like that in these forums. But I think that if a person truly wanted to share a poem he or she wrote about a loved one's death, that person would think twice about posting it here. As Suz said, it's still writing and she'd want it ripped apart anyway. I think if I ever wrote something along those lines, I'd make it the best it could possibly be in honor of that person.

Yes, a very tricky question.

I know emotion plays a big part of the story. So their advantage is that they know what they mean, they know what they're saying.

But then again, if it sucks, it sucks. If you sympathize with them, tell them so. Tell them that it's good that emotion is a driving force in the story, which makes it even more personalized and realistic, well-rounded.

If it's intensely personal, it's best to tell that you see their point and you can sympathize with them, but they need to let it all out, so that it gets totally out of their system, because right now they're just skimming the surface. And if it is intensely personal and everything, who CARES about line breaks and all that junk? Writers should be left to their own ingenuity, especially if they're writing about something they know.

And for friends? Uh... don't?

1. No different than I critique anything else.

2. I realize this might be difficult for others, but for me I'm almost the same in person as I am over the net. If it's bad, I'm going to tell you. Maybe that's why my friends spare me their writing. ^_^

It seems as if people should think about that before they even submit their stories...if they don't want to be critiqued, why do they submit them in the first place?

That being said, yes, gentle honesty is the best way to go. Some of the best critiques I've gotten were fairly detailed and very honest, but nice, pointing out the good things as well as bad things about a story. Some of the worst ones (worse being non-useful): "ths ws gr8 ur the bst!"

So I guess a good critique just depends on what the person is looking for. If I'm looking to improve my writing, then just having somebody be nice, walk on eggshells and not point out anything bad is not a good critique. I guess a 'good' critique is not an objective thing.

Oh, bugger, somebody stop me. I'm wandering all over the place aimlessly here. Hopelessly somebody gets the picture.

~Mademoiselle Kool

(1) Like others said, avoid personalizing it: don't project the author onto the narrator. Just remember to look at it objectively. Though this should be so in whatever you crit, I think it's especially true for more personal poems. I don't think that you should be overly sensitive because that's just false to what you as a critiquer should be doing, which is to give honest feedback to the writer for improvement. If they didn't want people to critique and if they didn't want to improve what they've written, they shouldn't've posted in the literature forums. That's what a blog is for. (Can't say this enough. Especially to people who complain when someone's been too harsh)

(2) I don't critique friends anymore. They just get mad at me XD Especially if they think they're hardcore writers. Though how you consider yourself a hard core writer without being able to accept criticism (I criticise nicely; I promise ^_^) is beyond me.

Though that begs the question: if your friend asks you to look at something and it is royally horrid, what do you say? I don't mean the general "just be honest" answer, but what words would you use to tell them?

In response to Melja: Well... I suppose, talk about it like you would speak to a person about a book you both read, and they've dedicated their life to loving it, and you thought it was the most boring thing in the world. Lie? Or.. half-truths. In the end, I just avoid it. >< I'm too honest-anti-sugar-coating with my friends to tolerate that.

So kool brings up a point. If you don't want a critique, don't post it. Some people look for compliments, but a critique implies that they will find a way for you to improve as a writer and to improve the story. Which also means something in it must have been bad [in their opinion]. Some people just don't know what they are looking for....