Reviewing Stories, Poems or Novel Chapters

If you're a new reviewer, and you can't figure out what to say, just say how it made you feel and what you took away from it. Anyone should be able to do that much, and the author can learn a lot from that alone. The rest of learning to review will come with time and practice and reading the reviews of others. F. John Sharp

After joining the site, I felt a little intimidated about reviewing other people's work. I didn't know how brutally honest I should be, as I was worried I would hurt the writer's feelings. But the more I critiqued, and the more my own stories were critiqued, I realized that we are all interested in improving our craft. And that means being honest with our crits…" Melissa Marsh

You’ll be doing a lot of critting around here, so relax, dive in, and learn as you go. Confidence will come in time, and no one will hold a less-than-spectacular crit against you.  The most experienced critic has bad days. Brendan McKennedy

Sometimes the best critique comes in the form of questions. Asking the writer to explain, or to think something through, or to question their own work is sometimes the best way to help them hone in on their real intent for the story. Carolyn Agosta

The type of crit that is most useful to me is one where the reviewer explains where they were confused or taken out of the story. That's my main goal, to keep the reader "in" the story at all times. Leslie Irish Evans

For a good idea of what a writer wants in a crit, read that writer¹s own crits of other pieces. When in doubt, go ahead and ask: "Is there anything in particular you’d like comments on?" Brendan McKennedy

I generally consider a story successful if it presents a character overcoming a challenge. Most of the time I'm concerned with:
-- Whether the beginning of the story draws me in and keeps me reading.
-- Show vs. tell
-- General plausibility of the action and plot.
-- Holes in the story.
-- Whether the ending provides a satisfactory resolution to the core conflict.

Steve Frederick

When I critique a story, I print it out and mark any line edits and note
some of my first impressions. I read it again before I write my full
critique to determine whether I missed something. Steve Frederick

BEFORE I write a critique, I read the story twice. It's easy to miss
something and have a completely inaccurate idea of the story, which makes the critique totally useless. Carolyn Agosta

Make your critique as specific as you can. Use clips from the story to illustrate your point. Don’t reproduce the whole story, but cut and paste portions as needed.

The most helpful reviews I've gotten are the most thorough; those that cover everything… The least helpful are those that are critical but with nothing to provide feedback ("Didn't care for the story. In fact it sucks.") Glenn Osborn

The most useful critiques have almost always been the tough ones, the picky ones, the ones that drove me nuts as an author. The complimentary ones are nice to get, but all they do is make me complacent, instead of making me challenge myself. Carolyn Agosta

Keep the comments about the work, not the individual. Reviews should try to answer the question, "What's good, or not, about this piece?" not "Am I a good writer?" If you are familiar with the writer's body of work, it's fine to compare things, or note growth. But in general, try to keep the review focused on the workshopped piece.

Whether or not I use them, suggestions always jumpstart my revisions. Often it takes another writer to show me there are other approaches to what I¹m trying to accomplish. Brendan McKennedy

Offer something positive with your criticism. Reviews don't have to be about praise, but the writers here are all human. Even if you don't like the story, it probably had a paragraph or an image or something in it that you did like, and if so, mention it. If you liked everything about the story, say so, but be sure to include anything you think might improve it.

"If I really like a story, it's hard not to just say "Great!" and leave it at that. But then it's a comment and not a critique. I can only liken it to asking a friend if you have spinach on your teeth. You do expect them to tell the truth. So even if I really like a story, a critique has to look at any little weak spots and point them out." Carolyn Agosta

Reviewing gets easier as you do more of it, and you'll learn from the reviews of your own work, too. Workshopping is the heart of the site, and your thoughtful reviews will be appreciated - and probably returned!