by R. M. Ziegler

Created on: September 16, 2008   Last Updated: August 19, 2011

What critiquing is not:  Critiquing is not criticism. The purpose of a critique is not to find fault with an author or to judge the merit of someone's work. At first glance it appears there is a fine line between criticism and critiquing. The basic difference is that critiquing is constructive whereas criticism is basically negative. Critiquing requires showing areas of weakness, but it will also point out areas of strength. A critique is not a method of puffing up one's ego while slamming another writer. Sometimes a critique will come across to the writer as negative and no matter how positively or well-written, there may be some bruised egos. I think this is why the perspective of both the writer and reviewer need to be discussed before moving on to the technique of critique.

PERSPECTIVES

The Author

You've spent days, months, or weeks on your piece, or perhaps you've written your piece during one sitting amidst a burst of inspiration, and now you're eager to share your work with others. It's always a good idea to get feedback on your work before submitting it for publication, so you can fix any flaws. Sometimes we fall in love with our work, or we've worked on it so long we missed typos or inconsistencies. We can also find out the strengths in our stories which we can use in future work. But what happens if a critique isn't what we expected? I usually focus on the negative comments, no matter how generous other comments might be. Positive feedback is nice, but it doesn't tell me what's wrong with the story before I send it to the big bad world of editors. Positive feedback is good. Enjoy it. Also, learn from the flaws that have been pointed out to you.

Sometimes when you read a critique, you'll react defensively or might even get angry. Your first thought might be like that of an overprotective parent. How could he/she say that about my baby? It's a natural reaction. You've worked hard to write and polish your story.

You don't even have to change anything based on what your reviewer said. On the other hand, if ten people point out a flaw, it might be worth a second look. Always remember, thought, the story is yours, and only you know how it ought to be written. Another thing to remember is that a critique is a review of the story that particular storyand it's not an attack on you or your writing talent. There may be some reviewers who gain some type of satisfaction from slamming other writers in order to stroke their own egos, but they're usually easy

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