a critique is a review by a knowledgeable, limited audience

FICTION WRITING LESSONS, December 2006

A CRITIQUE IS A REVIEW
by zentao

A critique is neither an editorial service for the writer, nor a podium for the critiquer. A critique is a review...and be very sure and very careful what and when you submit your work for such review.

A critique is a REVIEW. It is an opinion OF the work. It points out the positive, the mediocre, and the negative aspects of a work.
A critique must be honest. It should never castigate nor denigrade, but neither should it "sugar-coat."
A critique should immediately point out if an author's work could infringe upon a patent or copyright held by another, common examples of which would be a work which mimics in all or in any part D&D or Disney worlds, words, and/or characters.

A critique is an evaluation of effectiveness and an opinion upon story, not a "this is how you do it" service. A critique should only point out a writer's weaknesses when he/she is blind to them. It is not fix-it medium or a venue to explain the how-to's of writing. That is what seminars and classes are for, with the onus on the writer to learn how to do it. The critique measures the writer's progress in learning the craft. It is not a forum for teaching the craft, and certainly not a "nitting session," a "book doctoring" or copy/content editing service. Critique is where you, the writer, learn where and how you fail by how LONG you hold your critiquer in your story, and how excited or disgusted they are by your effort.

Let's say, for instance, that your reviewer reads the first few paragraphs of your submission and the story doesn't hold them. Do they wade their way through to repeatedly point out how the writer failed in delivery, immediacy, showing verses telling, character development, grammatical knowledge...or a host of other issues? They can, but most will not and, I believe, should not.

Should it be a critiquer's duty to sit down and laboriously show the author the right way? That's not the reviewer's job. It's the writer's job to to go learn it for themselves when pointed in the right direction by the critique. It's only the reviewer's job to tell them they need help in one or another area, that is, to go take a grammar class or learn plot sequencing.

It is the reviewer's job to tell the writer where s/he succeeded and/or where s/he failed to hold them in the story — what worked, what didn't work, what was brilliant, what was only adequate, and what was deplorable. It is NOT the reviewer's job to teach the writer HOW TO hold the reader.

The critique is the venue wherein problems are identified; solutions are not presented. So, if a reader only reads part of the manuscript, that is because the manuscript

isn't up to par to hold that reader,

isn't the type of story that that critiquer should be critiquing because of style differences, or

it is a genre that reviewer just finds irritating and should not be critiquing.

A CRITIQUE IS NEITHER A SERVICE FOR THE WRITER, NOR A PODIUM FOR THE CRITIQUER

A critiquer should not use the vehicle of critique to provide themselves a podium from which to deliver their postulates and perspectives upon any given aspect of creative writing.

A critique is NOT a platform for the reviewer to demonstrate his or her expertise upon a subject. Nor is it a vehicle upon which they can establish themselves as a learned expert, using the material to launch a diatribe, their purpose to cultivate a following. A reviewer can quote rules of grammar and punctuation, but should never quote "rules of creative writing," because often more damage than good comes from such "dictums of absolutism." I've watched more writers lose their original voice, their raw, unimpeded vision, their uniqueness, by listening to others who spout off "rules of fiction." Best advice to the reviewer: DON'T.

I will, however, qualify that and say that if a reviewer wishes to provide suggestions for improvement, the reviewer should be very careful to provide it according to the needs of the work and aims of the author. Unless you know those intimately, best restrain your observations, keeping them to how the work affects you as a reader.

A writer/author should not expect a critique to provide them instruction or content/copy editing services.

A critique is not an instructional medium, nor a repair service. The reviewer is not your "book doctor" nor copy editor.

A writer should never expect a reviewer to "fix the work" or show "how to." While a reviewer may choose to point out one or two specific examples of grammatical and punctuation errors, it should never be an expectation. "Author needs punctuation or grammatical improvement" is enough. If there are but one or two specific kinds of faults, a reviewer may point out specific examples.

For instance, a reviewer may point out that the author has problems with comma splices, picking a particular example as demonstration and showing the corrected copy, but it is up to the writer to then research and apply commas correctly throughout their work. If the writer doesn't know his craft, he/she should either learn it or should PAY FOR the services s/he is too lazy to learn (Yes, I said lazy.)

Here's an old rule of thumb: A good manuscript has no more than:

one comma splice or fault per page (250 words),

one SLIGHT grammatical error per chapter (2000 words),

zero to one content error per story (80,000-120,000 words),

zero places where the reader falls out.

If you haven't gotten your manuscript to that point, you shouldn't be submitting it, not for review to anyone outside your working circle of co-writers and certainly not to an agent or editor.

JADING EYES

Submitting a manuscript, even to your circle of peers, should be done very judiciously. Once a work has been read, the reader's eye jades, so you lose your fresh audience, something very important for achieving a final, polished, successful manuscript.

SUGGESTED READING: Don't Listen to Dummies

© Copyright 2006 zentao

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