Critique Guidelines

What should I look for?

If you are going to take the time to read someone's story and give feedback, please give more than just "great read" or "wow, I loved it." Granted, these are things that every writer out there hopes to hear, and yes they are nice, but tell more. When you read someone's paper take a look at:

Point of View

• Does the point that the story is told from, the POV ever shift?
• If it did change, there better have been a good reason, what was it?
• Was the POV chosen arbitrary?
• Did the POV get in your reading way some how or did it help?

Setting

• Do you know where the story takes place?
• What is it like?
• When is it?
• Does the setting seem to fit what ever the author is trying to convey?

Plot

• Plot = storyline.
• Is there a good Plot?
• Is there enough conflict?
• Does someone change?
• Are you interested in how things move through the story?
• Are there parts of the plot that fall flat and don't move you forward at all?

Characters

• Who's in the story?
• Are the characters interesting to you?
• Do the come to life off of the page or are they flat?
• Are the characters too stereotypical?

Description

• Can you see, smell, and touch the world that you are looking at through the window that the story opens before you?
• Is there too much/too little description of people, places, things?
• Are there descriptions that are just too caned, to cliché?
• Are the descriptions interesting and unique?

Dialogue

• Did you enjoy listening to the people talk to one another?
• Were there things that people just wouldn't say?
• Too much/not enough?
• Any place where you just wanted to say "yea, yea, blah, blah, blah, get on with it?
• Things seem stilted?

Style

• How did you like how the author put things?
• Wording funny or interesting?
• Anything in the authors style that got on your nerves?

Theme

• What's the point?