Critique is ...

[CharleyH]

what?

 

[Guest]

oh sorry i read clit***

*runs back to lesbian thread*

 

[Liar]

what?

Indeed. You tell me.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

And yet another Charley thread starts with me feeling one step behind.

 

[rgraham666]

Critique is helping someone improve their work, by pointing out where it could use improvement and praising where they've done well.

Commenting on the weak spots should be done with a gentle touch. I don't think lacerating another person's ego is a good way to help them.

 

[CharleyH]

Indeed. You tell me.

What? YOU of all people do not know? Fine let us critique? I will put one of mine up for it. I would enjoy any take on this thread. LOL Will you put up a story of yours for review? (We both know the same ) No one reads.

 

[Guest]

“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post what it feels about dogs.”— Christopher Hampton

 

[WARNINGWARNING]

“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post what it feels about dogs.”— Christopher Hampton

Wuz Christopher saying that writers are dumb as posts?

 

[Guest]

Wuz Christopher saying that writers are dumb as posts?

______

I think Christopher was suggesting to people like you that you should ask a lamp-post.

 

[WARNINGWARNING]

______

I think Christopher was suggesting to people like you that you should ask a lamp-post.

AH!
He's kinda cryptic about it, then.

 

[Guest]

______

I think Christopher was suggesting to people like you that you should ask a lamp-post.

Hey Manxie.

 

[cantdog]

Critique is


seldom called for


, many times, most useful


what I once wanted more than rice pudding itself


an arrogance

 

[Liar]

What? YOU of all people do not know?

I know what critique is, I don't know what your question was.

Still don't.

 

[matriarch]

what?

Dictionary.com says........

1. an article or essay criticizing a literary or other work; detailed evaluation; review.
2. a criticism or critical comment on some problem, subject, etc.
3. the art or practice of criticism. –verb (used with object)
4. to review or analyze critically.

[Origin: 1695–1705; < F < Gk kritik the art of criticism, n. use of fem. of kritikós critical, skilled in judging; r. critic]


I reckon I go along with them, and they put it better than I ever could.

 

[impressive]

what?

Depends on the audience.

Critique targeted toward a buying audience is far different than critique targeted toward the artist. They serve different purposes. One is commercial. The other is constructive (and only indirectly commercial).

 

[ChilledVodkaIV]

Left or as the northern translated French might say Cack. (Namular Analysis dot com)

 

[Minervous]

.....

 

[FallingToFly]

Something I entrust to those who don't love me, or have the ability to be objective despite liking me as a person.

Something I try to do with friendliness and a supporting attitude.

Utterly useless when given by or to most people.

 

[gauchecritic]

Something I try to do with friendliness and a supporting attitude.

And that's where I get my name from. I can't do the supporting thing but neither can I do the 'this stinks' thing. I chicken out if it stinks and say nothing at all.

The supporting thing is two-fold humiliation.

'I really like the part where you liken falling tears to rain on shingle."

Shit, you should be doing that as a matter of course, without thought and my telling you that you did it is pointless and vapid.

And now I've run out of things to praise because that was the only good thing in the entire work and it was average at best.

You had one phrase out of two and a half thousand words that I actually remembered.

If you have to search for something nice to say, don't bother. It doesn't help.

Another site I frequent has the guidelines for critiquing as 'Point out two good things for three bad' (or something like that) I very rarely leave critiques on anything there. Other people leave things that say "I really enjoyed this piece and want to find out what happens next." On really bad pieces of writing. They lie. And they don't help.

Now point me to a troll thread so I can complain about the scoring system.

 

[cantdog]

I have to be in a mood to try it. It's a detached yet superior mood. I don't think of it as myself at my best, actually.

There's a big difference between a structural proofread, which I will undertake without a mood, and a genuine critique. Dangling phrases and clauses, run-ons, comma splices, paragraphing issues, overdescription, tenses, usage, syntax-- this sort of thing I can tell people about without batting an eye. But thematic things, character devcelopments, and the like-- for those, I need the curled lip and half lidded eye of the Superior Mind.

I have little patience with people who make remarks about that sort of thing with regard to my work, either. I'll only take it from superior minds, as I perceive them, that day.

 

[Guest]

.....

 

[elsol]

Someone's opinion.

 

[S-Des]

what?

Important to growth. For me as a writer, I have found a number of very tough critics (readers and authors) who look over my work and beat the shit out of me before I submit it. Once it's submitted, I try to keep an open mind when people have a point to make. I said on another thread that someone sent me a 1500 word email about my first story, pointing out a number of perceived flaws and asked me to explain why I had my characters behave that way.

I sent back a lengthy response that acknowledged some mistakes I had made and some assumptions I had made (things happening that were never mentioned in the story, but that I thought were obvious enough to not need). After telling him I would eventually be doing an edit on the story to correct the mistakes, he asked me to send the completed work back to him so he could see it (I asked him if he was interested in doing so).

Never in the series of emails did he tell me how wonderful I was or how much he loved my work. He didn't need to. It was the second time he had read the story end to end and it moved him to make such a lengthy and detailed critique. That told me everything I needed to know. It was very flattering and extremely helpful, both to fixing that story and to not making the same mistakes on future work.

To me, that's what good critique should be. Some good, some bad, with an air of professionalism. As a teacher, I have to critique students who range from 10 - 50 years old. There is a good way and a bad way to approach critique. Then again, if it's your goal to entertain yourself by making someone else feel bad, I guess you'd approach it differently.