How to Give a Good Critique

Mastering the art of giving a good critique is a skill that can elevate your professional and personal relationships. It's about striking the right balance between honesty and empathy, and understanding the power of constructive feedback.

Understand That Critiques are for Improvement

When writing a critique, don’t approach it with the attitude of finding ways to tell someone that their writing is bad.

• Think of it as a place where you tell someone how to improve from their mistakes or the places they are lacking in.

Don’t Critique Something You Dislike

The purpose of criticism is to offer your perspective of things that went wrong or are lacking

• Don’t try to purposefully seek critique requests for stories you dislike reading
• Make your critiques objective and not let your personal enjoyment of a genre or liking of the writer factor into your criticism

Avoid Critiques of Word Choice

Unless the author has specifically asked for it, don’t get hung up over word choice or line edits.

• Sticking to the bigger picture is the best choice. This prevents the person whose work you’re critiquing to feel like their entire work is getting torn apart

Start With Something Good & Relate It

Find something positive to say, and start with that

• Including a compliment at the beginning of the critique can act as a motivating source for the person you are critiquing
• A common approach to making constructive criticism softer is to put it within a criticism sandwich
• Say something good, say something bad, and conclude with something else that’s good

General Questions to Think About

Language: Was the piece easy to read and/or understandable?

• Plot: Was there a plot to the story? Did you pick up on any plot holes? Were the sequence of events natural? Was there anything that confused you in regards to plot.
• Characters: Did the characters act realistically in the situations that they were in? Did they have distinct personalities or voices? How well-written was the dialogue? What’s one line that you loved?

Remove Personal Remarks

It’s easier for people to accept criticism when it’s not perceived as a personal remark

• Instead of making comments about the author themselves, critique their piece, work, sentence, paragraph, plot, characters, narrative, etc
• This allows your critique to be perceived in a kinder fashion

Source