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To enlighten new members, and refresh the memories of our veteran members, below are some guidelines for the meetings set aside for reading and critiquing.
For those who are bringing work to read:
Notify the facilitator of: *what you are going to read, i.e.; genre, chapter, poem, short story. *the word count or number of pages. *which draft your work is, rough, second, close to final or final, etc. If you can notify the facilitator before the actual meeting via e-mail, that would be helpful. If you are unable to notify beforehand, that’s fine, just tell the facilitator as soon as you get to the meeting.
Provide a copy of your work either by email or hard copy at the meeting. This ensures your critiques are as productive as possible; some members will make notes on their copy and give it back to you for your convenient perusal. Should you choose to bring hard copies to pass out, it may be best to contact the facilitator to see if they have an idea of how many members or readers they are anticipating. Ten copies are usually sufficient as none of us mind sharing.
When reading your piece, give one minute, or less, of back story if you feel it’s vital to your presentation. This may prove necessary when you are reading an advanced chapter of a novel, other than that, your work should stand on its own. It is also perfectly okay to ask someone else to read your piece for you, but please make this arrangement in advance so your reader has a chance to familiarize themselves with your work for a smooth delivery.
When you’re done reading, sit back and accept your medicine gracefully. Being defensive helps no one. Make notes of the verbal critiques given you for later reference. Should you disagree with someone’s critique, just accept it and go on. If you have a question regarding someone’s critique, ask for clarification, and then move on. Remember we are all in the same boat; we’re striving to polish our stories and get published, or simply trying to make our work the best it can be.
When you are done, be gracious and let everyone move on to the next reader. We must be considerate of everyone else's chance to be heard.
For those critiquing:
Remember the reader is looking for constructive criticism. Take care to point out one thing you liked for each thing that bothered you. This is called sandwiching your comments.
Be specific about what did or didn’t work for you. It’s not helpful to hear “I didn’t like that” but it may be better to hear “I would like to see more of the surroundings in this scene, I couldn’t visualize very clearly”, or “I’d like to know more about your character and why he would do this,” or “I felt that word made me stumble, possibly another word would help it flow better, such as ____ or _____”.
Be honest and direct in a polite and caring way.
The rough draft is probably the most sensitive to critique. It’s really still in the idea stage, so punctuation and other nitpickies are unimportant in this phase of the work. Look for the idea; is the plot being laid out; is the scene being set; are the characters being rounded out and becoming real. Be encouraging, this is a new creation that needs sculpting.
Here are some sites that cover the art of critique. Please visit them for valuable input on how we can all help each other be the best.
http://www.6ftferrets.com/critique-content.html
http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~jonsmith/courses/engl236/critique.html
http://www.sfwa.org/writing/hc_critique.htm
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