myaru | Entries tagged with public: critique

Last in the series. Take a look at the opening explanation if you haven't already. What I define as critique/concrit might not be what you expect if you've been pointed here from a fandom source.

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Obviously, there's no such thing as a perfect critique. But I wrote three entries about critique habits I hate. My suggestions for good critique habits are in there, but perhaps harder to find than my complaints, so it's only fair that I take the time to outline them more clearly.( Read more... )

Crossposts: https://myaru.livejournal.com/850947.html

Take a look at the opening explanation if you haven't already. What I define as critique/concrit might not be what you expect if you've been pointed here from a fandom source.

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The message here is, essentially: consider why an author has decided to show their work to you before you comment.

Imagine you have just finished a story or article you’re proud of. You take it to your nearest friend or reader, ask them to have a look at it. What do you think? you may ask. You might be interested in their initial thoughts, or maybe you just want someone to see what you created. That’s okay, by the way.

Instead of delivering a few comments, your reader launches into a full-on critique of the work, complete with discussions on how it can be improved. That’s awesome, because we want our criticism to be delivered with ideas on how we can address the problems being outlined, right? Right.

However… maybe you weren’t ready for that level of commitment. There is a difference between asking for someone’s opinion and asking for a critique. ( Read more... )

Crossposts: https://myaru.livejournal.com/850829.html

Take a look at the opening explanation if you haven't already. What I define as critique/concrit might not be what you expect if you've been pointed here from a fandom source.

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Continuing with the theme introduced in the previous post - critique as a way of helping the author as well as oneself - we have what I call the "stream-of-consciousness critique," or the practice of taking notes as you go along and dishing that out to the author.

Like I said, the most well-meaning attempt at critique can be unhelpful at best, and destructive at worst. This is one way a critique can be misleading without the critic realizing how or why. ( Read more... )

Crossposts: https://myaru.livejournal.com/850630.html

Take a look at the opening explanation if you haven't already. What I define as critique/concrit might not be what you expect if you've been pointed here from a fandom source. Granted, I'm several years out of date on fandom, so who the hell knows. Maybe now I'm preaching to the choir/totally wrong.

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Critique and "constructive criticism" are--in my experience--contentious topics in online writing communities. I'm speaking mainly of fandom groups, but not just those. You could say I have ~feelings~ about it that I’d like to express in a pointed fashion. While I have never received a deliberately hostile critique, I have had several critique experiences that I found less than helpful, for reasons that I think can be fixed with some consideration from both parties. When you offer a critique to an author, I assume you’re doing it because you want to help them. I know I do.

So let’s be helpful! I’ll start the series off with an obvious point, which a whole lot of people still miss. Not everybody, just… a number of people that isn’t negligible.

Give the good with the bad when you critique.

No, this doesn't mean you should praise the author. (For some reason, this is always the first assumption. Why?) It means you should bring attention to the good things about their story in addition to the bad things.

( Read more... )

I highly recommend taking a look at that Zen Habits article if you offer critique in any context. It's perceptive and definitely worth reading.

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Crossposts: https://myaru.livejournal.com/850242.html

So, a while ago--maybe like, two years ago? Ha--I promised a post on critique. It turned into four posts, which I wrote some time last year to experiment with content marketing techniques. I needed something to talk about, and well, I have wordy opinions about critique that I firmly believe are the right ones, and I'm not going to let reasonable arguments get in my way!

However, since the series was originally written for a class exercise, the style is a little different from what I normally post on LJ/DW. I don't think it needs rewriting otherwise, so I'm slapping it up as-is. If you think it sounds arrogant, try to remember two things: 1) it is, ~~and I'm not sorry~~ which you should expect by now, and 2) you don't write the kind of article I was experimenting with unless you intend to sound like an expert. Based on my studies, it doesn't seem to matter whether that expertise exists or not. :P

Unfortunately, I've spent so much time in fandom that it inevitably crops up in my examples when I address things I don't like. Almost all of my fandoms have, at some point, had ugly fights (usually via anon-meme) about the right to deliver concrit and the obligation of writers to listen to their reviewers or have specific aims for their writing process. And I definitely have opinions about that.

Also, something to be aware of:

In this series, critique =/= fic reviews.

Confusion on this issue has cropped up in the past, so I want all readers to understand that I'm talking about a formal review process--the type you usually see in writing classes, circles, and so forth. I'm not suggesting that this process be applied to your average FFN/AO3 review. If it's applicable to anything fandom-specific, I guess you could draw parallels between this and the beta process, although again, it's been a long-ass time since I had a beta for my fan fiction. I do eventually criticize the point of view that cropped up in those anon memes, and I do it precisely because those commenters seemed to be equating the two types of feedback when talking about the importance of listening to their reviews, and in retrospect I don't agree.

tl;dr, this is the kind of topic that starts arguments. May as well get the most obvious potential misconception out of the way. I'm trying to define the good and bad things about serious critique, not just fic reviews or related concrit, but it comes up.

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02.11.2018:

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