To critique, or not to critique

[plonq]

Somebody posted a story to one of the mailing lists that I follow, and I'm thinking about critiquing it for him.  I say that I am thinking about it because I'm not sure how he will react.  It has been my experience that some writers in this genre are pretty touchy about getting back anything but praise.  ("If u HATED my story SO MUCH then why did u READ it?????")

The reason I am thinking of giving this one a critique is because of his comments at the end: "In the end i hope this to be a rather long story, maybee even get published by some small company, titled: A Journey Throught the Mind of a Furry... or something like that."

In its current form his story is not likely to even get read, let alone published.  It's apparently his first attempt, so I don't want to wade in and savage the poor kid's story, but he's managed to ignore some pretty fundamental elements of writing.  Here is a summary of what I am thinking of sending to the list:

1) Read this site.
2) Add some strategic paragraph breaks.
3) Repost.

Helpful Plonq wants to give some constructive feedback, but Grumpy Plonq doesn't feel like wading through a solid block of text to do so.

Comments

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

Grumpy Shockwave has had his tail stomped on often enough. Most new writers, unless they recognize that they aren't King yet, are super sensitive about their tentative steps into writing and can quickly get ugly. Even when they say they want critique, most either don't mean it or can't handle it. So I nowdays tend to shrug and say nothing about it. When I do try to critique, it's usually for someone I know can take it in the constructive sense intended. Rarely for newcomers do I risk trying anymore.

For those cases, I use what I call Critique Light - I mention one thing good about the story and then one thing bad about it. They can't think I'm beating them up then and they have (some) real data to work with instead of nothing. It's also shorter, a real time-saver for me.

[twoolfe.livejournal.com]

I'm with Shock on this. Critiques on my stuff were appreciated. Useful in improving. I did have one though that savaged one of my stories. It really got to me. It was one of the critiques that ignored the story per se, but took the writeing and style apart like a college freshmans first essay. I could have done without that one.
T.

[plonq.livejournal.com]

Ah, one of those stinging critiques that says, "There is probably a good story hidden somewhere in this tossed salad of words. I'd like to read it some day after you learn to write."

I had a friend who was pretty brutal in critiquing my work, and I got my back up more than once over his rebukes. The things for which he took me to task had been learned through the experience of having manuscripts rejected for those selfsame sins though, so I generally heeded his advice.

I learned later that he was virtually quoting verbatim from Elements of Style.

[plonq.livejournal.com]

I certainly don't want to mute his muse by stomping on his creative tail.

Hm. I think I know how I might approach this... (heads off to work on the critique).

[dronon.livejournal.com]

Maybe approach them first? Like "You said you wanted critique, and you should know that critique can seem pretty harsh, even though it's meant well. You sound like a new writer and etc. etc." Ask if they're prepared to take a hit to the ego and know what professional writing is like?

[plonq.livejournal.com]

I will don the kid gloves before I reply to him - though I suppose I should do that soon before the issue becomes stale. I am going to skip most of the critique and just suggest that he read Strunk's Elements of Style before he submits it to any publications or it might not even get considered. If you make an editor work to read your story he will just move on to the next one unless they are seriously starving for stories.

By the way, are you coming out to the meet on Saturday? I'm eager (and somewhat envious) to hear about your recent con-going experiences.

Ooooh..

[jarrodhenry.livejournal.com]

I'm a writer and an editor. More of an editor than a writer, as I like to see what other people come up with and help them polish it. That said, using Elements of Style is an awesome way to go. I live by that book in my writing and my editing.

Now.. as for whether to go mean or nice.. well, the meaner you are the more likely the lesson gets learned. If he really is serious about getting into writing, you won't be the last person to be mean to him.

Jarrod

Re: Ooooh..

[plonq.livejournal.com]

I'm a firm believer in what's preached in Elements of Style. In spite of his protestations, I pounded those tenets into the head of a friend who had good story premises, but was a lousy writer. Eventually he caved in to my nagging, and he hasn't looked back.