Guide to Criticizing
This is concidered part of being respectful to your fellow guild members.
Getting Critics1. Critic the work, not the writer. For example, you should never say anything like, "You suck as a writer." Instead say, "This piece has a very stereotypical plot line, the characters are one dimensional and are Mary-Sues, and there are lots of grammatical errors.
2. Try to say one positive things for every negative thing. However, there are newbie writers out there, and their work may not have any good points. You should end with some sort of encouragement. For example, "Keep practicing you will get better." This is overrode when the person specifically says, "Please be brutal" or "You can be as mean as you want" etc.
3. Try to give comments that are appropriate for the level of the writing. Good writers do not happen overnight, and there are steps to get to a certain level of writing.
4. Never just say "It was good" or "It was bad." After both of these sentences, there needs to be the magical word "because." For example, "It was good because the characterization of the main character is very strong."
5. You don't always have to give reasons behind your impressions. For example, "I felt very uncomfortable in the scene between the girl and the father. It seemed rather creepy."
6. Don't be afraid to let the writer know you are confused by a section. You need to tell them where ever you are confused or don't understand. They will need to know this so that they can correct the problem.
7. Don't be afraid to not give ways to fix the problems. Sometime this can be more damaging than helpful. Once reading your suggestion, they might not be able to think up of how to fix the problem in a way that is better suited for their goal.
8. A smile face is not enough. You are a writer; write something.
9. Don't be offended if they don't take your advice. It is their story not yours.
10. If the writer asks for input for a specific section of the piece, try to say something useful about it.
Receiving Critics1. You should always thank the people that take the time to read and critic your work even if it isn't useful.
2. Do not get defensive of your work. If they didn't understand what you were trying to do, then the writing isn't clear enough, and you need to revise it.
3. If you feel that someone is especially harsh when criticizing your work, you should report it to your Crew Member containing a link to the thread (the specific post preferably) through PM. If they do not respond withing 7 days, then you may PM a Vice Captain with the same information and that you have already tried to contact your Crew Member. If you say that you don't care if they are brutal about your work, you forfeit your right to report the critic to a Guild administrator.
