I would be concerned that my middle age means that I don't know exactly what people of very different age groups would really find enjoyable in a book. I'm sure that there will be more similarities than differences. But if I'm going to review a book/story, are any suggestions I make going to be pushing the book/story in the direction that an old codger such as myself would like, and possibly actually make a book/story worse as far as teenagers are concerned?
There's really no right age to start critiquing! Everybody has a opinion on something which is what your giving and some of us younger people have some of the best advice sometimes.
It doesn't matter how young or old you are. You can be a good critic at any age. It's just that you can go from being good to being better the more you age. But not the age itself is responsible, rather all of the things you experience as time goes by. For example, this year I've read about twenty or so novels, most of them very good, and a couple of them rather disappointing. So, now I have at least fifteen more good models to judge a story against. At the same time, I've seen where things can go wrong in a piece of writing, so again, I can recognize these things more easily in whatever I critique. So, am I a better critic than I was a year ago? Definitely. Twenty novels better. And I'll be a better one next year.
Yes. But in addition, every time you read someone else's critique and every time you write one yourself you will learn something. Experience is more important than age (sometimes they are related, but by no means always!).
Glad to see this thread, because I'm 15 as well. One thing that I find funny a lot of the time is that adult authors often take things they may hear in the media, and use it as a teen's image when it is either an extremity or non-realistic.
oh my gosh do i hate English classes... and yet i am working on a novel. Well, I am sixteen so to answer your question Youniquee I say read read read -and read more. I have read mostly fantasy books and few of other genres but that doesn't mean i can't do basics on other stories. such as a situation when you read something that one character did, and it doesn't make sense. Go back and re-read first, but if it still doesn't ask questions. I have those situations a lot. for example: I had a character who had a "mind-link" with another character, and the first character supposedly died. They came back, and the second character knew they were alive through their "mind-link" despite the fact that they were far away. They met up and were happy yada-yada, but then suddenly the first character said they didn't have the mind link anymore. So i asked the question: how did the first character know the second character was alive if their mind link was broken to begin with? Editing equals opinion plus very careful connections to plot. (Gah i sound like a mathmetician...)
Well for me I think technique, style and grammar they can critique the same as adults if they have the experience, but with reviewing the story, I am not so sure.
