Question When it comes to reviewing...

So, I have a short story that I want critiques on and I just read that prior to posting it in the workshop, I need to review two short stories written by other users. No problem. My question is: are there any guidelines to critiquing others' work? Want to go about it proper. Also, second question: is there a word limitation for short stories posted here? Thanks!

 

@daringderek, thanks very much for asking, we like it when people double-check when they aren't sure.

The limitation isn't for short stories alone, you can feel free to critique anything anywhere within the workshop section. You could offer a crit on a poem by MemberX and a novel excerpt by MemberY and you'd be fine to post your short story once you've fulfilled your twenty posts overall, that is. Right now you've got six posts, so you need a total of fourteen more before the software will allow you to post a new thread in the workshop.

Remember that the "two for one" rule is an ongoing thing, not strictly a barrier to entering the Workshop.

But to the meat of your question, you need to make constructive critiques. Things like "Cool story" or "Not my style" don't cut it. Your critiques do not have to be positive, although you should always strive to be polite. "I really couldn't understand why Jennifer left the party with Jack. In the opening, you said that she hated him, but suddenly in paragraph three she's hanging on his arm" would be a good example of the short end of an acceptable critique. I'm an English teacher by trade, so the first thing I often go to is SPaG (often just SPAG), which is Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar errors.

As for the limits, there are no official ones, but generally a short story is considered to be less than 5000 words. In this forum, especially if you're new and haven't made many relationships, it can be difficult to get members to read and critique pieces of more than a thousand words or so. This isn't a rule, just a general pattern, since we're all up against our own lives and work.

Hope this helps, and if you have any further questions, feel free to ask.

 

I suggest you take a look at this post: Constructive Critiques. It will give you a general idea of how you might approach the idea of giving critiques.

 

I'll get this stuff down eventually.

 

Perfect, informative response! Thanks for this. I'll apply all of this to the best of my ability!

Thanks! I'll give this a look over.

 

As far as length goes, I've noticed that longer works tend to have fewer critiques compared to shorter works (and I also remember someone made a thread about this a long time ago). So if you're going to post a longer piece, it might be better to post a shorter excerpt. There is a good chance that any flaws you have in that short excerpt are also present in the rest of the piece.

 

Hate to bump this up, but I didn't want to start a new thread regarding our ability to post our work in the workshop. But...I've critiqued a few poems and short stories and still seem unable to post anywhere in the workshops here? I really wanted some feedback on this latest piece of junk honestly (haha) that I put together but I can't get enough credentials apparently to post.