That's odd. I thought it was always better to imagine that everyone is there, sitting in their parents' dark basement and completely naked, fat and bald with hairy legs and asses. It's really hard to take seriously any negative input from people like that.
What has been seen cannot be unseen What has been seen cannot be unseen What has been seen cannot be unseen . . . *moans*
When writing a critique my main concern is to be as objective as possible and to stay away from absolute judgements. To do so I usually address specific points of grammar, syntax, or factual aspects that can be improved. As writing is largely an artistic expression and very personal I refrain making critiques just because I would have done differently because that isn't going to help the writer being critiqued.
Hi @Crazy-catfish, I felt exactly the same way you do when I joined this forum. I was terrified at the thought of giving critiques when I was really just feeling my way into writing. BUT all the above advice is very true, especially about learning from critiquing. I would trawl through tonnes of other poster's critiques trying to understand why they said what they said and it helped me immensely, not only for critiquing but for my own writing. The first few times you do it you're gonna be nervous, unsure, worrying that it's wrong, but remember, the more you do it the more confident you will become AND your honest opinion is NEVER a wrong critique ETA: I still read some stuff and think it's awful whereas everyone is praising the ass of it and I wonder how I got it so wrong. But it's just a case of personal taste, the same as when I read a published book by a famous author and think 'what a load of shit'. That book still sold millions so obviously someone liked it - again just personal taste, not that you don't 'get it' or 'understand it'. I've seen many many conflicting critiques on here, from (what I consider) well respected members which just proves my point that it's YOUR opinion that counts and not what is right or wrong.
Both of these things have probably already been said but they're always worth repeating. We don't expect our members to have like 5 years of critique-studies in college behind them when they come here. The important part is that you contribute what you can and help keep the workshop alive. Everyone starts out somewhere and we respect that. The workshop actually exists for two reasons, both for getting your work critiqued and for learning how to give critiques. So don't worry too much about it. Go out there, read something and give what you can. Anything constructive will be helpful, so think about what people have said in this thread and get cracking. Secondly, don't read other critiques on the item you are going to crit! Write your critique without even looking at any other crits. That way you will not be influenced to think things like "hmm, no one else mentioned this so I must be wrong", etc. Everything you feel can be improved should be mentioned, it doesn't matter if others see the same thing or not. That's the purpose of getting as many reviewers as possible: not everyone thinks in the same way and sees things from the same perspective. Good luck!
