Commenting can feel
like a test for writer and
reader alike.

Recently a commenter asked about commenting on other people’s work, and I’d been meaning to write an in-depth post about this. I’ve written before about commenting on others’ writing, and I recommend that you click that link and check out the tips I provide, including finding positive things to say and covering all the bases of language, story, and characters. But it’s been a while since that post, and it’s time to revisit this very tricky issue. Whether you are a creative writing teacher or a student in a class, how do you workshop others’ work? What are the big issues or pitfalls, and what topics need to be covered to create a thorough critique? I’ll cover some of the basics of workshop comments in today’s post.

1. Put yourself in the writer’s shoes.

What’s most important in this delicate situation is remembering how it feels to be on the hot seat yourself. It’s funny how as soon as we’ve made it through our own workshop, we immediately forget the agony, the fear, the gnawing self-doubt, the hyper-sensitivity to any comment that could be interpreted as an insult. We’ve dared to put ourselves out there, and as a result even the gentlest jibes can cut deeply. That’s why it’s important to remember how scary a position it is to be in.

It’s also important to remember what you wanted to get out of a workshop when you had your own work on trial. You may have enjoyed those workshops that were overflowing with praise, but personally after the pleasure fades from one of those classes, I’m left feeling a little empty, wishing I’d gotten more concrete advice on how to take this story to the next level, from good to great. Every story deserves both praise and criticism. Remember what you wanted from a workshop, and make sure you work hard to provide that experience for your classmates or students.

After the jump: how to do “the crit.”

2. Ask what the goal is, and help the writer reach it.

It’s important not to get too bogged down in the small details. A workshop discussion is often in danger of this: some small irritating flaw catches someone’s attention, and half an hour flies by as everyone piles onto it while losing sight of what the story really needs. Instead, keep your eye on the target here. What the writer really needs from feedback (because it is something he/she can’t do him/herself) is feedback about the feel of the story, the story’s perceived goal, and whether that goal was achieved. So how do you go about commenting on that?

Start by asking yourself while reading, what kind of story is this? As you’re reading along, you might find yourself saying, “Aha — now I understand this is a love story.” Or you might know from page one that it’s science fiction, or that it’s a satire. It might take several pages to get a feel for what type of road you’re walking on in this story. If you can’t figure it out at all, that’s certainly a comment to include — to tell the writer gently that you never felt like you knew where you were. If you do figure it out, though, it’s your job to figure out how well that goal is reached.

Every different type of story has different needs that must be met. If it’s a love story, you’ve got to feel like the two characters are real and have a genuine inner life. If it’s science fiction, the ideas or questions must be new and innovative. If it’s satire, some aspect of society must be questioned or made absurd in a new way. In your comments, tell the writer whether you thought those needs were met, and how he or she could do better to make you the reader on firm footing.

3. Did it surprise or challenge you?

While it’s good to have a story that follows the rules, that’s actually only half the battle for a good story. A good story makes us feel we’re on firm footing, then pulls the rug out from under us. A good story shows us a playing card, then flips it around and turns it into a bouquet of flowers. A good story keeps us guessing. A good story plays by the rules only just so far, and then breaks them.

The next thing you’ve got to comment on is whether the writer’s story challenged you in a way you had never seen before. If the story is only an adequate copy of a Raymond Carver classic, then it is still a failure, because you’ve seen it all before. In your comments, gently remind the writer that we’ve seen this premise before, and ask how he or she can make it feel new to us. That could mean fresher language, a new plot twist, or a new setting — whatever it takes to make the story feel as fresh as Raymond Carver’s did when they first appeared fifty years ago. In fact, Carver’s stories feel as fresh today as they did then purely because they have that something special in them — they continue to surprise and challenge, decades later.

So don’t be afraid to ask the writer point blank: how does this story surprise us? How does it challenge us? What can you do to keep it surprising? If you can guide the writer toward answers to those questions, you’ve been a helpful commenter.