Even if you’re an experienced critter elsewhere, it can be helpful to know what different features and styles of crits are available on Critique Circle. Here are some notes on how to crit and examples of crits authors have found particularly helpful.
Authors will sometimes mention in the intro Opening Notes that they are looking for a particular kind of feedback such as comments on character development, pacing, or final polish. You’re free to comment on anything you notice, but authors generally appreciate feedback on whatever they ask for, especially if it’s relevant to the draft stage they’re at.
For most stories in the queues, authors prefer inline crits where you click on the paragraph and then add your comments in the box that opens up. You can copy/paste a few words or a line and drag it down into the box to comment on it, but critters are encouraged not to copy/paste more than necessary to give your comment context.
Here are some examples of different crits:
Reader response feedback
The easiest, and sometimes most useful, kind of feedback to give is just what you’re thinking or what works or doesn’t work for you. Where do things seem to get slow? Where do you feel you’re getting bogged down in too much information? What is unclear or doesn’t make sense in the scene? Etc.
Charattata's crit
Jkrobin's crit
Tadennye's crit
Writing technique and style
The other thing most authors look for is feedback on the writing itself. This can involve anything from suggestions to tighten the prose, avoid telling, cut out repetition or redundancies, or anything else. There are a range of ways to do this, sometimes with “shorthand” notes, formatting, colors, etc. Completely rewriting a paragraph isn’t generally as well appreciated, but short examples of what you mean can be very helpful.
Tillieb's crit
Marisaw's crit
Miked's crit
Multiple reads
Most critters crit on the first read and then move on to the next story since readers will only read a story once. This is a fine process to follow, but some critters also like to read a story all the way through before they crit so they can comment on how the beginning fits with the end. This can also be helpful. The choice is entirely up to you. This crit also gives some good examples on clarifying what is or isn’t clear to the reader.
Lngwstksgk's crit
Later chapters
Don’t be afraid to jump into a later chapter in a novel. You probably won’t be able to comment on the plot, but you can still give valuable new insights on what you understand as well as the writing and coherence in general.
Ridan's crit
You can look around other crits of older stories, so feel free to look around there as well to see other crits people have done. Most importantly, have fun critting and forming new crit partnerships and welcome to Critique Circle.