How to Give and Use Criticism
It has warmed my heart to see Authors Helping Authors expand in our membership and in our reviews. However, the rapid growth of our once little initiative has made me realize that despite how well the system - that I invented and my hard-working admins are implementing- is working. I realize some people need help trying to write criticism and need help using criticism. Thus, this forum thread with my advice on how to use this group's review system to the fullest.

By now, I hope that most of you people have had reviews... If not just give a random story a review and that'll probably get you a review back. But I digress.

Introduction on the Problems with Criticism
The problem with criticism in general and probably one of the reasons why Knighty dropped the bomb on TWE (formerly a review group whose chief aim was to seek out bad fics and give critical reviews of them, occasionally useful, but still with heavy negative connotations associated with the review), is that it can have positive and negative effects. A good critique, can help authors improve and provide the author an idea of how a reader thinks of his or her story. A bad one, can lead to the author losing confidence in his work, maybe in himself and possibly leading him to abandon it outright. More dangerously so though, any critique can have an adverse effect on an author's story, now matter how well written it is, but I shall explain on this point later.

How to Write a Better Review
Now the review for a review system I thought of, which I hope you are all familiar now (if not please check the main group page for rules), limits the amount of negative critique, while trying to provide constructive and criticism. Moreover, it only critiques people who have willingly agreed to be critiqued (I mean if you joined the group, you agreed to follow the rules right? If you joined and didn't want to be reviewed... the rules were on the front page yaknow?) Now sometimes, I have seen on reviews, is an inability to fill out the Pros and Cons sections. The following is a checklist for the Pros and Cons sections and will hopefully give you an idea of what to look for in a story:

Pro/Con Checklist
Is the grammar of the story accurate?
Are any canon characters represented well?
Are the OCs thought out, rounded (as in well-developed with flaws and strengths)?
How well has the author built his environment?
Point of view and tenses, is the narration consistent or does it jump around too much?
Anything you would like to see more about the story?
Anything you liked in particular about the story?
Was the idea original?
Was it a unique spin on an overused idea?
Is this MLP or is it what happened with Red Thrush Academy?
Are the emotions of the characters conveyed?
Do you like the story? (this may sound basic, but if the author got you to like the story... then that's still a pro)
Do you feel anything after reading this story?

There are more, but the above are some basic suggestions and pointers. Hopefully people will now be able to find more things to say about each other's stories. Additionally, if you are having trouble, step back from that bloody computer and take a walk. It works (darn I should listen to my own advice more often).

Now what happens if you find something rather fatal to the story... Let's say the plot doesn't make a single bit of sense. What do you say then?

Well I would tell them. If there is a major plot flaw, I would put it to them honestly, but as neutrally as possible. Do point out the flaw in the plot, but don't say it doesn't make sense or the author is not making sense, say that you can't understand it and would like clarification. Elaborate specifically on the thing you disagree upon. If the character is sue ish, tell them that it is appearing to be a sue, but not so bluntly, say that the character, though this this this, has sue like characteristics. Also, instead of pointing out the flaw itself, talk about how it can be improved. Eg. I would like to see what your character Black and Red Alicorn is afraid of, because of so and so forth. Be honest in your reviews, but be kind, understand that some authors have poured their life into their work, but remember, that if you don't tell them, someone else, maybe a not so friendly person will. Not to mention, you should be extensive in your reviews, even if you are not totally sure why you feel a certain way, point out that section and explain your personal reaction to the piece.

Using Criticism
Now to the main section this post addresses. How to use criticism. Unfortunately, there is NO SUREFIRE WAY TO USE CRITICISM!!! This section in itself is highly subjective, based on my own experience and may not be the most effective method. However, I hope it does come of use to those who are reading this.

Now when someone lets say I, gets a review on my story. Well first of all we go yippee because we never get commented on and even a comment is well received. You start scrolling down to read the review, I'll be using my own story Canterlot: Her Creation and Her Architects (please don't review this fic and expect me to give you one back!) as my example (the review itself is fictional though based on what someone did tell me)

This review is brought to you on behalf of the group: Authors Helping Authors
Name of Story: Canterlot: Her Creation and Her Architects
Grammar score out of 10: 8
Pros (list three pros)
Your original characters are extraordinarily well developed.
The portrayal of Celestia within your story fits within canon and yet period accurate.
Your world building is fantastic
Cons (list three cons)
Celestia's royal speech is off. You should be using Elizabethan English, but the speech you have now is inconsistent and not very grammatically accurate.
You have a said bookism problem as well as a lavender unicorn syndrome problem
You are using tell too much.

I didn't fill out the notes section because it's remarkably difficult to review my own story from a different point of view. However, I shall use this example to illustrate how a review, can be both enlightening, but dangerous.

Now usually, I don't know about you people, but I generally am more concerned about my cons rather than my pros. So I usually look at those first. Now I have three cons:
Celestia's royal speech is off. You should be using Elizabethan English, but the speech you have now is inconsistent and not very grammatically accurate.
You have a said bookism problem as well as a lavender unicorn syndrome problem
You are telling too much compared to showing.

How should I take these cons? Do I go and immediately correct the entire story based on these points?

NO ABSOLUTELY NOT

Whatever you do, do NOT do this. I mean it.

The problem with criticism, is that it's from one person, with a viewpoint. It is a viewpoint influenced by that person's own style and beliefs. As deeply as they have read your story, they cannot know your story better than you do. One may argue that they can because they have a different perspective, but remember, you are writing the story and they do not know what is in your head. Let me get into how I reacted to my criticism and how I would ask others to react to it:

Celestia's royal speech is off. You should be using Elizabethan English, but the speech you have now is inconsistent and not very grammatically accurate.
Now I admit, I understood I was off and I went oh crap. Immediately on my gdoc I began to change everything on Celestia's royal speech.

Then I realized... I made a mega mistake. While my reviewer's advice was accurate, I was too deep in the story to change this dialogue. My reader's already were too familiar with how Celestia spoke. Not to mention they actually liked it. For them it was part of the experience and gave them a good period feel, which my historical fiction required. And I had 'corrected' a whole chapter of dialogue, meaning I had to change it back. Lovely. So be careful. Even if it is a grammar mistake, if the grammatical error lends a specific feel or specific tone to your story. Aka someone talking too quickly, someone talking in ancient speech. Deliberate on HOW the change will affect the story and if it is necessary. Unless it severely impedes the reader's ability to understand the text, don't remove it. However, don't think that you can leave your commas out or periods out. Those are convention and unless it is for a specific purpose aka, ancient speech, or AJ accent, stick to convention as much as possible. In my case, I just stuck to what I was doing.

You have a said bookism problem as well as a lavender unicorn syndrome problem
Now this type of criticism, how do I use this? Well LUS (lavendar unicorn syndrome) makes it difficult for the reader to focus on specific characters and SB (said bookism) sometimes interrupts the dialogue. On the other hand, authors must consider the fact that if their characters are OCs... you're going to need some reminder of how they look like. Don't keep using the OC name or Canon character name in the same paragraph... that'd just be repetitive. Personally, I let off on the LUS, but still tried to remind my readers at times on how my OCs look like. I also tried to use more of "said" and less of the SB. Still, remember, to always consider how changing this would affect the story and whether you want this to be a highly descriptive rich story at a sedate pace, or a action packed adventure in which the action and the dialogue itself is more important than the state the character is saying it? For my story, it was quite adventurous, but rather character driven, so I used a combination of both LUS and SD, in order to keep the action, but keep the emotion.

You are using tell too much.
Show vs Tell. The mother of all bloody problems. Show is good, it helps build worlds from your character's perspective, but tell is faster, can be paced out better and allows for you to get in characters heads very quickly. This, is largely author's call and largely depends on context of the story and type of story. It also is determined on what the author is comfortable in the most and the situation the characters are in. So for this particular point, I took it with a grain of salt, but I did go over the sections to see if I did tell too much.

Now what do these criticisms and my reactions to them tell you? That I'm an ass who doesn't take the reviewer's comments into consideration? Please, no. I do. I sincerely read through them and I went through the sections that the reviewer pointed out. I also tried to consider the good and bad things about the review. The key thing I did, was apply my story and my motives, to the criticism. If you do not do that, you will be stuck, constantly changing your story to every review, but ending up with a story less your own and more of your readers. And if that's the case, the author can't be really called an author because he's listening to his readers to write a story... might as well be a collaboration!
Because whatever the reviewer has to say, the author ALWAYS has the last word. Remember that.

Wait, but sometimes the author IS WRONG.

Still, the Author, should always consider how changing the story to a reviewer's recommendation, will affect his or her story.

This does not mean you should disregard your reviewer's advice! They took time and effort to review your story and you should thank them for doing so!
What I am trying to tell you people, is to not make any hasty changes due to one review, think about what you are doing, then do it.

If you continue to do that, constantly reflecting on what you're trying to accomplish and comparing it to how others view your story, then you will be able to use the review system of this group to the max. You will be able to appeal to your readers, while keeping the goals of your own story constant

I hope this forum post has helped some people to give and use criticism better.

Yours sincerely,
vren55

Thank you for writing this user's guide. It is difficult to write criticism without coming off as a jerk, or not addressing issues to avoid hurt feelings. It is equally difficult to take criticism from another author, even if their points are completely valid. This advice guide helps clarify what we need to do as reviewers and as authors receiving reviews very well.

A good example might be the reviews I received for Guardians of the Hearthfire, while each review was different, their were similarities between what they thought should be added or worked on. I agree that you shouldn't change something based on one review however, if several reviews are saying the same thing. you should probably look into it.

Also this was a great thread, very informative. will take what you've written into account when doing future reviews.

An excellent guide this should help out a lot.

I totally agree about the writer having the last word, but something I noticed once my stories had collected several reviews... many of them were basically saying the exact same thing! Uh oh. If one or two readers have a problem with something that's one thing, but when almost every single review says your ending is muddled, or your pacing is off on your first few chapters... it's probably a good idea to make some changes.

632625 Then yes, do make some changes. But what the point of this thread is to remind people. THINK FIRST THEN CHANGE!!! Don't just listen to a single person, if you have consistent problem, then you might need a revamp.

632652 Actually, with my fics, I put a version number on the first chapter, so that if I decide to change something fairly major about it (expand it, total rewrite, delete a scene, etc.) early on, I do that, change the version number, and will write a blog letting people know about the change. Since I only have one published chapter, this is more of a plan for what I will be doing than a current practice, and for fics that are further along, it wouldn't work as well, but it's a way to let the readers know if there is a change, and what the change is.

632936 I would like to do that, but it's too late now. I'll lose too much of the feel.

632979 I got the idea from this guy: xTSGx

632278 Glad I could help

649403
So here's the thing: I like the general idea of the group, and I like the review template (I'm not as fond of it as I am of the group's premise, but I think that's mostly a knee-jerk 'I don't want to be married to it' thing), but I'm not particularly enamored of the idea of making people feel obligated to counter-review me. I wanna be more like "*fwoosh* Hi! I'm a Friendly Internet Stranger! Have a review! *fwoosh*" If I leave my fics out of the group folders and don't mention them in the reviews, do you think I could get away with just doing reviews?

1247716 I've just reviewed for people who I bumped into on threads, and stated at the end of my review "You don't need to review my story if you don't feel like it!"

Most read and comment, but rarely go full review mode unless something really stood out to them.

1247716

The counter review thing is really so that people who want counter-reviews on their stories get counter-reviewed. If you don't want to be counter reviewed, go ahead and drop one :D. The reason for that rule is to encourage people to give them.

If I leave my fics out of the group folders and don't mention them in the reviews, do you think I could get away with just doing reviews?

Yes, go on right ahead.