Critiquer's name ____________________

Writer's name ______________________

Story title _________________________

 

Critiquer: please respond fully to the questions below. If you answer with a simple yes or no, you must elaborate and explain.

 

1. Write a brief initial response to the story: what do you especially like? What's working particularly well? What seems smart, imaginative, skillful, moving, etc?
   
2. Is it clear which option this writer is trying? What, specifically, is she/he practicing or experimenting with?
   
3. Any place where you simply get lost, can't follow the story's plot or reasoning, get characters confused, etc.? Go through the draft and mark those specific places with a comment.
   
4. Character Development:
   
• Are the characters distinctive? Can you tell each person apart from any other person, in or out of the story? Explain your response.
  
• Are the characters "round"? I.e., are they complex, nuanced, interesting, unpredictable? Explain your response.
  
• How are the characters developed? Briefly respond to each of the following:
  
  • Exposition?
  • Internal monologue?
  • Dialogue? Words which they speak themselves as well as words spoken about them by others?
  • Action?
  • Fears, desires, dreams?
  • Habits and quirks? (What do they like to eat? What do they wear? What are their characteristic twitches, mannerisms, expressions? Do they walk slowly or quickly? Do they look other people in the eye when they talk? Which Law & Order do they prefer? The original one, SVU, or Criminal Intent? Etc., etc., etc.!)
    
5. Plot and Scene Development
   
• Summarize the story's plot (sequence of events):
  
• Discuss the story's pacing: too slow? too fast?
  
• What scenes need to be developed, fleshed out? Can you tell where scenes in the story begin and end?
  
6. Setting
   
   • How important is setting to the story?
   • Can you SEE and SENSE the setting?
   • What very specific details of the setting help to reinforce character, theme, mood, etc. in this piece?
     
7. Point of View
   
• What is the story's point of view, and why has the writer chosen it?
  
8. Beginning writer bloopers (comment as needed):
• O'Henry ending.
• Suicide ending.
• The piece is not "fleshed out"; is more like a sketch of a story than an actual story.
• Sentimental, trite, or predictable ending.
• Unengaging conflict or problem (simplistic good vs. evil; wholly external threat to the main character with no internal component; etc.).
• One-trick-pony: the story has a tricky ending or some other funny, interesting characteristic, but no other narrative elements are developed.
  
9. How well, finally, is the writer handling the project option?
   
10. Any final questions, suggestions, comments?