Belief 08

Critiques

A critique is a diagnosis, not a verdict — and giving one well teaches you more than getting one.

Novelist · members' unit

Critiques is behind a locked door

The Novelist page and Study are open to everyone. The other 9 units are enrollment-only.

What's in this unit · 9 min read

  1. Big picture first. Always.
  2. Earn the eye before you use it
  3. A revision, in public
  4. The two questions that find most problems
  5. Taking it
  6. Giving it

5 quick checksbefore/after editsstepper

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Sources

  • Molly McCowan — Effective Editing (The Great Courses)
  • Matt Bird — The Secrets of Story — The Ultimate Story Checklist
  • R.L. Stine — MasterClass — original and revised outlines for I Am Slappy's Evil Twin
  • Roy Peter Clark — Writing Tools
  • James Scott Bell — The Art of War for Writers
  • Sol Stein — Stein on Writing
  • Aristotle — Poetics