Forum: Writers


Subject: Critiquing Conundrums

lavender opened this issue on Apr 12, 2003 ยท 15 posts


Teyon posted Sat, 12 April 2003 at 4:51 PM

Well, some of the problems with poetry is that it's subjective and extremly personal. That makes it a hard one to critique. Stories, editorials, scripts those are easier and should be critiqued more often. With everything but poetry, you can pcik out grammatical errors, dry dialouge, etc. So yes, the door should be open to more constructive criticism than simply, "I liked it." However, many people don't feel comfortable giving stronger critiques because they doubt their own abilities and feel they aren't "qualified" to say more. I find this alot with replies to my own artwork. Many of my fellow Rhino modelers don't fully understand what is required to make an organic model and avoid negative critiques of my models due to that. The same can be said for my drawings, though of late, the critiquing has improved. I had to develop a different interpretation of how critiquing should work because of my experience in the galleries. Instead of looking for a, "fix this", I looked for a, "I liked this part". Using the positive feedback to tell me what I did right (causing me to repeat it) while varying the bits that were ignored in my later models. So, while waiting for the rare negative but helpful critique, take a look at what folks are saying they liked about your work...or if it's not mentioned, maybe send the member an IM thanking them and asking if there were any bits in particular that stood out. I personally thank everyone who comments on my work in one form or another (via IM or by returning the favor and finding something in their gallery I like).