Writing a Novel Critique
by Francine DeGrood Taylor (With examples on Old School by R. Costanzo)
Tips and Strategies:
Read through the elements of the story and rate each.
Hook - Did it grab you? Did the story fulfill its promise?
Conflict - Was it strong? Did the protagonist work toward its
resolution? Was it significant enough for you to care if it was
resolved?
Resolution - Was it satisfying? Was it achieved by the protagonist?
Characters - Were they interesting and believable? Did you care
what happened to them?
Setting - Was it appropriate for the story?
Technology/Science - Was it accurate?
Conversation - Was it entertaining and realistic? Did it move the
action of the story along? >Technical - Spelling errors? Grammar?
Punctuation? Sentence structure?
Plot - Did it make sense? Has it already been done to death?
Pace - Did it drag in places? Was it too fast? Did it move evenly?
Other - Was there something NEW in this story? Was there a lot of
"telling" and not enough "showing"? Was the concept interesting?
Now you are ready to write the critique. First of all, using your ideas on
the separate elements, write a paragraph or two on what you liked about
the story. Even if the story was very bad TRY to find at LEAST one thing
the author didn't do wrong. Saying something nice in the beginning helps
to cushion the blow of the criticism to follow, and it sets up the author to
be predisposed to listen to what you say. If all you have are bad things to
say, the author may feel that you are hostile towards him, perhaps for
personal reasons of your own.
Then, write a paragraph or two on each major thing which you believe
could be improved on. Remember that telling the author what is wrong is
only half the critique; you must be able to suggest what he might do to
improve it.
Wrong: I thought the characters were dumb and I didn't like them.
Right: The characters, at times, seemed unbelievable. For instance, most
teenage boys would not sacrifice their graduation dance to stay in their
dorm and write a story.
Wrong: The part where they were talking on the train was boring.
Right: The conversation the main character and Rain had little
movement. Furthermore, the talking didn't produce any real reactions in
either of them or change anything in the story. Its only purpose seemed to
be to tell the readers that there was a inner-rebellion going on.
Remember to criticize the story but never the author. You have no
business drawing conclusions about the writer's ability or personality from
his story. It may be that your observations are valid but they are still
inappropriate and making them will cause the author to perceive you as
being personally hostile and he won't listen to anything you have to say.