WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

Using a Critique Checklist (Like This One)

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When writers ask me for advice, I emphasize the importance of finding a critique group or partners.

These support systems are invaluable for adding the objectivity we lack and helping us see where our work needs work. They also provide an opportunity to share our knowledge with others—though many writers may struggle with this, especially when reading or hearing a more experienced author’s work.

From time to time, I have this problem—not so much with the technical stuff like grammar and typos and such, but with the big picture items. When a really talented author reads an excerpt at my face-to-face group, I might think that it’s wonderful. Astonishingly brilliant. Then someone else mentions a problem they noticed and I think, Wow, that’s totally true. How’d I miss that?

Out of a desire to a) help my fellow writers, and b) not sit there feeling like a twit, I started a list of observations that I frequently hear at critique group. Then I turned the observations into questions.

Overall Story Issues:

  • Is the story problem clear?
  • Is the voice realistic and consistent?
  • Does the voice sound right for the author’s target audience? (Too young? Too old?)
  • Does the chosen point of view (first, close third, omniscient, etc.) create the right level of intimacy or distance for the story?
  • Are there tantalizing questions, or is everything being explained along the way?
  • Has the story started in the right place?
  • Does the character’s situation continue to worsen, or is the author letting him off the hook and breaking tension?

Scene Issues:

What does the character want in this scene?

  • What’s the conflict?
  • Does the character’s emotion change or remain the same throughout the scene? Are the descriptions multi-sensory, or primarily visual?
  • Is too much information being shared? Can some of it be revealed later?
  • Does the scene move the story forward? (Is it necessary?)
  • Does the scene go on too long? Should it end earlier? Be split in two?

Pacing Issues:

  • Is the pace dragging anywhere?
  • Does a given section feel like it’s gone on for too long and should be condensed?
  • Is there too much narrative?
  • Too much telling?
  • Too much backstory?

Character Issues:

  • Is there enough character emotion?
  • Is the character well-rounded? Flawed?
  • Is the dialogue realistic?
  • Is the character consistent in his speech, actions, and responses to stimuli?
  • Does the character evoke reader empathy in some way?

The beauty of a list like this is that while it works well for critiquing others, it also works on my own writing.

When a critiquer admits their attention is drifting, I look at the Scene Issues to see if any of them are to blame. If someone isn’t connecting with my character, I edit with the Character Issues in mind. And when I’m reading my own work and I get that niggly feeling that something is off, I can usually find the problem on this list!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Joanne R. Fritz says

    Fantastic list! Thank you. I’ve needed this without ever realizing it until now. 🙂

    In a workshop on scene structure at NJ SCBWI earlier in June, Laurie Calkhoven reminded us that every scene should have an arc, just like the book. There should be dialogue/action, conflict, a climax, resolution, and an exit line. Comparing the first and last line of a scene helps you realize if the scene works.

  3. Amanda Stephan says

    Excellent! Thank you 🙂 I’m an escapist reader and I have a difficult time picking anything apart in anyone else’s writing, so this is going to be invaluable!

  5. Laura Murray says

    This is SO helpful, not only for critique groups, but also my own writing! I love your blog – thanks! Becca – hope all is well with you – I have recommended the Emotional Thesaurus to so many writer friends after getting it at the last Miami SCBWI conference!

  6. Ilnara Hesken says

    I guess this sort of fits with the voice being consistent but I notice some authors I’ve critted switching the tenses of their sentences. It’s a bit annoying to read a few paragraphs in past tense then read in present and then go back to past.

    So I think I would expand a bit on the voice being consistent question just for my own reference.

  12. Kelly Polark says

    Wow! This is an awesome checklist!!! Thank you for sharing. I will definitely use this when I’m critiquing (actually I’m finishing critting a manuscript this weekend.)

  18. Alex says

    I love the first point under “scene issues” — desire is really what drives a scene/story/novel. Too often, I find critiques (self or group) get lost in a little detail when it is the big stuff (like character desire/motive) that really matters.

  23. Jae Holt says

    You always have wonderful insights! I seem to always miss the pacing issues because I focus on the character and scene development, so your list is very helpful. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

  25. JeffO says

    Great list. My biggest issue, when I crit (whether it’s my own work or someone else’s) is with getting too caught up the details, and not being able to see the bigger stuff.

  31. M Pax says

    Great list. I see a lot of authors using simultaneous events – is / while / things happening at the same time that shouldn’t. I’ve been guilty of this, too. My crit group is hating on me for this one lately…

  32. Crystal Collier says

    Whew! Now that’s a great list. I find objectivity is a little skewed on my own work when analyzing these things, but then I suppose that’s what CP’s are for. Thanks for posting this. =)

  37. Carol Riggs says

    Great stuff! I have to copy this into a Word doc and keep it forever. 🙂 Some of these things I notice right away, and some I don’t. Great to have a concise list, thanks!