Disclaimer
Consider every sentence on these pages to be prefaced with IMHO. I am primarily a "character" writer, which means that I judge stories more on the quality of their characters than on any other element. My advice will be of far less use to those who write hard sci-fi, or those whose talents lie in the creations of awesomely inhuman worlds or brilliant scientific insights.I'm not touting myself as an expert. I don't have a degree in story dissection and I'd be the first to admit that until I actually manage to get something published there's nothing to prove that I have any more insights into the art of writing than any other speculative hopeful. By that token, though, I have no less and I've certainly learned a lot about what doesn't work for me in many on-line critiquing groups in which I have participated over the years.
Everyone has their own likes and dislikes. The difference, IMO, between a good critiquer and a bad is whether he spends the effort to understand WHY he dislikes something, and how it could be fixed. He does the research into writing terminology in order to explain his opinion using terms which his critiquees can understand. He reads the critiques of others in order to help him understand the difference between bad writing and his own personal preferences.
That having been said, let's get on to the good stuff...
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