Everyone's Guide to Wattpad

Critiquing Stories

Guess what, not only do graphic designers have their own section, but critiques do too! If you are a professional critique you should well know the do's and dont's, but if you don't then you should probably read this. For those that already own a story, then you should learn how to critique your own, which I will mention later in the writer's section.

I dedicate this section of the guide solely to all critiques out there, who offer their services professionally or to those who critique out of kindness.

Understanding Critiques

Now those who are not a writer or critique, then you should understand what a critique is. Many people have the wrong idea about a critique, which is where they are a bunch of people that go around and say mean things about stories. No, that's not true.

A critique is someone who reads your story, looks at all the mistakes, plot, and everything else included in the story. They then tell you these mistakes so that you can fix them. They may also tell you if it's interesting or if it's pretty bland. If there's something that's missing such as character development or dialogue. They are probably doing the nicest thing ever. Reading a story that they don't care about reading, and being forced to look at every nook and cranny for a flaw. 

That's what I call a hero.

Placing Your Services

When you place your services, the things you should ask for are-

What Needs to Be Critiqued (What story and how far into it)

Wanting a general critique or something specific (plot, spelling, etc.)

What genre (Yes, if you don't like the genre then you can deny their request. Not everyone likes every subject.)

That's pretty much it. Once you have those three questions answered you should be good-to-go. You don't need much info, do you? Go ahead and look at the story now.

Critiques/Critiquing: What You Should Look For

When critiquing, the first thing that should be noticed is the grammar and spelling errors. It's usually fine to overlook these, since that's up to the writer to fix. If you do notice some errors, tell them there are spelling and/or grammar errors, but don't be too specific unless they asked your services precisely for that.

The next thing to search for is character development. This is optional, because it could be a story like mine, where there's no characters. (No, my Oranges do not count). It also depends what you are critiquing on. Is it a single chapter or the entire story? The character shouldn't be the same in the end as it was in the beginning. If it's a chapter, what was it about this chapter that motivated the character(s)?

Is it sticking to the theme? If it's a Horror story, does it seem horrific? If it's Humor, are there funny things going on? It's fairly easy to determine this type of stuff.

Is the plot original and enticing? Are there twists that change the story line or is it narrow and bland?

Now onto determining cliches. Are there too many? Are there too little? If it's a Vampire story, you aren't going to not want cliches. Otherwise it would be a pale cannibal that goes around and sucks blood from really sharp teeth that can turn invisible. Creepy, right? Determine if there's a good balance of cliches.

Dialogue is important. Dialogue should further the story line, not waste time to make the story longer. Chit-Chat is not dialogue, as mentioned in GwenMadoc's work GET PUBLISHED. Dialogue should further the story. If you see -any- chit-chat, tell them to remove it. Does anyone like to read a story where they carry on an unimportant conversation that goes in circles? I, for one, do not.

Look for these things, then tell them how they can improve. If you can't tell them how to improve then you missed out on half your job, that is unless it's grammar and spelling. Tell them to use spell check.

Tell them what you think of it. Is the story horrible? Is the story a New York Times Bestseller? Where could it use improvement. Don't be afraid to beat it up. In the end, it makes the writer and story much better. However, be kind about it. Being rough about it will make them unhappy.

Asking for Payment

Now, as I said in the last part, do not ask for a payment. You can look back at the ending of the last section to see the reasons why. You may hate me for saying this, but it needs to be heard.

I will cut down about 300 words and put it simply. Why do some people offer their services for free? It's because they love it and don't care about payment. Just because you treat the world doesn't mean it has to treat you back 100 percent of the time. If it's a hobby they love doing, they won't require a payment because they love doing it! That's the thing about love, there's no fee for it. If you did the job well, there's a chance they will return the favor.

Well that was my mini-rant, but as I also said in the last section, you can learn even from rants. Do check back to the previous part if you didn't read it.

For my closing, I wish to apologize for any whom I have hurt in the payment area, but realization is a great thing. It's like life seeping into you.

Have a blast on critiquing!