One of my favorite writing-related things to do is give critique. I truly love reading other people’s writing and being able to give suggestions and advice. I’ve been critiquing for a while now, so I thought that I might share my favorite piece of advice:
Use the critique sandwich.
Everyone is different, so using the sandwich (praise, critique, praise) is a good general rule to follow. Not only will it help your feedback have more of an organized form, but it will also help your suggestions come across in a much friendlier tone than if you were to just give hard critiques.
You may be wondering “What does an example of this recipe look like?” Well, let’s say that you’ve just read over someone’s piece of writing (or anything else). When you give your general critique, I would start by saying one or two things that you think they did well (dialogue, humor, suspense etc.), then go on to give a few suggestions (more description, less telling etc.). Finally, I usually end with an encouraging note on the piece as a whole.
Remember; critiquing isn’t about pointing out wrongs in other writers, it’s about assisting them in making their stories the best that they can be.
As John 15:12 (NIV) says "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."
I hope that this proves useful the next time that you are giving critiques!
I love using the critique sandwhich when giving out advice! Thanks for sharing this!