Most Common Writing Errors ✔️

How To Criticize A Story + How To Take Criticism

My point is, you can say something like "This character had great traits, but their role in the story is confusing" without it feeling mean. You can point out what you like in what you dislike, just like how you can point out what you dislike in what you like.

Maybe that's confusing, but all I'm saying is don't be scared to say criticisms, but also don't be scared to say positives too. Positives are just as important as negatives. I'll explain that later.

4) Time And Place

Okay, this and the harsh feedback parts are the ones I'm expecting the most people to disagree with. That's fine, you don't need to agree with me. I just ask you hear out my perspective instead of instantly judging me.

There is a time and place for constructive criticism. You're reading this book on Wattpad, which means you're likely giving criticism to other Wattpad authors. I need you to keep something in mind.

Some writers on Wattpad don't care.

There are many, many, many writers who just don't care and want to write for fun. They're not writing to improve, they're writing as a hobby to make other people smile.

There is a time and place for constructive criticism. Just because you see something wrong with a story doesn't mean you have to race to the comment section to tell the author. I encourage everyone to speak freely and voice their opinions; I'm not saying censor yourself. What I am saying is sometimes it just isn't worth it.

Not everyone can take criticism. Some authors want to write, have fun, and talk with readers. There are definitely cases where, if you dislike something, you should click off the book and move on.

It's Wattpad. We're writing for free, and most of us don't even want to be full-time writers. It's a passion and an escape from real life, so leaving a giant comment of critique might make the author block you.

Again, I encourage you to form your thoughts and feelings about stories, that's the whole point of reading! But sometimes, there's a time and place for criticism.

Something that personally makes me a bit irritated is when I see criticism on my four-year-old stories when I state in the disclaimer that it's an old work and I have improved since then. In those cases, I tend to thank them for taking the time to comment and move on.

I'm not saying I don't accept criticism, but it's not helpful to me since the story was written when I was a teenager without writing experience. Now I'm in my twenties and a professional. It's far more helpful when they leave criticism on a newer work. In general, my fanfics are my escape from my regular writing, so they're not nearly as good as my original works. The most helpful criticisms would be on my upcoming original story, Obsidian. I can't wait to release it.

So that's what I mean when I say consider the time and place. Not every writer wants criticism, especially for fanfic. If they want to become a more serious writer, they'll need to open themselves up to it, but sometimes when you do things for fun, you just wanna do it for fun. Like if you play a club sport just for fun, it might be annoying when you have teammates criticizing how you play when it ultimately doesn't matter.

I'm not saying you shouldn't have an opinion. I'm saying consider if it's worth it to you and the author to voice it. You don't want to waste your time writing criticism that will go in one ear and out the other, and you also don't want to waste the author's time when they don't care.

5) It's Not About You

One of the most frustrating things for me is when I get criticized for stuff that doesn't make sense. By that I mean, I'm American. I cannot tell you how many times I've had people criticize things in my stories that don't make sense to them because they're from another country, but they make perfect sense to me because I am American. For example, using Fahrenheit over Celsius for weather.