Writing Tip #4: Offering a Critique

A playwright and dramaturg for Charter Theatre, Richard Washer emphasizes that instead of telling a writer how to fix a manuscript, it’s more useful to simply tell the writer how you experienced the story (or play, or poem). What did you picture in your mind as you read/heard the story? Were any parts unclear? What popped out? Summarize the story that you read/heard. This more than anything will help the writer to understand what he or she has actually communicated. Through Charter's open-to-the-public reading series, I have been able to participate in this type of critique firsthand, and I try to remember it when I am asked to critique a writer's work. Richard points to Peter Elbow’s book Writing Without Teachers as his inspiration.