: Re: Critique strategies to help improve someone's writing How can I smooth the transitions in this text? I feel like the POVs are changed quite a lot which makes it fairly confusing for readers

@Barnes643

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How to critique a piece depends on what stage the writer is in the process and what they are looking for.

If this is a back and forth exchange with someone I've never worked with before, the first thing I look for is obvious grammar and spelling errors in the very beginning. For example, in this piece the second sentence is in present tense while the rest is in past tense. I'll say it looks good in general, point out the most obvious issues I found, and ask if that's the kind of feedback they are looking for. This is a way of establishing how much I know about editing, how much they know about writing, and if they really want feedback after all.

If they want general feedback on structure, I'll do a full read-through and try to understand what the general plot and setting of the story are. Can I figure out what is going on? Does the story make sense? Are there obvious plot holes? Are there large sections where I am incredibly bored? For example, in the first paragraph of this story it's not clear to me who "it" and "she" are, and I never really figure it out. Are they the same thing? Who or what is observing them? In this example the root cause is still a grammar issue, but it makes everything very hard to interpret and therefore hard for me to figure out what else needs to improve.

If they want more specific feedback on what works and what doesn't, I'll look for specific places where the flow is poor, or the descriptions could be improved. Does the action flow quickly? Do the intermediate scenes feel rushed? Are the characters believable? Is the writing repetitive? In this piece the PoV seems to jump from the entity to a scientist and back with no clear explanation. That's the root cause of the jarring paragraph transitions. For a short piece I would stick to one PoV.

If the piece goes through multiple edits, eventually I'll do a through pass of spelling/grammar.

The most important point of any critique is suggestions of how to improve. Amateurs especially may need explanations of common terms you don't expect, as well as why certain issues need fixing. For example, jumping between different points of view frequently is bad because it may confuse the reader.

A good critique also points out what the writer is doing well. This is particularly important if the best part of the piece still needs work, so the author doesn't lose sight of what makes the work great. Even if there are clearly separate good and bad parts, positive reinforcement is still important for amateur writers. This piece does a really good job of making the alien feel alien.

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