Yuffie's Writing How-To's

Need Constructive Criticism?

Hopefully by now, you all understand just how important it is to receive criticism on your writing--it's one of the best ways for you to improve as a writer. Also, giving out critiques to others will teach you a lot about writing. But now, you're probably asking, "Okay, where do I GET this magical criticism from?" I'm well aware the majority of wattpad users don't give criticism. Usually this comes from the fact that when they do give a suggestion, other readers or the author themselves chew them out and yell at them for being "mean" and/or "jealous". And the gosh darned character limit on comments is just infuriating. (My normal critiques average 2000 words, which roughly translates to 18,000 characters. Ie. not fun to post that here on wattpad).

Here are several solutions.

1. Writing sites centered around feedback such as critiquecircle.com and scribophile.com.
You can try a google search to find others. I know people sometimes look for critique partners on agentqueryconnect.com as well. Wattpad is NOT a good place for constructive criticism, and the 2000 character limit on comments is very revealing of that fact.

2. If you do want to try getting some feedback here, allow ONLY constructive criticism on your stories. make a note of it in the Author's note or at the end of each chapter. If someone leaves a comment of just praise (no words of criticism anywhere in their comment), threaten to promptly delete it (or leave this last bit out and simply ask for constructive criticism). It worked wonders for me. I've gone from getting only comments like "This is awesome!!!!!! XDDD" to actual mentions of confusing bits/boring bits/plot holes/typos/etc.

3. Also, quoting TheWorldofCans: "Another way to get constructive criticism is to go to the Improve Your Writing club on this website. There are a lot of people on there who will give you harsh criticism or who actually want harsh criticism."

Post in the comments if you've got other hidden niches where you get/give proper constructive criticism or ideas on how to get it here on wattpad.