Knowledge Base

You should only submit material that you've worked on as well as you can. Don't send first drafts and don't submit material that you haven't looked over with regards to spelling and language. This is for your own good — you'll get better feedback if people see you are making an effort to send in "clean" material.

Let readers know if there is anything in particular that you want them to keep in mind while reading your story.

It can be hard to accept criticism. Don't argue with the critic, but if there is anything in your crit that you don't understand, by all means, ask him about it.

Bear in mind that the crit is only one person's opinion. He isn't necessarily right, but his views are examples of how readers might see and interpret your story. That is useful to you, whether you agree with his opinions or not.

Be critical about what you want to use of the critique you receive. Remember, you are the author and this is your story, your style. You decide, others suggest. Some authors get lost trying to please everyone. Don't let that happen to you 

Gradually, people learn to view a critique as helpful suggestions and not as a personal attack — even if the comments are negative. Be prepared for a rough start, just keep in mind that with time you learn to accept criticism, use what you see as valid points, and throw away the rest.

You rate a critique so that the critic knows how he's doing, how useful his crits are to other authors. The grade shows him where he's doing well and what he can improve.

There are seven questions and you rate each on a five point scale, from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

The critique was worded in a constructive manner.

Did you feel the critic was respectful of your work and tried to word his crit both helpfully and politely?

The critic had helpful ideas.

Do you think you can use the critic's suggestions and ideas?

The critic could have explained himself better.

Do you have difficulties in understanding what exactly the critic meant? Was something unclear?

The critic pointed out many things I hadn't noticed myself.

Do you feel you gained new insight?

The critique could have been more detailed.

Do you feel that the crit could have been more detailed than it is?

I find the critique useful.

Did the critique have some good ideas and suggestions that you will use when re-writing your story?

On the whole, I'm satisfied with the critique.

Do you feel the critic put considerable work into pointing out to you what you could improve and what he liked in your story? Is this a good crit?

Remember that the point of the crit is to help you improve your story and point out both its strong and weak points. The point of the rating-system is to help the critic improve his crits, tell him what he's doing well and what he isn't doing so well.

At the bottom of the rating-box is another box, meant for a message to the critic, where you thank him for his time and effort. It's considered common courtesy to thank the critic for this, he could just as well have critted another story but he chose yours.

This message has nothing to do with rating.

The critic doesn't know how a specific crit was rated. He only sees his average grade and that is calculate on a five rated critique basis. Therefore, it's impossible for him to know how you rated his critique, something that should help you to be completely honest when rating the crit.

Crits under 150 words cannot be rated.

You may want to take a moment to think about why you are offended. It can be painful to hear criticism of something you have written, but does it seem that the critter is trying to point out something to improve upon, even if it's a bit bluntly? Most critters' intentions are to help the writer by pointing out the flaws, not to hurt your feelings. This learning process can sometimes bruise your ego, but usually improves your writing skills by pointing out weak spots.

One other thing to remember, a critique is nothing more than an opinion. Sometimes this is based on knowledge, such as spelling, punctuation, and grammar, and sometimes it is based on the type of writing that critter likes to read.

Is it because the critter seemed intentionally cruel or hurtful? Critique Circle does not condone this behavior, and you should contact the administrators to assess the situation.

If you receive a story where a user 'pads' the critique with unrelated story material, nonsense words or rambles about personal details that have nothing to do with the story, please let us know. Padding to gain credits for critiques is not acceptable here at CC.

If for whatever reason you don't want to receive more crits on your story, you can click on "No More Crits".

You find this option if you go to your story and scroll down a bit. On the right side, you find Author Options where you can choose No More Crits.

If another member is already in the process of writing a critique on this story, they will be able to finish their critique but they will receive a message stating that the author of this story no longer wishes to receive crits for this story.