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How to Give Useful Criticism

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The great thing about Writer Unboxed is the sense of community it gives to writers. There’s the twitter account to follow, the Facebook group to connect with others, and, of course, the unconference where you can really engage in all things writery. All of this is so important in the otherwise solitary task of writing.

Beyond WU are the many writers’ groups, often online these days to help writers connect with others working in their specific genres or interest areas. And then there are beta reader groups and review sites, all of which can provide essential constructive feedback as you progress on your writing journey.

Constructive feedback is the important phrase there. In a previous article, I described how to respond to criticism, but it’s also important for anyone in any writing community to know how to give that all important constructive criticism.

I have to do this all time in my story analysis work, and over the years I’ve gathered a few basic rules to follow. [Read more…]

Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye Offers a Master Class in Craft

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We all remember where we were when the collective community celebrated or mourned something momentous. Last week, I was sitting in a classroom at Howard University during a Hurston-Wright workshop for Black writers led by bestselling author Nicole Dennis-Benn. As I read aloud the words I’d just composed for a writing prompt, one of my […]

Things I Forget to Remember: Writing Is an Act of Faith

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I have an idea! Let’s play a game of Word Association. You give me a random word or phrase, and I’ll say the first thing that comes to mind. Ready? Go. Snail: mobile home  Simone Biles: dynamite Jumping jacks: I pee my pants just a little Royalty: Toni Morrison Chocolate: yes Red lipstick: Grandma Jackie […]

The Wonders of your Character’s World View

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A father, Jim, takes his son thirteen-year-old son, Roy, to Alaska in the tradition of all those great male adventurers. It’s long been an ambition for Jim, to pack up and live off the land for a year. It gives him the chance to connect with his son and show the boy what it means […]

Achieve Your Writing Goals

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There are times when writing is easy, when you get through that daily word count without too much effort. And there are times when the final goal – that moment when you can type The End – seems very far away. There will be days when you think it will be impossible to reach, and […]

Stories that Liberate

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Fifty years ago, when I was but a toddler in a bayou town along the Florida Panhandle, an uprising at a nondescript Manhattan bar changed my life. On Jun 28, 1969, patrons of Stonewall Inn, a hangout for some of the city’s most marginalized populations did the unexpected, striking back rather than complying when police […]

How to Respond to Criticism

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Last time, I looked at how to deal with your own inner critic, and this month it seems appropriate and timely to look at external criticism. Any kind of feedback on your writing—whether good or bad—can be useful, but the negative stuff can hit hard, causing a burst of emotions within you. What’s the best […]

Lessons From a Revision

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Which do you enjoy more . . . revising or writing (first-drafting)? Just like the universal plotter vs. pantser question, this is one of the most enduring discussions among writers I know. Maybe you’re in one camp more than the other? Or maybe you’re somewhere in between. Until recently, and without hesitation, I’d have answered […]

Tune out your self-doubt—Fiction Therapy

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Best-selling thriller writer, Ian Rankin, has been writing professionally since the mid-1980s. He’s written close to 30 novels. He pretty much writes a book a year. But, at a certain point in his drafting process, usually somewhere at the end of the first month, he is struck by, what he calls, ‘the fear.’ He is […]

So You Think You Can Write?

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Early in the fall of 1994, I had a terrible realization: I did not know how to write. This was problematic as I, fresh out of college, had been hired to teach high school English. In other words, I was supposed to teach something I couldn’t do myself. But how had I never realized I […]

 

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