I’ve been a creative writer for seven years and have submitted my short pieces to multiple academic workshops for critique and revision. And it’s not easy. Never easy.
Whether fiction or nonfiction, sharing personal pieces with fellow writers—even when friends—takes an incredible amount of vulnerability. Storytelling draws from our inner imagination, fears, hopes, dares, identities. Receiving feedback on those, especially if harsh, may hurt more than receiving academic feedback on a required essay.
A lot of young creative writers retire the pen prematurely because of such experience. As tutors, of course, one prefers to avoid this. However, not all employees at Writing Centers have experience in the creative field. As such, they may struggle to know where to begin with their feedback and on what elements to focus on.
Creative fiction and nonfiction* pieces work differently from the essays you might be used to break down. They don’t have a thesis structure; they bend syntactical rules for prosaic impact; and sometimes, they evade the confines of factual and realistic.
Still, these pieces seek a reader, and that’s always the best thing a tutor may offer. From my experience in workshops, here I offer some advice!
Offer Praise
This tip, of course, applies to other feedback letters and genres. As the tutor sees fit, genuinely offer compliments to the writer, and highlight what did work in the writer’s piece, whether a scene, a theme, a well-executed passage, or a style choice.
Communicate Emotional Reactions
An important component of creative writing is the evocation of emotions. While in academic essays a tutor might base their reaction on the persuasion and strength of an argument, in pieces like short stories and creative excerpts, I would recommend following more your emotional reactions to moments and phrases. As if you were reading a book, watching a movie—throwing popcorns at the screen when your favorite character gets hurt.
Communicate with marginal comments where a certain scene or line gripped you—by surprise or astonishment or joy—and in your feedback letter, include perhaps areas where you’ve felt the tension diminished or that confused you emotionally.
Look Out for Storytelling Elements
Depending on your familiarity level with storytelling, you may or may not know some key elements: Scene, Climax, Inciting Incident, Plot Beat… Thankfully, you don’t have to know all the ins and outs of the creative writing language to provide helpful feedback!
What you can do, however, is divide your areas of concerns into some of those elements, as to avoid getting lost when considering what to look out for in a creative writing piece.
- Plot & Idea: Does the story interest you? Does the action move too fast or too slow? Are the scenes well-paced? Are the events clear?
- Characters: If there are characters, are they compelling? Do they feel like potential people you can meet in real life?
- Setting: If there is, is it described uniquely? Does it interact with the characters? Does it give you a sense of where a scene is taking place?
- Style: Do you recognize a particular voice in how the piece is written? Do you notice any areas like syntax, dialogue formatting, paragraph breaks, or word choice that perhaps need addressing?
Adopt More Leniency Toward Form
While essays and other academic genres must adhere to stricter rules when it comes to form and style, creative writers often seek to bend those boundaries to adapt to their instinctual voice. This includes sentence fragments, missing or strange words, far-reaching metaphors, gaps.
As a tutor, you shouldn’t feel intimidated in pointing out if something isn’t working, like a too vague comparison or convoluted passage. However, try as best as you can to turn off the inner academic editor and instead lean into your emotional reaction for form.
Separate the Author from the Characters
Especially with nonfiction creative pieces, it’s crucial to separate the characters from the writer. Include that division in your feedback. Remember: how a character acts and responds doesn’t coincide with the author’s identity. If a writer presents a short story or excerpt about their life, refer to the character in the text as narrator, and the writer as the author.
At the same time, if you recognize something problematic and feel comfortable in discussing it, you may still address the concern at hand!
Accept a Cold Reception
Writers often seek the feedback of a Writing Center in relation to a graded assignment or application. Creative writers may do too, but their pieces might also be more personal.
Therefore, cold receptions to your response are more common with creative writing. Unless the reaction veers into rudeness and harsh dismissal, don’t be offended. As an author, I can testify critiques hit a bit harder; thus, taking longer to process and accept.
I can also guarantee that any writer seeking feedback is grateful for your time and will eventually come to a place of comfort and happiness with the critique received.
Do you have any experience critiquing creative writing? What are some of your suggestions when providing feedback for this genre?
*I’m focusing on creative nonfiction and fiction, as I don’t have experience with poetry and the genre requires a different set of advice.