crit·i·cism

/ˈkridəˌsizəm/

noun

the analysis and judgment of the merits and faults of a literary or artistic work

And this is what most writers (if not at all here on Wattpad) come here hoping to find. We all would like to think our own work is good, maybe even great, but the obvious bias is there-writers and any artist for that matter need outside eyes to help them improve and gauge their work. So we find forums like this little orange site. A nest so to speak of others who just like us, have a love (or addiction) or both to the craft. We seek criticism, or, if we are going to be specific (and we are) we seek not just any sort of criticism, but we seek constructive criticism.

Should be easy on a site full of readers and writers yeah? Well you'd be wrong if you thought the answer was yes, but now, I assume you are asking why. The answer is easy, some people do not know what constructive criticism really is. So today, I am going to go over a few things here about this topic.

Firstly, as you saw when you opened this, you saw what criticism means according to the dictionary on Google. An analysis of merits and faults in artistic work, which writing is. However, as I stated earlier writers here look for a specific kind of criticism. We writers want constructive criticism. But what is that? Well let's ask Google what that is:

con·struc·tive

/kənˈstrəktiv/

adjective

serving a useful purpose; tending to build up.

Wait Jamie, does that mean complimenting the writer? But what if they are really messing up basics, like misspelling the word "the" and not using any punctuation?

No, no little Padwan, it does not mean you need to compliment someone if they do not deserve one. As Google said, you need to "serve a useful purpose". Useful purpose does not mean giving false praise and sugary-sweet kindness. It means being helpful.

Now for those who are a bit lost, do not worry, I feel these things are best left off to real examples, so you can really see what I am talking about and truly see the difference. I am going to show you a comment not an example of constructive criticism. Repeat: this is not an example of constructive criticism. (Please note that this is not a comment that I or someone I know have received, but I have seen enough of these thing to know what they look like.)

"This story captured my interest with the cover, but your spelling is bad and makes the chapter hard to read. It's also really slow and you look like you did not even bother to edit and it is lazy on your part. I don't really like your MC either.

Can anyone of you Padwans tell me why this is not an example of constructive criticism? Well, for those of you who cannot answer, I will tell you. This comment is critical and only critical. Why? Because while it certainly passes judgement on the supposed work, it offers no way to build. See, for an artist of any medium be it words, paint, pencils or notes build does not mean having your ego petted. It means to grow and to learn. To expand and build up on the skills you have and improve the ones that are not so strong or even learn new things. This comment contained nothing that a writer could use to build, nothing at all.

"Spelling is bad"- fine, but how bad it "bad"? Is the entire chapter a mess? Or was it just one word that the writer kept messing up? What is the proper way to spell the word/words the writer did incorrectly?

"It's really slow" -why is it slow? What about it was not catching your interest? Was it the way the narration was? Did the events bore you? What was the problem? What made this chapter slow for you?

"I don't really like your MC either" -That is fine if you do not like the main character, but please, tell the writer why that is. What about the main character did not work for you? Did you find them arrogant? Are they flat? What is the problem?

And all of these lack the most important bit of any constructive comment-what can the author do to make it better? That is the heart of a constructive and critical comment. You can point out flaws, point them out as much as there is needed, but always, always, always, (I honestly cannot stress this enough) tell the artist how they can take that flaw and fix it or at the very least, make it better.

Walt Disney when story meetings working on a film had an excellent response to non-constructive criticism. According to a former co-worker, Walt Disney  would say: "If you don't have any way to improve it, keep your mouth shut, Anybody can say 'I don't like it'. Give me something to make it better!"

Disney said it best, literally anyone can say something was bad, but that's unhelpful . Now saying "it's bad, here's the problem and here's a solution" that can be used.

Now, we shall take a look at what a constructive comment looks like, again this not a real comment. I am going this time, to say everything I did in the first example, but this time, it will be constructive criticism.

"Your cover interested me at first but I was let down by this chapter. I really didn't like it. You started with the whole 'morning routine' getting ready for school trope and it is not that interesting. You'd be better of skipping it. If you want to start with something normal, fine but maybe driving to wherever or a conversation? Something a little less cliche if you catch my drift.

Also, you really need to go back and edit this chapter. You spelled your MC's name three different ways in the first paragraph, pick one spelling and stick to it. You also misspelled "automobile" throughout the entire chapter.

Speaking of your MC, I don't like them, they are too perfect. Top grades in every class, musical, athletic, adored by everyone and it's honestly too much for me. They seem too perfect and idealistic to be relatable."

Observe, was there a compliment anywhere in this? No. Was it critical? Yes. Was it constructive? Also yes. And why is that Padwans?  Because...It was not vague, the "I don't like it" was only the start then it got into why that was and what was thought to be done about it. This comment gave a way for the writer to build, to improve and fix the problems.

That in a nutshell is constructive criticism my dear Padwans and thus ends my first part of this little booklet!

Write on! =)