𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫: Sam | S160902
𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐞: Danielle | DHBurnside

─⁠──⁠───⁠─ ･ﾟ✧:･.☽˚｡･ﾟ✧ ─⁠─⁠──⁠──⁠─

𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲?
Hi my name is Danielle and I’m from Ireland but I've lived in Edinburgh for a few years now. My journey as a judge started last summer when I took a career break from work and had some free time. I love reading and I just thought it was such a lovely way to get involved in supporting the next generation of writers. I had a lovely review given of my work which I thought brought my novel to the next level.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀?
My interest came in the summer of 2023 when I saw they were looking for judges. I thought it would be such a nice way to meet other writers and get involved.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲?
I think what makes a good judge is being honest but saying it in a constructive way. We all want feedback but what we don't want is to feel criticised without a way to move forward.

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂? 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴? 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗳?
When I'm reviewing work, my main thing is the story. I watch for whether I'm captivated or not. Has the story held my attention or has it dwindled?
To stay fair and objective, I use my chart to score things which look at POV, spelling, capturing attention and more. This is important that the writers understand where I am coming from. Common mistakes could be not looking up genres of writing that some writers are trying to gauge. There are so many that you could miss.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴? 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘀? 𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀?
My advice to new authors is just to be confident and speak your opinion but always remember to be kind. Some people work for hours over their work so as well as constructive criticism they might need encouragement too. When there is a difference of opinion we try to blend them so the writer gets as much feedback as possible. It could just simply come back to differences in preference. One of my favourite memories is getting a message from a new author telling me they aspire to be like me some day. I'm still so proud of that.