Ah, critique, that double-edged sword. On one hand, it's a great thing to give and receive, helping us to improve our stories and become better writers (ideally, at least). On the other hand, it can sound harsh and judgmental and not be helpful at all.

Where to draw the line?

Frankly, everyone is looking for a different type of feedback. For example, my commas are pretty much always where I intend them to be, even if you think they shouldn't be there, and your telling me probably isn't going to make me change them, so therefore I have no desire for this type of punctuational feedback. But maybe someone else isn't so OCD about their comma usage and would like a little input, and that's great.

So, if you are/aren't looking for a particular type of critique on your work, let us know. After all, we can't give you what you want if we don't know what it is. Give us some guidelines for feedback in the introduction to your piece to help direct our critiquing efforts.

That being said, there is a proper way to give feedback, and by that I mean be nice. Not that I'm saying you should have to leave positive reviews for everything you read, simply that you should be tactful and polite even when leaving constructive criticism. Two reasons for this: 1. Being overly harsh is more demeaning than it is helpful, and it only serves to hurt people's feelings and weaken their confidence, and 2. Natalie and I really don't appreciate the meanness, because that's not what TBN is all about. We're here to encourage and support, and if you're not encouraging and supporting, well, maybe this isn't the place for you.

Now, as an example of how to give a good, well-rounded critique, I give you this little tidbit I wrote ages ago on my ideal review:

1. "I liked it," or "I didn't like it," is fine, though it's more helpful if there is a "because" with it, as in "I liked it because the characters seemed very real and I could feel the emotion in the scene," or "I didn't like it because it was hard to understand without more explanation and description."

2. Say something positive, if only a suggestion. "I can see this story having great potential if you can flesh out your characters a bit," or "Your words flow nicely and there is a nice pace to the scene."

3. Voice any concerns, though try to do so thoughtfully and perhaps offer suggestion for improvement. "The dialogue seems a bit forced and unnatural, perhaps you could use more contractions or shorter sentences to better portray how people speak in everyday conversation," or "I have a hard time picturing what this character looks like, could you maybe describe her a little? If one of the other characters is seeing her for the first time, perhaps she could give us her impressions."

4. Say whether or not you would read more of this story. Honestly, this is really all an author wants to know. But if you say no, you need to provide some sort of reason why not or even what the author could do to change your mind. "This story doesn't hold much interest for me. The characters lack clear definition and the situation isn't explained well enough to be believable. You might want to try doing a character profile to give your characters some more meat, or a timeline of events leading up to this scene, so you can write both the characters and the situation more strongly."

OK, as I said, this is my *ideal* review. A lot of this overlaps, but my main point is to give both positives and negatives, and state your reason for both. And I think an author is much more likely to respect your critique if you offer reasons suggestions for improvement rather than just saying "it sucks, never write again." Questions are good as well, but not necessary.

Oh yeah, and please use complete sentences, or at least complete thoughts. If you use sub-standard language in your review, there's a significant drop in your credibility.

Overall, be sincere. Lying about it either way doesn't help anyone.

There are as many different ways to give feedback as there are people, and I'm not saying everyone has to follow this example every time. But if you don't know where to start, this is it.