A Critique is a thoughtful commentary about another subscriber's writing.

How does the Criteek of the Wique work?

Once a week, a subscriber posts a URL (an Internet address) leading to an article in progress. The article should be only a few hundred words long, so that the other subscribers will be able to read it in its entirety without difficulty.

How should you post your article?

You may post it on this website, if you like.

Don't worry - you don't have to know anything about the Web (although it will save your hard-working webmaster some bother if you do).

Click here for instructions on how to post your article on the Jewish Writing website.

What should I look for when I critique an article?

Thank you for asking. Please read the checklist of issues for critiquing an article for the technical information you'll need.

In addition, please keep the following issues in mind:

1. Articles to be critiqued must relate to mainstream Jewish topics.
2. Your article may not be posted or distributed to the Jewish Writing forum itself. The Jewish Writing Forum will post only the URL. Those who want to read it will be able to access it easily on the Web. Others will not waste their bandwidth.
3. The first paragraph of your article should include the following information:
   • A one-to-two sentence introduction to your article
   • The intended age, audience, and level
   • Any other relevant background information
4. Only one article may be posted per week. Let the moderator know that you want to post an article. He will schedule and post the date so that it does not conflict with articles from other subscribers.

How can you get the most from your COW?

1. Be considerate (and ready) when you post your article. It should be your best work. Check it, re-read it after putting it aside, have others read it, and take any other steps that would be necessary in order to produce your best work before posting it to the group.
2. Send in your biography for critiquing together with your article.

A large segment of our Jewish Writing website and forum is devoted to critiquing. We have our own way to critique manuscripts, and it may be different from what you expect. This document will therefore clarify some basic issues.

1. What is critiquing?
2. How do we critique others on Jewish Writing?
3. Why should we get involved in critiquing?
4. How can critiquing help me?
5. What's in it for me?

What is critiquing?

You�ve joined Jewish Writing because you write about Jewish topics. That is commendable. However, can you be sure that you are giving the world your best writing? Where can you turn for help about your writing?

Jewish Writing is prepared to offer you this assistance � and you do need it. Desperately. All writers need it.

We will help you with many other things as well.

1. You will improve your writing skills
2. You will give more oomph to your writing
3. You will be able to benefit from the Jewish Writing Forum. That will offer several additional benefits:
   • You can lean on us as a support group
   • You can make new cyberfriends who are also involved in writing about Jewish topics � just as you do

What are some other advantages to critiquing on Jewish Writing?

1. It is fast. With any luck, the first critiques will begin to flow in several hours after they are posted.
2. You don't have to get together for personal meetings to discuss your material in person. We�ll handle all of these meetings on line, at everybody's convenience.
3. The price is definitely right. Jewish Writing is still free (although donations are always welcome).
4. You don't have to distribute copies to others.
5. You don't have to pay regular dues for each meeting.
6. You don't have to worry whether the refreshments are kosher. Bring your own refreshments � BYOB � and sit down at your own computer.
7. There's no way to get stage fright (unless that's where you plant your computer).
8. You don't have to show how well you can present your material to an audience. We only know you as an email address.
9. You don't have to sit around a table and fidget or blush while others destroy your best work.
10. Even if you are usually very reserved, you can feel free to comment on other people�s material without being embarrassed.
11. We'll minimize many of the potential problems by moderating the group. We'll remove any obvious troublemakers before you know about them.

So what's the downside?

No system is perfect.

1. We haven�t checked anybody's qualifications. That's how you were lucky enough to be accepted so easily to the group :-).
   Thus, you will receive comments from people with varying qualifications, knowledge, and experience. You will have to sift through their comments and decide what to accept. Our group discussions will help, but the final decision is up to you.
2. You may face a personality conflict with another member on the group.
   This can happen on any on-line or personal meeting. That's what group dynamics is all about.
   Please don't be personally offended if you are attacked. Relax.
3. You may want to chat about issues. Sorry. Chatting is not allowed on the Jewish Writing group or on most of the other Jewish Groups in our series. These groups are serious.
   We want to maintain the high level of the discussions. For this reason, Jewish Writing is moderated strictly. Most off-topic issues are not put through. In most cases, the moderator will not be able to explain why your comment has been rejected, because of the volume of comments that is received.
   Some people like this, other people don't.
   Some people will appreciate the fact that their email boxes will not be stuffed with irrelevant comments. Others may feel offended, because their own particular gem was not put through.
4. Some people may feel that the time they spend critiquing takes away from their own writing.
   Wise writers do not see this as a problem. You may be able to learn more from critiquing others and from reading other people�s critiques than by actually writing.

Our Jewish Groups have netiquette requirements. They affect our critiques on Jewish Writing, because we are writing about each other�s works. Therefore, comments should be restricted to the work itself. Ad hominem comments are verboten. Please realize that others have presented their best work.

That doesn't mean that you have the right to be nasty when we don't know about it. Don't flame subscribers off-line, or you will be removed from Jewish Writing.

Furthermore, Jewish Writing is a discussion group. That means that we expect to have a discussion. When you comment off-line, others are deprived of your worthwhile comments. We can�t have much of a discussion that way, can we?

What are we expecting you to write in your critique?

Your critique should have the same Subject: line as the manuscript. It should give us sufficient information and details, so that we know what you are writing about.

1. Don't write, "I liked it" or "I didn�t like it."
2. Don't just agree or disagree with somebody else's comments.
3. Do give supporting reasons for your statements.
4. Do give constructive criticisms.
5. Do tell us specifically what you liked or disliked about the document, or what was bad or good about it.
6. Do stress the good aspects of the manuscript.
7. Do tell the writer what to do in order to improve the manuscript.
8. Do indicate what should be added or removed from the manuscript, giving specific locations.
9. Do remember the Jewish guidelines for calumny or for offenses to other writers.
10. If a manuscript is generally good, then don't worry about crossing every t and dotting every i (your computer will do that automatically anyhow!). We don't want you to show off the little irrelevant things that you have noticed.

How should you act when your own manuscript is being critiqued?

Be polite. When it's completed, it would be polite to thank those who submitted critiques - even if you do not agree with everything that was written.

Comment on your critique on-line. We want your feedback.

Don't respond defensively or self-consciously to those who attack your writing. Remain gentle, kind, and constructive - even though you may have been attacked. The person who critiqued you has nothing against you as an individual. His critique was not meant to hurt you.

What will you gain from critiquing? Will your writing improve as a result?

You bet it will.

Your critiques of others' work will help you note weaknesses or problems in your own writing. If you become sensitive to other's inconsistencies, then you will recognize your own. If you see how others use the best possible terminology, then you will be more sensitive about your own.

Critiquing may indeed be one of the most effective and pleasant ways to improve your own writing.

But that's not all.

Writers work by themselves - and that work can sometimes be very lonely. Others who enter the room are considered a disturbance or nuisance. Jewish Writing can help you share your feelings and ideas about the writing process with other people. It can thereby eliminate some of the lonesomeness or solitude. Yes, you are a writer, but you are now part of a social group of writers that is working towards a joint cause.

Furthermore, it�s good to know that other writers face the same writer�s block, difficulties with clients, and problems choosing le bon mot. By helping others, you are ultimately becoming a better writer yourself. Your time and effort invested in critiquing is compensated many times over by your increased effectiveness.

One subscriber said it best:

Critiquing.... sometimes it's welcome, and sometimes it shows that the reader simply doesn't 'get' the piece. This could be because the writer and the reader are on different wavelengths, because the writing was not clear, or because of the reader's lack of attentiveness.

Writers can be a little egotistical or subconsciously jealous of writers of a similar genre (Kin'at Sofrim). This results in a lack of proper or objective attentiveness. On the other hand, some critiquing is perceptive and helpful.

After reading the suggestions, some of the proposed changes may be very helpful, others may be unnecessary, and still others may prompt you to make alternative changes.

However, any critiquing can be constructive. You, the writer, must decide whether the critique is valid, and how to gain from it.

Click here for subject and title lists of articles by David Grossman

Copyright © David Grossman. World rights reserved. This article may not be printed, forwarded, reproduced, or copied in any way or in any medium without written permission from David Grossman.

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