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

There are more reasons to critique as well. We'll read about them soon. However, let's understand the process first. Here's how critiquing works:

Any subscriber to Jewish Writing may submit a document or a manuscript. It should be brief and it should follow our rules.

The other people in the group will review and comment on your precious material over the course of the week.

Will this critiquing be useful?

Yes, very much so. Our fine subscribers are also writers, just like you.

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 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 we are thinking of raising some money to cover the cost of running this show).
4. You don't have to spend money on copies to distribute 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. We don't know anything about you or your background except what you choose to write in your biography.
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. If you're still nervous, then go ahead and open a freebie email address so that you can hide behind a stage name and remain completely anonymous.
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 down side?

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 groups 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 very 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 can learn more from critiquing others and from reading other people�s critiques than by actually writing.
5. The anonymity in the previous section can also be a disadvantage. Some people may respond without thinking - because nobody knows who they really are. True, others may respond to these comments, but the rest of us did have to read the initial document.

Won't some people want their wonderful magnum opus to be critiqued right away?

Sorry. Can't oblige. We'll have to follow a strict and fair schedule. If this becomes a problem, then we have a solution: Only those who have presented serious and worthwhile critiques will have the right to present a manuscript for others to critique. This will improve the level of critiquing and it will encourage people to critique others. No, we didn't implement that rule yet. However, it might be on the way.

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 article, 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 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 the single most effective and pleasant way 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 with other people as part of the writing process. It can thereby eliminate this 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 really helping yourself. You are ultimately becoming a better writer. Your time and effort invested in critiquing is compensated many times over by your increased effectiveness as a writer of Jewish topics.

One subscriber said it best:

Critiquing.... sometimes it's welcome it, 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, or 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 as objectively as possible whether the critique is valid and how to gain from it.

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