Activity

Hey! So, I’ve come  across a problem. So… what do you do in this situation:

A friend emails you with their story asking for critiques because you’re writing buddies and that’s what you do. You look it over, but you really can’t stand to read too much more because you love fantasy and really only like to stick to fantasy and your friend is the same way… but with historical fiction. She likes to write very dignified and loves to stick to complete sentences and write with a professional L.M.Montgomery vibe. You write to get your point across and add those exciting action scenes where pretty much every word is a different sentence and it’s like a comic book in story form. BUT. You hate it when someone responds to you without any critiques and you know your friend would really love some help with her story, too, and you know exactly what to fix and where to fix it- but you know it would really sound more like your own book than hers.

So, what does one do? Respond and say with dignity, “Sorry, that’s not my writing style and I can’t help ya” or “Fix this, this, and this, and it’ll be great. And. Break. Up. Those. Sentences!”

How are you supposed to critique someone who writes differently from you? Also, how can you critique someone’s work that really kinda seems horrible to your own view but you don’t want to hurt their feelings and comment on every paragraph in Google Docs… where it really may just be your own preference after all?