posted
Here at Hatrack, we post our 13 lines, opening them up for public crit. Over at the Wotf forums, we exchange the first two pages of our stories, to see if we're on the right track.
There's a short list of questions to answer, which, after having critted a few 450s, I've found to be extremely helpful. They focus my thinking while reading, and allow me to formulate thoughts into a written response beyond that of just answering the questions.
Long story long... I wonder if we could come up with a similar list of questions for those exchanging and critiquing the WotF based stories here.
These would be totally optional, of course, but if someone else finds them as helpful as I have, then I figure it's worth posting them.
Also, these are just what I stole, and enhanced on my own. If others dig this idea, feel free to just use these, or better yet, suggest more or different questions. i.e. these are up for debate.
1) Is there a clearly recognizable speculative element?
1a) What's the big idea? (Was there something unique/new about this story, if so, what?)
2) Does the story keep your interest all the way through?
3) Does the question set up in the beginning, get answered at the end?
4) Is the plot easily identifiable early on?
5) Does the MC or the MC's world undergo any change? (Physically or emotionally)
6) Is the MC likeable, or at least interesting?
7) Is there conflict? Is there suspense?
8) Is the world clearly drawn? (Colors, atmosphere, population.)
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