QUESTIONS TO ASK AND ANSWER IN CRITICISM

 

 

 

1. Is the title interesting, relevant, and useful?

 

2. Is the first sentence interesting and evocative? Does it make you want to read on?

 

3. Does the first paragraph accurately lead you into the main thrust of the story, create expectations and arouse curiosity?

 

4. Does the main body lead logically from the first paragraph and fulfill these expectations, satisfy your curiosity?

 

5. Is the subject interesting? Has the writer accepted and met the challenge of making what might be a trivial or mundane subject interesting?

 

6. Does it stall out in the middle, marking time, or does it move forward toward a climax in a logical way?

 

7. What effect does the writer seem to be trying to achieve? What does the writer seem to expect or want from you as a reader?

 

8. What effect(s) does the piece have on you? The same as the writer intended?

 

9. Does the climax come naturally from what has gone before?

 

10. Does the ending leave important questions unanswered?

 

11. Does the ending jolt abruptly or trail off weakly, repeating what the piece has already accomplished?

 

12. Are the images sharp, clear and interesting? Or are they hackneyed, cliche-ridden, and dull?

 

13. Is the writer's "voice" natural and interesting, or is it inappropriately formal or too colloquial? Does it intrude between you and the subject, or does it serve as an inobtrusive guide?

 

14. Would you want to reread it?

 

15. Are the tone, the writer's attitude and the atmosphere internally consistent with one another?

 

16. In what way were you dissatisfied when you finished, if at all? How could it be improved?