Points For Author Interrogation
by Kim Kozlowski
copyright 1999
Using the below points in your critique group will help not only the author, but
also the critiquer grow as a writer.
- 1. Has author taken creative license, or is material well-researched and factual?
- 2. Does author know characters" (Can author answer questions about character without referring- to notes or repling, "I don t know")
- 3. Do characters stay in character: are they consistent in word and in action?
- 4. Does author use over-worked words and phrases, flirts with redundancies?
- 5. Is dialogue natural or stiff and stilted? (Contractions make dialogue natural even if it's the 1600's and in "real life" people spoke the Queen's English it's still hard for a modem-day reader to visually digest.)
- 6. Is dialogue essential to scene, or just there as a page filler?
- 7. Does dialogue flow smoothly?
- 8. If a character has an accent, is it readable and natural sounding? (Do not use phonetics for dialect. Select a few phrases or words that hint at accent).
- 9. Has author inserted unnecessary description or narrative into middle of action scene?
- 10. Does every scene lead smoothly into the next.
- 11. Does every chapter have a high point?
- 12. Do characters react to and reflect on what's been taking place around them?
- 13. Do all scenes move story forward?
- 14. Did author tell you what happened in the scene, or did author show you through character POV and use of the 5 senses.
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