Here’s a guest post by Alex Cabal, the man behind the curtain at Scribophile. Don’t know what Scrib is? Read on to find out.

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Alex Introduces Himself

I’m lucky to have been running Scribophile, one of the largest online writing workshops and communities, for many years now. At Scribophile tens of thousands of members from all over the world come together to earn what we call “karma points” by critiquing each other’s writing, and then they spend those points on posting their own writing for critique. This give-and-take system ensures that everyone who posts a work for feedback is guaranteed to get it, but it also means that everyone has to put some work in before they can start getting feedback themselves.

A Popular Question

New members often ask me, “Why should I spend time critiquing other people’s work? It sounds like a lot of effort!”

And My Answer …

It certainly is a lot of effort! The kind of critiques we accept at Scribophile are the kind that provide a significant amount of constructive feedback — that is, actionable ways for the author to improve. Writing those kinds of critiques requires a lot of close reading, with careful attention paid to craft. They can go into such detail that our members can sometimes spend an hour or more writing a single lengthy and comprehensive critique for their fellow writers.

The Advantage of Critiquing

What many beginning writers don’t realize, though, is that spending time carefully analyzing someone else’s writing and composing thoughts on how to improve it is one of the most important things you can do to improve your own writing!

You see, as you spend time developing the skill of meticulous and detailed critique, you gain the power to turn that practiced eye toward what you’ve written yourself. And your writing will start improving, too!

Another Question

Once I explain that to our new members, I often see the lightbulb turn on over their heads. And their next question usually is, “But how am I supposed to critique writing if I’m still learning how to write myself? How do I write a great critique?”

That’s another excellent question, and I like to frame the answer like this: Have you ever gone out to see a movie? After the credits roll, have you ever turned to your friend and discussed how the movie was good, or bad, or mediocre? As moviegoers we do that all the time — discuss how a movie was great because of its pacing, or that some of the scenes were too slow, or that the acting was wooden, or that the effects were spectacular.

And yet how many of us have actually sat down to make a movie ourselves? Not so many of us!

Can You See Where I’m Going With This?

We can critique writing as regular readers in the same way we can critique movies as regular moviegoers. You don’t have to be Steven Spielberg to point out ways a movie could be better, and you don’t have to be Jonathan Franzen to do the same for a book.

Of course as you read more about the craft of writing and learn the special terms and techniques writers use, you’ll become more adept at critiquing, and you’ll be able to spot more subtle and complex writing issues. Just like a moviegoer might be able to point out that something was off with the acting, while an amateur filmmaker might be able to expand on that and say that the delivery was too quick, and that the actor was too frequently late on cue. Once you start learning the technical side of the writing craft and how to spot specific and complex mistakes, you’ll be able to avoid those same issues in your own writing, too.

It’s One of the Best Things You Can Do for Yourself

So while at first critiquing might seem like a burden, in truth it’s one of the best things you can do for yourself as a writer. Learning to pick apart a work and improve it is the fastest and most rewarding way to build your own writing skill.

There are plenty of writing groups online that can help you improve your critiquing and your writing — Scribophile isn’t the only one, though we are one of the biggest ones. If you prefer face-to-face interaction, your area may also have an in-person writing group you can audit. But however you choose to advance your writing education, remember that even though critiquing may seem tough, it’s by far the best bang for your buck you’ll get in terms of developing long-term writing talent.

Scribophile is built on critiquing, and it’s that culture of lending each other a friendly hand that has helped us grow into the huge and welcoming community we are today. We’d love for you to stop by!

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The text of this post is released to the public domain via the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. It is free of copyright restrictions worldwide.

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