A critique letter is a formal, written reaction to a fictional work, intended to help you talk about how a writer can improve his or her story. It should be an intelligent, articulate response to the work, in which you attempt to locate your opinions in specific elements of design and execution. I don’t expect you to like every story you read. Moreover, I don’t expect you to be empty of personal tastes and biases when reading a story. Yet, I don’t want you to not think about a story simply because you don’t like it. “I didn’t like this story—it’s not my taste” is not suitable content for a critique. “I didn’t like this story because the mother doesn’t seem like a real person” is getting closer to what we want. “The mother doesn’t seem to be a real person, and doesn’t transcend stereotype—all she does is cook dinner and do the laundry without having any personality of her own” is even closer. In this sense, critique letters are about craft and storytelling, not personal taste.

For each workshop, you wil have to do critique letters that put your reactions to the piece in question into words. Regardless of the type of letter, a good critique letter is about one page single spaced, and it does its level best to be quantitative rather than qualitative, and diagnostic rather than evaluative. If the occasions for the different letter types seem confusing, don't fret—I will tell you which one you are doing each time, and it will become routine. There are three kinds of critique letters that I will assign:

• "Best of the Bunch": These letters are written to me, although I reserve the right to share them with the whole class. These kinds of letters are reserved for flash only, and they respond only to one person in the class, detailing why that piece was the best written that day and why. When I collect these kinds of letters, you will bring one copy of the letter to class for me and one for the writer to whom you are responding. That's it.
• "Letter to the Class" These letters are written to all authors workshopped on the day. You will respond to all pieces for that day in one letter, using at least 300 words on each story, single spaced and stapled together if you go more than one page. You will bring these letters to class—one copy for each writer being workshopped, and one copy for me. You will write "Letter to the Class" letters during the our full class workshop cycle.
• "Letter to the Group": These letters are written in our small group workshops and are similar to the Letter to the Class except that in addition to the critique, you will try to draw comparisons between the different stories you have read for that day. You will bring copies of these letters for each of the writers being workshopped and one for me. You will write Letters to the Group during our small group workshops.

The goal here is not just so that the writer can receive advice—the reasons that you have to write so many letters are many. You need to become a critical reader of fiction so you can eventually apply your critical eye to your own work. You need to learn to identify and put into words the things you want to say about a story to gain more authority over the subject. The more you can interact with a story, the more you can understand what the story is trying to do, what the writer is trying to do, and how the two may or may not be reconciled. Regardless of the type of letter you are writing, you should consider the following:

1. Read it at least twice, commenting in the margins, asking yourself questions, considering possible interpretations. Your first read can be a skim if you want, as you gather in the plot, but you want to make sure that you mark areas where you are confused or alienated from the narrative. Often, marginalia is just as helpful as written criticism.
2. When you make comments, try to root them in a discussion of craft—things like character, setting, dialogue, etc.—these are the basic elements we use as writers, and the things upon which we will be concentrating.
3. When you find problems, try to propose a solution rooted in craft.
4. Try to isolate strengths as well as weaknesses. Make sure to anchor your opinions to specific references from the text.
5. Although this is not an introduction, do consider authorial intent and genre.
6. Do not focus on grammar errors or misspellings (unless grammar confusion interferes with your ability to figure out what is going on in the text). Focus on the text and the movements of the narrative. If all you can do is note grammar and spelling errors, it’s likely that you aren’t reading closely enough.
7. No anonymous critiques. Critiques must always have your name on them. It’s important that you be able to state your opinions on a story, as well as state your opinions on what makes a good story, and stand behind them.

Tone: The tone should be civilized but honest, free of both sarcasm and mindless praise. While we need honest critiques, remember to be conscious of people’s feelings; intentionally hurtful or malicious critiques will not be tolerated in this class.

Form: Critiques should be single-spaced between 300-500 words (you can write more if you want). I won’t actually be counting the words you write, but I will be looking to see that you’ve read the story and have given it consideration in terms of craft. If you have more than one page, either make it double-sided or staple them together for me.

Due Dates: Critiques are due in class on the day that we workshop those particular stories. Because we have such a large class, late critique letters will not be accepted or for credit.