Critiques: “I Need to Know More About …”

When swapping critiques, there are times when a critic might say, “I need to know more about …” Before you edit to answer their question, you have to figure out: do they need to know more, or do they want to know more?

Don’t be afraid to ask the critic to clarify. If you’ve written something really good, they might be expressing excitement.

For example, I wish there were more scenes with the hellhound from Good Omens. The hellhound is my favorite character, but it only has a minor focus.

If I had critiqued Good Omens, I might have said I needed more scenes with the dog. But really, the few pages that feature the hellhound are golden, and adding more might have degraded the story.

Some of our critiquers wanted the mime from Dream Eater’s Carnival to be in more scenes. Mimes are interesting because they can’t communicate with words. But, if they stay too long, their convoluted method of communication would bog down the story. The mime could speak – but too much dialog ruins the effect.

When you critique others’ work, make it clear when lack of information detracts from the story and when you just want to know more.