I've been talking about this for more than a month and it's finally here: The Lit Crit Contest!

The purpose of this contest is to encourage critique and to reward those of our community who critique well. This idea came up during a discussion at the Lit Goals 2008 thread. Quite simply, I think our goal should be to foster a spirit of critiquing in the dA lit community because it will lead to better writing. It's like an equation, but not really.

How to enter

Step 1: Pick a poem or prose piece from the list below:

POETRY

Open

Adeline, Sociopolitical
diversionary, Human Nature
Dream Cars, General Poetry
Moon Milk, Other Romance
Stereotypes Pt. 2 - Black, Satire
Where do you lead?, General Poetry

Fixed

4:29PM, General Poetry
Dim-Lit Transferences, Other Romance
Mexican Lament, Humour

PROSE

A Snowflake on my Shoulder, Life Stories
Averted, Fantasy
Bad Poetry, Mature Romantic
Farenheit 451: Take Two, Satire
Flight, Fantasy
Not From Here, Teen Romance
Renunciation, Perspectives
Car park politics, Theatre & Scripts
Sunken Treasure, General Fiction

I have permission from these writers, so don't worry.

Step 2: Read the piece carefully and write a critique on it, but do not post it at the deviation. The reason for this is that once someone has left critique on a deviation, it might be difficult for others to write their own without repeating things. Do not worry about your critique not reaching the writer. I plan to post all critiques at the deviations once the contest is over.

Step 3: Once your critique is proofread and ready to be treated as a contest entry, send it in a note to `lovetodeviate. In this note, please mention clearly which piece you have chosen to critique. If you prefer sending your critique by email, note me and ask.

The deadline is midnight February 10, 2008. All times are set for GMT.

Rules

I don't think there should be any restrictions on the way you critique, stylistically or otherwise. It can be as long or as short as you like. But there is one thing that will immediately lead to disqualification: rudeness. Rudeness includes racial and sexist comments and anything else that demeans the writer. In short: focus all critical attention on the writing and not the writer. The judges and I will decide what is and what is not acceptable, but we don't expect any such behaviour. Critics are essentially good people, we think.

The other two things that can lead to disqualification are: a) posting the critique at the deviation and then submitting the critique for the contest, and b) submitting a critique on a deviation not included in the above list. There is nothing at all wrong with posting critique wherever you like, and please don't stop any other critiquing plans you had, but for the purposes of this contest, I have to include these two rules.

Guidelines

Not as necessary as the rules given above, but these should help improve the quality of your critique:

Spend a good deal of time with the piece before you write your critique. Make notes if necessary.
Adjust your level of critique to the level of the writer.
Try to give suggestions or examples wherever you feel your critical comments are sounding too vague.

Doubts you may have

Are multiple submissions allowed?

Yes, they are. The more you critique, the better it is for the community. To make it easy for the judges, however, I'm putting an upper limit of 5 critique entrie per person.

But I don't have much/any experience critiquing!

That shouldn't stop you. Good critique does not only come from people who know all the big words. All it requires is some dedication and patience. In fact, if you are new to critique, I strongly recommend that you enter this contest. It will be good practice. If you need any guides, look below.

Critique Resources

In case you'd like to read up on critique, I've made a list of resources at my journal.The list contains:

A list of good critiques, suggested by many kind people - No need to emulate these critiques; they are up only for reference and to demonstrate that there are different styles of critiquing.

Guides on critique - Again, these are not the word on the subject, but you may find them useful.

CRITIQUE by `tangledweb
A Verbose Guide to Critiquing by ~Mavyrk
A Guide to Good Critique (Literature) by, unfortunately, me

A list of discussions on critique

The Judges

and

`SparrowSong and *diamondie are people I admire a lot. They are both excellent critics. I will help them in case of a tie, but otherwise, their decision is final.

The Prize Pool

I have not decided how to arrange these prizes yet. There will be a first, second and third place, and depending on the way things turn out, there may be more places.

Subs
1 year dA subscription from *Audley
1 year dA subscription from `Beccalicious (to be broken up as required)
3 month dA subscription from =MSJames
3 month dA subscription from *salshep
1 month dA subscription from *poprocksandcharlotte
4 month subcription to the poetry magazine, Mimesis, from *Adeimantus
A year's subscription to a literary magazine of the winner's choice worth $25 or thereabouts OR (see next section)

Wishlist items/Mugs/Art work commissions/Gift Cards
The winner's choice of either a wishlist item worth $25 from *wordworks
An 8X11 inkwork commission from ~thepurplemonster
A mug from `PinkyMcCoversong's gallery or a lit mug of the winner's choice from `PinkyMcCoversong
Amazon gifts cards worth $25, $20 and $15 from `lovetodeviate

Critique/Recordings
The workshopping of one poem or flash-fiction piece to publication standard (if requested) by *salshep
A recording of a poem of the winner's choice by *salshep
3 in-depth critiques from *salshep
A mini-comic feature from *apocathary
A recording of a piece of the winner's choice by *apocathary
An in-depth critique from =WineWriter

Journal features
from *damnLit - the official literature channel, *apocathary, *Amberlouie, *Audley, *poprocksandcharlotte, =ProSI, =Squarix, and =WineWriter

Also, a prize from *tightwhitepants. He shall make up his mind soon.

Thank you

Thank you for the support so far. The prize pool is fantastic because of the wonderful people who donated them. I appreciate advice given by various people as well.

That's all! Happy critiquing, everyone! I look forward to your entries.