Questions you might want to ask about your work

Here at Firefly, it’s critical that writers are in charge of the critique they receive.

Without thoughtful structure, feedback sessions can become tainted by competitiveness, ego and harm. These often go unnoticed except by the people hurt by them.

But as writers, we know what we need. We can ask for it. Here are some questions to help you do that.

For more about how we curate feedback in Firefly workshops, see our Feedback Manifesto.

General questions (poetry, memoir, fiction, blog posts — everything)

• Does it pull you in at the start? If not, where does you attention get hooked?

• Do you ever get lost? Do you phase out? Can you mark the exact point where you phased out, and where you came back in?

• Is anything confusing?

• Is anything cumbersome or over-explained?

• Did it feel like it was over before we got to the end? Is there an earlier possible ending?

• Describe what you see me doing in this piece. What is the heart of this? What is the intention?

• Did you learn anything new in this piece? What?

• Do you see any clichés or overused phrases here that I could replace for something more original to me?

• Do you think this work could cause harm? Am I bringing any unconscious or conscious bias to it?

• Who do you think would love to read this? Where could I share it?

• What were the main emotions you felt while reading? When and where did they change? What emotion were you left with at the end?

• Are the tenses consistent? Do I ever change to another tense without noticing it?

• Is there anywhere where more research is needed, or would be helpful?

• Am I glossing over anything? Does it ever feel like I’m side-stepping important parts out of fear or resistance?

Questions that are specific to stories (fiction or memoir)

• Can you see and feel the places I’m describing? Where and how?

• What about the pacing — is there anywhere where I’m pausing too long to describe something? Or, is there anywhere where the action is too fast and you want me to describe more?

• Did it feel over when it ended? Had the story come to a close? Had the character(s) changed?

• Did you have a sense of what the characters wanted? Did you want it for them?

• What is your sense of the main character, or sub characters? Tell me about who they are, based on what you learned in this piece.

• Who do you have the most sympathy for? Who do you have the least sympathy for? What parts made you feel that way?

• What do you want to know more about?

• For memoir — did you feel like you got a sense of who I am in this story? Did you ever sense that I was holding back my own opinions or feelings to stay safe?

Questions that are specific to poetry

• What did you take from this poem? What do you imagine I was trying to do?

• What was the most important line for you? Why?

• Did any words or phrases feel dissonant, like they didn’t fit?

• Is there more than one poem inside this one?

• Are there any places where less words might create more meaning? If I had to cut it down by 1/4, what would you suggest I cut?

• How did the spacing on the page feel to you? How did it change you experience of the poem to have it spaced like this?

Questions that are specific to blog posts

• What did this give you? What was the offering in this post.

• Is there another format I could have used to present this information, so that it would be more compelling or fun to read? A list, a letter?

• Is the image catchy and compelling? Would it get your attention? Any other ideas for images I could use?

• Does the title grip you? Any other ideas of possible titles?

• Can you see anywhere where I could break into a bullet pointed list in order to create more scanability and space on the page?

• Was it wildly easy to read, so that even someone quickly scanning could take it in?

• If I want to use this as a tool for networking, are there any organizations or influential people who might re-post or share this?

Do you have more? Hit us up! This is a living document, it keeps evolving through conversation, connection and growth.