Subjective VS Objective Criticism - How to Improve Your Writing While Consuming Other Stories

You’ll often here writers say that you need to read, watch, or listen to stories in order to be a better writer, but what does that mean in practice? How do you consume media from a critical perspective?

Generally speaking, if you want to be a better writer, then you need to be able to coherently articulate not only if you liked a piece of media, but whyyou feel that way. A big part of this is understanding the difference between subjective and objective criticism.

Subjective criticism is criticism based solely on personal taste. When we use subjective criticism, we’re usually expressing how a work made us feel and there’s no real argument for or against that type of criticism. You either like something or you don’t. It can be one of the most well loved stories of all time still not appeal to you and that’s fine! However, it’s important to be able to identify personal taste verses actual writing issues and that’s where objective criticism comes in.

Objective criticism is criticism based on technical elements of storytelling. When we use objective criticism, we step back from our feelings and look at things like the story’s pacing or character arcs and discuss if there was room for improvement. Part of this is thinking about how those improvements could have been done.

Do know that you can love a work and still be able to point out flaws with it. Similarly, you can hate a work and still be able to point out its strengths. It’s also worth noting that there is a subjective element to objective criticism in that different viewers will give different weight to an objective flaw. Some people will see a flaw as ruining a story while others will view it as a minor issue and, in most cases, neither viewpoint is wrong.

These differences are incredibly important to keep in mind when we discuss media. Disliking something doesn’t mean that it’s bad and liking something doesn’t mean that it’s good. Acknowledging a flaw in something you love isn’t the same as condemning it as trash and finding a flaw doesn’t mean that others have to give that flaw the same weight that you do. A story can have objective flaws while still bringing joy even if the flaws are massive. After all, there’s nothing wrong with a good, old-fashion guilty pleasure, which I define as something you like, but know is objectively bad.

For an example of these two types of criticism, I’m going to give a very quick critique of Pixar’s new movie Turning Red. I was not a fan of this movie, but a lot my criticisms are subjective ones and I’m well aware of this, which is why I thought it would make for a good case study on this concept. I know that the movie is decent and I’m glad that people like it. It’s just not for me. Warning, spoilers below the cut!

Subjective Example:Turning Red has too much of a focus on celebrity-style crushes for it to be an enjoyable film. Nothing about that statement is an objective fact. There’s nothing wrong with celebrity-style crushes and they’re a super common thing for teenage girls. I just never had one and always found the whole concept weird, so I don’t like stories that have those types of crushes as a strong part of the narrative. It’s good that I know this, because it means that I don’t have to try and justify that criticism. I don’t have to try and argue that this is a true flaw with the film because it’s not. I also have nothing to learn from my dislike for this element of the film. There’s nothing that I could recommend as an improvement here. If anything, I can appreciate this movie for giving me perspective on writing characters who are wildly different from me.

Objective Example:Turning Red’s climax failed to fully address the conflicts that the movie had set up. This one is a far more objective criticism. I can give a full logic as to why I feel this way based on how the narrative is told and I can discuss how it could be improved.

Throughout the film, Mei’s mother – Ming – is constantly repressing her daughter. Mei never actually speaks up about these feelings and instead constantly lies to Ming. A prime example of this is that Mei is able to control her magical powers because of her connection to her friends, but she lies and tells Ming that she can control her powers because of her connection to her parents.

Ming never learns that this is the case. In fact, we never get a scene where Mei and Ming really talk about this conflict. Instead, the climax focuses on a magical fight and, by the fight’s end, Ming goes from angry to accepting her daughter. We get some idea that this is because Ming had similar issues with her own mother, but that conflict is never full explored. It’s just implied that remembering that conflict made Ming forgive and accept Mei. Also, Mei never has to face consequences for lying to Ming.

All of these things are objective facts that we can discuss in order to see if the climax could have been improved to be more impactful. Like, should the film have cut out Mei’s extended family and focus on her relationship with Ming instead? Should the climax have had a flashback style scene like in Encanto? A scene which let Mei understand Ming and made Ming realize that she’d forgotten what it was like to be 13? Should Ming have kept her powers, too? Was the climax fine as is and this weakness feels like more of a nitpick to you? Thinking about questions like that is how you actually improve your writing.

Writing scenes between two characters of the same gender can be difficult because pronouns seem to abandon you and you’re only working with two names which means that you have to get creative or else you’re going to be using each name 100 times over in the space of a few paragraphs. Here’s two thoughts on that:

Once you’ve announced which person you’re describing, you don’t need to use their name again.

Version 1

Emily could feel the tension emanating from Amy. Could feel Amy’s rigidly controlled shields fading. Even Amy’s hands announced her intent, tightly balled fists screaming fight.

Version 2

Emily could feel Amy’s tension emanating throughout the room. Could sense the rigidly controlled shields fading. Everything from the woman’s blazing blue eyes to her tightly balled fists screamed fight.

Along the same lines, if there are two people in a scene and the action is happening to one of them, it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that the person performing the act is the second character.

Version 1

Within seconds, Amy’s fist had slammed into Emily’s gut.

Version 2

Within seconds, her fist had slammed into Emily’s gut.

Version 1

“You’re incredible,” Eric told Jim when they came up for air.

Version 2

When they came up for air, Eric whispered, “You’re incredible.”

As always, feel free to ask for more examples.

(Full document here, part one here, part two here, part three here)

Foreshadowing is one of the most powerful techniques a writer has. It’s how we make readers feel that our stories make sense. In the Harry Potter series, we come across two types of foreshadowing: foreshadowing of book-specific events and foreshadowing of events that will occur other books.

I try to write my stories in such a way that a reader won’t know what’s going to happen the first time they read that story, but the second time they read the story they’ll see the ending coming a mile away. This is apparently a technique Mrs. Rowling likes to use as well because it’s all through the Harry Potter books.

In book one we see Harry talking to a snake and think nothing of it. In book two, we learn this is actually a big deal as only parselmouths can talk to snakes. Then later still we learn that Harry has this ability due to the fact that he’s got a bit of Voldemort stuck inside of him.

Events build together to make a cohesive story. If you don’t build up events in this way, making it so that, when a reader knows the ending, everything makes sense, then you’re going to find that there aren’t a lot of people who want to read your stories because building events together does more than make for a good story, it makes for a good world. A world where everything ties together and you feel a connection to the whole.

When rereading book one of Harry Potter, a reader isn’t just experiencing book one. They’re experiencing almost every book to come. When Hagrid arrives on that flying motorcycle and mentions it came from “young Serius Black,” the reader is suddenly drawn away to book three. To Harry meeting his godfather for the first time and discovering there’s someone out there who loves him and wants to take him in. When Mr. Ollivander talks about the phoenix feather in Harry’s wand, the reader is thinking about everything that wand will do and about Harry meeting that special phoenix who will eventually save his life.

That’s the power of foreshadowing so, when you’re writing your stories, don’t focus on surprising your readers. Focus on making a world. Focus on making a place that will capture someone’s heart. Focus on the magic that comes from writing something so powerful that you’ll be able to draw someone away from the darkness in their lives and into the protective light of a good story.

(Full document here, part one here, part two here)

Last time we talked about the plot of Harry Potter, now it’s time to talk about the characters. Starting with everyone’s favorites: Fred and George Weasley.

Most people fall in love with these two by the end of book one and it’s no wonder. They’re fantastic. But do you know that, of all 312 pages of my copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Fred and George are only mentioned on 28. I do mean mentioned, too. If I only counted pages where the boys are physically present, the number would drop below 20.

This is the power of using characters well. Of knowing just what to have them say or what to have them do in order to have your readers love them.

In the case of the Weasley twins, they’re power is in their actions and dialog. From the first scene we see them, we know that these two are jokers, but we also get a sense of their kind hearts when they help Harry get his things onto the train. We don’t have to be told they’re funny, we see that ourselves and that’s how you want it work. Never tell your readers how to feel about a character, that does nothing. Instead, show them who a character is and then allow them to form their own opinions.

Another excellent example of this is a character who gets even less “screen time” than the twins: Mrs. Weasley. She’s mentioned only a handful of times in the book and appears only twice, yet the reader gets a good feeling for who she is. We know she’s kind from how she treats Harry: telling her children to not mess with him and taking the time to make him a sweater for Christmas. The reader likes her and, when she shows up in book two, we already feel like we have a good sense of who she is.

When trying to develop your own characters, think about the characters you love. Think about why you love them and what the author who created them did to make them come to life for you. This technique applies to every character, even the main one because most people will have decided whether or not they like your main character pretty early on, so you’ve got to set them up well from the start.

J.K. Rowling does this for Harry by having chapter two of the book be about Harry and very little else. Sure, things happen in that chapter, but none of it has anything to do with the plot (yes, it sets up book 2, we’ll get to that in a bit). This is what we call a character event. Something that is added to the book for no reason other than to establish a character. They can be full scenes, bonus moments/bits of dialog, or even offhand mentions of something and Harry Potter is full of all three. Most well written books are.

Some examples of scene events are:

Harry meeting Draco at the Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions – this event does nothing other than set up Draco, but it’s needed so that Harry already knows what he thinks of Draco when the other boy shows up on the Hogwarts Express

Harry offering Ron his sweets – while this scene includes the moment where Harry first reads the name Nicholas Flamel, that’s not the point of the scene. The point is to bond Harry and Ron as friends and to show that Harry has a kind heart.

Snape making fun of Harry by showing all he doesn’t know – a scene that does little more than show us that Snape really doesn’t like Harry

Bonus moments and bits of dialog are things that are added to a scene in order to develop a character. These are things like:

“The Great Humberto’s on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television.” – Dudley Dursley

“I’m not Fred, I’m George. Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother?” – Fred Weasley

Neville coming around the Hogwarts express looking for his toad.

“I hope you’re pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed – or worse, expelled.” – Hermione Granger

“And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor – what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too…” – Lee Jordan

Fred and George stealing Percy’s prefect badge and having him chase them down to get it back.

All of these actions or lines could have only come from the characters that did or said them. They feel right when you read them. Have Harry say Lee’s lines or Hermione steal Percy’s prefect badge and, no, that would be wrong. That’s why these things are so important. They’re the little things that add flavor to a character and make them feel like a real person.

Offhand mentions are the least common way to go about character development. They’re things that one character mentions about another in order to develop the character who’s being mentioned. Some examples are:

Uncle Vernon mentioning that his sister hates Harry

Dumbledore mentioning that the Weasley twins tried to send Harry a toilet seat

Okay, I think that about wraps up this bit on character development. Hopefully it’s given you something to think about in regards to your own writing and, as always, feel free to ask questions about anything I’ve written here or in my other posts.

(Full document here, part one here)

The events that follow are the events that I call the key events. They’re the things that must happen for the story to make logical sense. If even one of these events failed to occur, then the story would make absolutely no sense to a reader. So, go ahead, read through the list, then we’ll talk about why so many things are missing.

• Event 1: Harry sent to live with the Dursley
  
• Event 2: Harry accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
  
• Event 3: Hagrid collects Harry from the Dursleys
  
• Event 4: Hagrid and Harry go to Gringotts
  
• Event 5: Hagrid takes the stone out of vault 713
  
• Event 6: Harry goes to platform 9 and ¾
  
• Event 7: Harry meets Ron
  
• Event 8: Harry meets Neville and Hermione
  
• Event 9: Harry arrives at Hogwarts
  
• Event 10: “The third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death”
  
• Event 11: Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville discover why the third floor corridor is out of bounds
  
• Event 12: Harry, Ron, and Hermione become friends
  
• Event 13: Harry discovers the mirror of Erised
  
• Event 14: Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn about the Sorcerer’s Stone
  
• Event 15: Harry learns Voldemort is alive and at Hogwarts
  
• Event 16: Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover “Snape” is going after the stone
  
• Event 17: Harry, Ron, and Hermione go to get the sorcerer’s stone
  
• Event 18: Ron hurt
  
• Event 19: Harry forced to go on without Hermione
  
• Event 20: Harry gets the stone
  
• Event 21: Harry faces down Quirrell and Voldemort
  

Like I said before, there’s a lot of stuff that’s not on this list. No quidditch, no crazy letters, no “troll in the dungeons,” I don’t even mention that frightening night in the forbidden forest. That’s because these scenes, while important to tell the story well, are by no means vital to the plot. You could cut out any one of them and you’d still be telling the reader all of the things that they need to know in order to understand what’s going on with the main plot.

You see, this event breakdown technique is something that I use with every story that I write and the point of it is not to figure out everything that I’m going to write. The point is to figure out the big things. The events I need to have happen in order for my story to work. Once I’ve got that, then I start to figure out how to get from one event to the next or how to actually make a given event happen.

For example, event 12 is where Harry, Ron, and Hermione become friends. I know this needs to happen because, without Hermione, Harry and Ron won’t be able to reach the sorcerer’s stone. The real question is how do I make them friends? J.K. Rowling chose to do it by having the three of them fight a mountain troll together, which worked out quite well, but the fighting of the mountain troll wasn’t the important thing about that scene. They could’ve just as easily become friends some other way, which is why I don’t include the mountain troll fight as a key event.

When you’re trying to figure out how to write your story, you can always do a full list like this, but that’s not necessary to make the technique work. You can also use an abbreviated version of the technique by simply asking yourself, okay, what’d the next big thing that has to happen and how do I get there?

Another important thing to keep in mind while doing something like this is figuring out how to set up the plot elements that aren’t really events. J.K. Rowling wants both the gang and the readers to think that Snape is the bad guy, not Quirrell, so while setting up her plot and figuring out how to move from event to event, she was constantly looking for ways to set Snape up as the villain while still leaving hints that it was really Quirrell so that the reader wouldn’t think that the twist was dumb and out of nowhere.

Of course, at that point we’re starting to drive away from the plot elements and moving towards the character/world building elements. These things are just as vital as the plot elements. In fact, I’d say they were, in some ways, more vital because a good plot will only get you so far. People will read a book once to see what happens, but they’ll only read it again and again if they love the characters.

Where to begin? That’s the real question, isn’t it, because the ending? Well, that one’s pretty easy to figure out. It’s the point where there’s nothing left to say. Your characters are done telling you their story and they’d very much like it if you’d run along and torture someone else for once.

Beginnings, on the other hand, well, no story ever really starts at “the beginning” because there rarely is a clear beginning. In the case of Harry Potter, we could say the story begins when Merope Gaunt falls in love with Tom Riddle. We could also say that the story starts when someone invented the idea of a horcrux or maybe we’ll pin the beginning on the day that Lily and James Potter die. All of these events are, in a way, the beginning, for without them the story wouldn’t exist, and it’s up to the writer to pick which one to go with when they tell the story.

Luckily for us, we’re not the one writing this story and so, instead of talking about where to begin, we can just talk about the quality of the spot J.K. Rowling choose. Which, in case you haven’t read this book in a while, was Mr. Dursley going to work. A perfect choice, really, because something needed to draw the reader in and Mr. Dursley rather bizarre day does that quite well.

I say this because chapter one of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (or Philosopher’s Stone) is little more than a massive info dump in which only one event of real significance happens. I’m speaking, of course, of Harry being left with his aunt and uncle. Other significant events are discussed in the chapter, but they’ve all already happened and, as such, they’re not really events. They’re just things that people talk about.

Alright, I’m getting a ahead of myself, let’s back up a little bit and take a moment to look at a breakdown of every significant event that happens in Chapter One: The Boy Who Lived

• Event 1: An owl flies by the window as the Dursleys get ready for the day
  
• Event 2: Mr. Dursley sees a “cat” reading a map
  
• Event 3: Mr. Dursley sees lots of people in cloaks
  
• Event 4: Mr. Dursley fails to see the owl swarm outside his window
  
• Event 5: Mr. Dursley hears cloaked people talking about the Potters
  
• Event 6: A man in a violet cloak hugs Mr. Dursley and tells him You-Know-Who is gone
  
• Event 7: The “cat” is waiting outside the Dursley home when Mr. Dursley arrives home
  
• Event 8: Strange news prompts Mr. Dursley to ask his wife about the Potters
  
• Event 9: Albus Dumbledore arrives on Privet Drive
  
• Event 10: Dumbledore uses his deluminator
  
• Event 11: The “cat” is revealed to be Minerva Mcgonagall
  
• Event 12: Dumbledore and Mcgonagall talk, establishing that You-Know-Who is Voldemort, that Harry’s parents are dead, that Harry is the boy who lived, and that the Dursley are Harry’s new guardians
  
• Event 13: Hagrid arrives with Harry
  
• Event 14: Harry left on the porch with a letter from Dumbledore
  

I’ve done some weird formatting here because it’s important to understand why I picked these 14 events which fall into three categories: events meant to draw the reader in, events met to inform the reader, and events needed for the book’s plot. There is a forth category: events used to build the series, but we’re not going that deep in this section.

As you’ll hopefully have noticed, most of the events are in italics, the style I used to signify events that draw the reader in. None of these events are necessary to tell the book’s story. J.K. Rowling could have easily left them out and nothing important would have been lost. However, they are necessary for chapter one to work.

If this chapter started with Dumbledore and Mcgonagall talking, a lot of readers would have cast the book aside because info dumps only work when they’re telling the reader things the reader wants to know about. If the book hadn’t just spent a couple of pages making the readers wonder why owls were flying everywhere, what had happened to the Potters, and who in the world this You-Know-Who fellow was, then the two Professor’s dialog wouldn’t be anywhere near as interesting and that’s why events 1 through 11 are important. They establish an atmosphere that’s vital for getting a reader to keep reading past that first chapter.

It’s also important to note that, while Dumbledore and Mcgonagall do give the reader a lot of information, they only give the basics: those things that are necessary to keep the reader from feeling totally lost. They do not go into the major details of what’s happened because too much info too soon will lose a reader. All the major details come later and the readers learns them along with Harry, which works out quite well.

When picking a start for your story, look for a place like this. Something that’s gripping, that draws a reader in, but doesn’t require overwhelming them with a glut of information. You might have to try a couple of different spots, but that’s well worth it if you really want people to read your story.

Story flow is a nebulous subject that’s oft times discussed in terms that are far too strict or far too broad for an aspiring writer to get anything out of the conversation. A fact that isn’t too surprising given that are very few inherently wrong ways to tell a story and, therefore, almost no hard rules related to the topics of pacing and flow. In spite of that, let’s see if I can write a semi-cohesive piece on the topic that will serve as something of a reference guide for those of you who struggle to decide how much information is too much or how much is too little.

First things first, every word in your story is a piece of information. Some of that information will serve to advance the plot, some of that information will serve to develop your characters or you world, and some of that information will be there for no reason other than to make your readers laugh. The only thing that is always true about every piece of information in your story is that, for you to let it be in your story, there must be a reason why it is there.

The real challenge, though, is deciding what qualifies as a good reason.

Well, I could start trying to list what I consider good reasons, but that’s not very helpful so let’s do something a little different. Let’s look at a story you all know, Cinderella, and break down how you decide what you must have in the story.

To start, let’s just talk about the plot. What is the logical progression of events necessary to tell Cinderella?

• Event 1: One of Cinderella’s parents dies
  
• Event 2: The other parent remarries a person with two children
  
• Event 3: Cinderella’s other parent dies
  
• Event 4: Step-parent and step-siblings treat Cinderella cruelly and make Cinderella into a servant
  
• Event 5: Announcement comes that the king is holding a ball to find his child a wife
  
• Event 6: Step-family goes to the ball and leave Cinderella behind
  
• Event 7: Fairy-godmother shows up and sends Cinderella to the ball
  
• Event 8: Royal heir meets Cinderella
  
• Event 9: Royal heir and Cinderella fall in love
  
• Event 10: Clock strikes 12 and Cinderella runs away
  
• Event 11: Royal heir searches the kingdom for Cinderella
  
• Event 12: Step-parent locks Cinderella away
  
• Event 13: Cinderella rescued
  
• Event 14: Cinderella reveled as mysterious stranger from the ball
  
• Event 15: Royal heir and Cinderella get married

Alright, I’ve now written Cinderella. Admittedly this version is rather boring and no critic is going to sing its praises, but no one can say that I failed to tell you exactly what happens in the traditional Cinderella story. So, now that we have our series of events, we need to make those events have some emotional pull by adding character development and/or world building. We also need to make sure that the events make sense by ensuring that we’ve written characters who would do the things we’ve said they will.

We could go through every character, but this is just an example so for now we’re only going to pick one: the step-parent. We want the audience to view this character as evil and we also need to set up that this is a person who would turn Cinderella into a servant and keep Cinderella from going to the ball, but we also want to audience to feel like the step-parent is evil for a reason. That reason could be mental instability, but let’s go with the more traditional choice of having the step-parent hate Cinderella because Cinderella’s parent loved Cinderella more. We can also add the extra drama of the fact that Cinderella is prettier and more intelligent than the step-parent’s children.

We could do all this by adding extra events to the sequence or we could just develop the events we already have. Both are fine options and we’re going to do both in this example. First we’re going to add a new event between event 2 and event 3 in which we see Cinderella’s living parent show clear favoritism to Cinderella over the step-parent. Let’s also add a little drama to event 3.

• Event 1: One of Cinderella’s parents dies
  
• Event 2: The other parent remarries a person with two children
  
• Event 2B: Step-parent overhears Cinderella being told that her parent loves Cinderella more than step-parent
  
• Event 3: Cinderella’s other parent dies while calling out for Cinderella and not step-parent
  

Okay, now we have a sequence of events that both move the story forward and establish why the step-parent hates Cinderella.

At this point I can’t take you much farther because the next step is to turn this list of events into full scenes and the way that you choose to write your scenes is entirely dependent on your writing style. I can, however, continue to walk you through this example. I can show you how to add bits and pieces to the story so that you have a reasonable number of scenes (because each event should only be one or two scenes and some events will take place in the same scene) while still developing your characters into emotional powerhouses that make people love or hate them.

I’m not going to do that, though, because I’ve already been at this for a while and I’ve got no idea if this is useful. If it is, let me know! I’d be more than happy to do this for any fairytale out there. I could even do it for a well-known novel or movie, just send me a message asking me to do an event breakdown of whatever story you want to see broken down and I’ll give it a go. However, please keep it to stories that most people would know as I want my posts to be useful to as many people as possible.

Clarity:

She went all the way to the store by the way of a car in which she had just purchased. ✖️

Vs.

She went to the store in a car she had just purchased. ✔️

He very much loved the sounds that the cars made as they made their way passed his house at a very fast pace.✖️

Vs.

He loved the cars’ sounds as they quickly passed his house. ✔️

▪️Avoid run on sentences:

He bought a dog from the shelter because he wanted to give a homeless dog a nice new home and that made him feel like a good person. ✖️

Vs.

He bought a dog from the shelter because he wanted to give a homeless dog a nice new home. This made him feel like a good person.

▪️Cut out “was” when possible:

Courtney was smiling. ✖️

Vs.

Courtney smiled. ✔️

▪️Try using one sentace paragraphs:

She liked how the rain felt on her bare skin.

So, she chose to walk home, her feet crashing through puddles.

It took longer than it would have in a car.

But she didn’t regret it.

▪️Try shorter sentences:

Ann’s heart felt sad.

She didn’t know what had caused it.

All she knew was that she woke up one morning feeling sad.

▪️Be conside:

I like carrots. Carrots are better than broccoli.✖️

Vs.

I like carrots better than broccoli. ✔️

▪️Be Specific:

She ate a snack.✖️

Vs.

She ate peanut butter crackers. ✔️

She went out for entertainment.✖️

Vs.

She went to the theater.✔️

▪️Paint pictures:

The sun was yellow. The sky was blue.✖️

Vs.

The sky was a blanket of gold, fluttering through the pale blue. ✔️

▪️Express don’t impress:

Scintillating gold fulgrated across the sphere it was a quintessential evening.✖️

Vs.

Sparkling gold mixed through the navy sky. It was the perfect evening. ✔️

Just a thought.

“It amazes me how young kids like, Stephen Gogolev can adjust to such environment changes, body changes, all while being high school students and an elite leveled athletes so well. It has to be harder than it seems on the surface, coaching changes, injuries, and growth spurts are always so hard.”

“People (mainly fans) in this sport seem to get way too much enjoyment out of all of teenage girls’ struggles, like back in 2018 with Alina and Evgenia. It gets uncomfortable sometimes. They’re athletes, not reality TV stars.”