One of the most useful things we can get as a writer is a good critique. It helps us grow by showing us how we can perfect our craft. On the other hand, a bad critique can leave us feeling frustrated and angry. So what can you do as a writer in order to ensure that you get an insightful and helpful critique? Obviously (or at least I hope it’s obvious), you start with good writing. Good writing may get a bad critiques sometimes, but bad writing will get bad critiques all the time (except usually from family and maybe some friends).

Before I get into the nitty-gritty of getting good critiques, I should take a moment to specify what I consider the difference between a critique and a review. While researching this article, I found several websites that used the terms interchangeably, and I don’t want to confuse anyone…