Responding to Fiction

Your job as responder is two-fold. First, to help the writer figure out how to make the next draft better. Second, to look further into the future and consider what the story, in its ideal, finished form, could be like. Keep in mind that this is not your story—you’re not taking it over. Help the writer achieve his or her dream for it.

Step 1—read the story carefully, making comments, asking questions, providing reactions in the margins. Be as specific as possible.

Step 2—write a letter to the writer, either at the end of the draft or on a separate sheet of paper. Again, be as specific as possible.

·         Summarize the plot. What happens? Why? Discuss the characters involved.

·         What is the story “about,” as you read it?

·         Discuss plot, chronology, character, setting, point of view, scene, dialogue, language, style

·         What is working well in the story and why?

·         What might work better and how so?

Step 3—sign your responses.