Chapter critiques

A critique swap is how a Chapter trades real feedback on each other’s writing. You open one of your pieces for critique, and other members read it closely and leave you notes. In return, you claim their pieces and critique those. It runs on the same feedback surface used everywhere on Inkbreaker, so a critique means inline comments pinned to specific lines plus answers to the questions you asked.

Critique swaps live in Chapters built on the critique template. If your Chapter has a Critique tab, you have one. For how Chapters work in general, see Chapters.

Opening a piece for critique

First share a piece into the Chapter from the Pieces tab (see Publishing your work). Then open the Critique tab, find your piece under “Your pieces”, and choose Set up critique.

In the setup you decide what kind of read you want:

• Developmental for the big picture: story, structure, pacing, character.
• Line edit for sentence-level craft and word choice.
• Prose and voice for tone, style, and imagery.
• Copy and proof for grammar, spelling, and consistency.
• Custom to write your own questions from scratch.

Picking a type fills in a starter rubric: the questions your reviewers will see as they read. Edit it freely. Add a question, reword one, or remove any that don’t fit. There is also a short free-text box for anything else you want your readers to focus on.

When you turn the window on, the piece shows up as open for critique and other members can claim it. Close it any time to stop new critiques. Closing leaves any critique already in progress untouched.

Giving a critique

On the Critique tab, a piece that is open shows a Critique this button. Claiming it opens the feedback form: the piece on one side, your notes on the other.

• Leave inline comments by selecting a passage and writing your note. The comment stays pinned to that exact line.
• Answer the rubric in your overall notes. The author’s questions and their focus note sit right above the piece so you read with the right lens.
• Long pieces are paginated. A manuscript is split into pages so you can read and comment one section at a time. Your inline comments stay anchored to their lines as you turn pages, and the comment list shows everything you’ve left, with a jump link to the page each one lives on.

When you’re done, choose Submit. The author gets a notification that their critique is in, and your work is saved.

Giving critiques is free for every Chapter member. You do not need Pro to read a piece and leave a full critique.

Reading the critiques you receive

The Critique tab has two more views beside the swap board: Received and Given.

• Received collects the critiques on your pieces. Open one to read the inline notes and the overall feedback.
• Given collects the critiques you have written, so you can look back at your own notes.

When you open a critique you received, you can rate it: was it specific, and was it helpful. Your rating feeds the reviewer’s feedback reputation across Inkbreaker, the same signal used for peer feedback, sensitivity reads, and beta reads (see Peer feedback). Ratings stay anonymous to the reviewer; they see the aggregate, not who said what.

Credit for critiquing

A finished critique earns XP and counts on the Chapter’s leaderboard, the same as any other feedback you give. Specific, helpful critiques build your standing as a reader over time. The swap board also keeps a small honesty meter: how many pieces you owe a critique on versus how many you have delivered, so a swap circle stays even.