Writing Critique Services

Agents, editors, and producers will tell you all the time: Get your material critiqued first before sending it out. The writing faculty at the Department of Liberal Studies and the Arts are here to help.

We coach and critique a variety of writers, including novelists, screenwriters, poets, short story writers, feature article writers, newsletter editors and designers, and authors of nonfiction books or proposals. We do not critique children's literature.

We also help you find the answers to your writing and marketing questions, from beginner basics to advanced topics, including how to go about finding an agent or getting read by a producer, or how to rewrite with more confidence, or what to do next when you're handed a contract. Fees vary according to your needs and the length of the material. Please contact us first before sending material. Contacting us for quick advice on a burning question is always FREE.

We critique via email and telephone, fax, or mail.

Who critiques your material? The real-world professional writers and instructors at UW-Madison, including Marshall J. Cook, Christine DeSmet, and Laurel Yourke. We've written, rewritten, published, optioned, sold, queried successfully, been rejected and bounced back from rejections like everybody else. We provide practical advice and written comments based on our continuing study of the craft and business of writing.

For more details, contact: Christine DeSmet, 608-262-3447, fax 608-265-2475, e-mail: cdesmet@dcs.wisc.edu, or complete the interest form below.

Participant comments

“I very much like the editing you are doing on my book. After I put your revisions into the text in the computer I give it a rest-come back to it later to read. It’s then I get excited and see that it is better, more muscular somehow. It is hard to describe exactly how it is better, but it is. Thanks for what you are doing.” (Dave Brainard, Three Lakes, WI)

"Serious writers will benefit immensely by having their projects critiqued by Christine DeSmet of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. When Chris reviewed my script, Whisper Alley, she made numerous suggestions that improved the flow of my script and made it a stronger story. Additionally, a number of questions she raised made me realize that I had not set up several of my scenes as strongly as I should have. Although it is always hard to hear that your story still needs work after you've poured your heart and soul into it for months, all of Chris' comments were positive and focused on how the script could be improved and not what was wrong with it. She also did a wonderful job pointing out the things that were right with my script. Chris' critique not only helped me to make Whisper Alley a stronger script, a lot of the comments she made were universal to all of my projects and I was able to use her suggestions to make my other scripts stronger as well. The UW's critique services gets four stars from this satisfied screenwriter." (Lori Enos, Rolling Meadows, Illinois)

Interest form

Complete the form below to receive an estimate of the fees for your unique critique service.