How shall I critique thee? Let me count the ways.

Does "lame" serve as sufficient critique of a story?

I wonder because recently, the EIC at Skyline asked me what I thought of a story she was planning to run. My response? "It was...kind of lame."

What I didn't tell her was what EXACTLY I thought of that story. The ending was too contrived. The plot was too predictable. The characterization was poor and the dialogue was too "everydayish." Oh, and let us not forget the setting wasn't really there!

But I didn't tell her that. I felt more comfortable going with "lame." LOL So if I say something is "lame," that's my way of saying "there's too much wrong with this story for me to go into details."

As for the above story, my hesitancy over elaborating on why I didn't like it faded when she asked, "Kind of stupid?"

"Yes," I typed back, then I summed up on what I felt was one of those "ha, fooled you!" tales using the aliens as a scapegoat. (Those poor aliens...)

A recent submission also got my "lame" response. And what was wrong with this one? Well, it lacked substance. Wasn't really ABOUT anything. It sort of rambled. Strayed from the topic. Failed miserably at the use of symbolism.....