Teach a Man to Fish

I agree to a certain extent, though surely there are those who want grammatical help as well. Nevertheless, I personally don't critique the persons grammar. Even though I hate his novels, Cormac McCarthy has done well without proper grammar.

Yes, but Comac McCarthy understands grammar in the first place, in order to break them. A lot of the people who will use grammar incorrectly here, do not do it deliberately, but simply because they don't know or understand the relevant grammatical rules.

I agree with Andy, to be honest. It's a lot better to tell someone why they are doing something wrong and how to correct it, than simply correcting it for them.

I wholeheartedly agree with Andy, and have been known to say much the same thing on occasion. It's why the Constructive Critiques post includes Why in the Where, What, Why, and How criteria.

I'd much rather see a three sentence critique that clearly explains one misuse of lose vs loose than an entire page of red ink ocorrections.

While I agree that reviewers should not simply state what needs to be changed without offering an explanation to the writer, I disagree in part with the negative connotation that comes with the red-ink-users. Personally, I WOULD rather see a page full of red ink rather than a vague paragraph pointing out sugar coated suggestions and rule reminders. I'm here for help! Tear my work apart, please!

Everyone is here for help, to have their work read and reviewed. As previously stated, I do agree with the fact that there should be a clear and direct explanation following suggestion. However, I definitely feel as though I'd like to give people the same exact form of feedback I'd appreciate myself.

I agree with the blog post, it's better to try to explain why something is incorrect than just to continue to correct the same error over and over. That doesn't mean it is sugar coating. I try to explain each correction, and if it's more a "story telling" thing than actual grammar, I make some attempt to illustrate the mindset. And I've never been accused of sugar coating

Either way, this is a great blog post IMO.

//R

Andy,

No, I understand what you're saying and I DO agree with you. I have seen that as well with the strike-throughs and such. I do not find this helpful to the writer in the long run, you are right about that. At that point, I think that the nitpicking is totally unnecessary and the focus is in the wrong direction.

I don't correct typos. In fact, I don't correct anything-I never rewrite for anyone. I don't personally believe that you have the right to touch anyone else's work. I merely make suggestions.

I know that personally, I do give an explanation for my reasoning and try to focus on the actual work, but I do indeed use red-ink.

Thanks for your clarification on the matter! Perhaps I was misunderstanding the full point to what you were saying before. I see now, and definitely agree!

I completely agree with what you're saying, though to be honest, often times I know how something needs to be fixed, so I correct the errors, but I don't know how to explain why it needs to be fixed. I read a ton, and I think I've picked up writing rules (spelling, punctuation, grammar) by osmosis--a lot of my teachers were pretty crappy in teaching SPaG.

Yeah that happened to me in my livejournal when I joined a writer´s guild. I do have a lot of trouble with the grammar, and even though most of my works get revised and the people also give advice, there are still doubts lingering about.

But I guess it´s up to the people. In my example, one of the published writers gave me a link with tons of information about grammar but of course scattered about and for me to investigate. I asked him why couldn´t he resume it for me and he answered that I would appreciate it more if I found for myself.

A life lesson

i ignore grammar all the time. when i write in comments and forum posts and whatnot i basically bang on the keyboard and try to pump out my thoughts in text. it isnt the best way to go about it, i know, but in my mixed up mind i feel like i would miss something because my mind works a lot faster than my fingers.

when i actually write, it only changes a little bit. i usually brainstorm each chapter until i have something solid, then when i write its basically all filler.

i spend a lot (and i mean a lot) of time rewriting and revising.

you are right though about people who are plainly uneducated about proper grammar. i spent most of my time in english class asleep, so i would place myself in the uneducated category.

I totally agree with "teach a man to fish", the worst thing an aspiring writer can do is take a"creative writing class". Don't do it!! You will end up in a class of a professor who is pissed because he was never published. He will teach you to be like him. All his interpretations of the great writers will be stuck in your heads. What you should do if you want to write is read the "masters" and draw your conclusions. EE Cummings said: the best poetry was written by those who misinterpreted the original text.