hi im new my name is caitlyn but i want some input on what you think about this? i just got one of my stories critqued in my advance creative writing class yesterday. i knew it had some grammer issues but i just wanted to see what everybody thought about the story. i knew i had to work on things. anyway, my professor always look for good critques,within the story and the comments. with the comments we go by opening comments setting characterization plot title closing comments When i critque the stories i need to read i put time and effort into it. i actully read the story when i dont even like it. put suggestions and what needs to be worked on. Well the in the opening comment to my story this guy said "ugh... i knew from the bad grammer that this **** was going to hell." alright now i should take the critque as a writer and respect what he said and learn from it. but it did upset me to be honest. The other students and my professor said it in a nice way. The other students gave me suggestions to work on my story and how i could fix it which helped me. so i got my story back from everybody else. I look through my stories to see the comments and suggestions that were needed for my story. I looked through the one kids critque NOTHING. nothing in the text of my story no suggestions, one what i should work on . NOTHING, besides a rude comment in the back of my story. as i told you i knew i had to work on it before but here was the comment "ugh. the cliche annd bad grammer makes me itch." thats all. what i typed above is what we are suppose to go by. now i really dont think he took the time to critque my story or help me by suggestions like the other kids. Now what do you think? it was wrong , not right? he had to follow the gudelines that our professor gave us and he didnt. he gave the other girl we critqued comments and suggestions. Do you think he should have spent some time to even read my story? Was it wrong if he has to follow what the professor says? i want your input. sorry for the long story. hope you understand.
Those critiques would not be acceptable here. They are derogatory without being specific. I'm not your professor, so I can't say what's right and wrong critique in your class. But here we insist on making suggestions specific and constructive, and to critique the writing, not the writer. These are the guidelines we use: Constructive Critiques
thank you for you input. we do do that what you showed me but we go by each peice. what needs to be worked on in the areas and etc. most of my critque wasnt about the grammer. they gave me suggestions and so on. im just talking about what my classmate did . i know that isnt a good critque to me just by one comment. so i really dont know i just wanted to see what you guys thought. and what you said about the writing instead of the writer is exactly what he did. thank you again
I think someone simply had a bad day! When you read a story there are so much aspects that you can comment on! THe characters, how the storyline evolves.. grammar is just a small part of a story, and more technical, hasn't got anything to do with the storytelling in itself. So don't let one person with a bad mood tear you down! Try to look at the critique of people who actually put effort in reading the story and wrote some real advice! I'm not saying you should only look at the positive comments, but the ones that were serious. Believe in yourself! and Happy writing!
Critiques are just opinions, but if they have nothing good to say then look at why this is. He might have some valid points, and just has a bad way of going about saying it, but it is still just an opinion. Don't be upset by it, believe me I've been there and it's not nice when you start punishing yourself, but don't ignore it either; try to understand it.
He sounds like the sort of person who believes that he is better than everyone else in the class. I'd show the instructor the critique. He will be graded on his participation, and he clearly is not participating. Beyond that, let it go. No reason to get upset about one asshole's opinion. FWIW in my creative writing class, there was one story that I thought was abysmal. I did not know how to critique it in a positive way, so I did not show up to class on that day. Better to say nothing than something very negative. I know it was not the best way to approach the situation, but it was better than doing like your classmate.
i know. i actully noticed yesterday after he did somebody elses critque that he only says something negative everytime. See our semesters almost over and after he said that im like wow maybe i shouldn't listen to what he says. Really its nothing importnat to what he says. I also realized he doesnt even critque anybodies stories write comments and stuff. im surprised nobody didnt tell my professor yet. :/ I submited a story again. i know i stil have to work on some things but i want to see what everybody else thinks. Im kind of stuck on it... writers block.
Just because someone is habitually negative doesn't mean you should completely ignore him. If he gives any rationale at all for his negativity, consider whether he makes a good point. Even a spiteful, snarky naysayer may stumble across a truth, and you can be sure he won't hold back where others may hesitate.
Cog is right. That's a mean critique with no point, so it's not really a critique, it's a snide remark or a jab at you for no reason. I say just let it roll off of you. If he doesn't have anything PRODUCTIVE to say, it's not worth it to get worked up over or think about.
trust me again he said something negative and again another nasty comment in the back. BUT his story got ripped apart you should have seen his face. i felt bad but he wrote about a video game and a lot of people coudlnt tell if it was a story or not.
To criticize in the way you described is very easy. Cogito has got a point here. The person might stumble across the truth. The person got his opinion and he states it very frankly. This might be more helpful than three people saying "I really liked it, it was so lovely". Whether you can turn what your classmate said into something helpful for yourself, is up to you. (',' or not? Also working hard on my English grammar skills *sigh) As the situation was in class, it would be up to your teacher to encourage the person to re-phrase his criticism and make it at least more specific. I suspect the person in question is also contributing in this class in a way and wants to be criticized in a helpful manner himself. (personal remark: If he isn't exceptionally ugly, get him to have a coffee with you, and help you fix the grammar issues he seems to have discovered. If you care for his opinion on the story, you might even get it after that )
hi! yeah i know i should learn from it but if he really wanted to help me he would have written in the story about what i should work on. he didnt have any suggestions at all or comments in my story. So that makes me think he dont care. Also it just seems everytime he has something negitaive to say. plus i dont know he just seems mean i wouldnt want to go out to coffee with him. quoting him "i dont give credit to unfinished story" that is what he said about my other story. well idk if he even read my "story" because it wasnt even a story it was a chapter of a bigger work that im trying to do.
It was wrong because it made you concentrate on the form of the criticism rather than the content. That's always a risk with hostile, aggressive criticism, which in my view would be enough reason for such criticism to be banned here, quite aside from the matter of personal respect. But just because it was the wrong way of expressing the criticism, don't miss out on the content of the criticism. Bad grammar can make a piece difficult and unpleasant to read, and it can be difficult to get past that to the actual content. So I suggest you pretend that they said, "I really struggled with the grammar issues in this writing. I couldn't get past them to get a clear view of the story itself. I think that tidying the grammar up would improve the piece lot. If you do that it would help me to get to the aspects of the writing that matter more to you, and I might then be able to offer something constructive about them".
exactly he said it again too. so it makes me think im such a horrible writer it makes me think im useless and i shouldnt be writing stories. I just dont understand why he had to say it in a very rude manner. see when i didnt like his story i said it in a good way. i said you need to work on the setting the plot and also the charcters, i never said god this a peice of crap or god i knew this **** was going to hell. it wasnt nice. i should thnk of it that way but it would help if he wrote on my story to know what he was talking about.
Make notes of all this in your writer's journal. Then you can base a character on him, and give him a horrible time.
On the bright side, that's slightly more helpful than a buncha people saying "I liked it. It was good." If you haven't critiqued his story yet, you should be harsh about it. Really nit-pick at every little thing, y'know? Maybe that's what he wants - like maybe he's giving everyone those kindsa critiques, so when it's his turn, everyone's sore about theirs and wants to give him a hard time. Harsh critique is best critique
Had those comments come from your professor then it would have been a different story.... but since he is just another kid who is also learning to write, don't be so bothered by it. But if you feel that you have to do something about it.... just approach your professor, ask him with respect to ask the kid to give you specific reasons for his comments.
I completely disagree with this. An instructor giving a derogatory response without elaborating is not teaching. An instructor has no excuse. He or she should be setting an example, and should get down to details in a constructive manner.
Exactly, what I meant was that Digitig shouldn't let it go if those comments was from his professor.... but it was from just another kid learning to write who probably don't know how to critique or simply don't have any manners... so, Digitig shouldn't be so bothered.
see if he would have written it down on my story about what needs to be improved and gave me comments and suggestions then i would know what he means, but he didnt do any of that. He just make a nasty remark thats not critqueing that is just be rude and nasty. A person that does critque would spend the time EVEN if they didnt like the story to critque and give suggestions to the author about what needs to be worked on and help them out. Not make them feel like they are worthless and dumb.
Caitlyn, it sounds to me as though there might be some personal issue involve ... on both sides. This guy has a grudge against you on some level, for some reason and you take it all too much to heart. You know that what he did was wrong and yet you still wrap yourself in that dirty blanket of negativity. I am assuming your teacher grades, not just on your writing, but on your critiques of others' works as well. So this guy's crits are hurting him as much as you! For your part, you said he slammed your grammar and usage? So go back and look at it. DID you have problems with grammar and usage? I know you have spelling problems (grammer vs. grammar), so we can probably safely assume there is some germ of truth in his comments, no matter how meanly they were presented. Take the one and a half percent of valid criticism and throw out the rest of what he had to say. If you have faith in your writing, cherish that. Embrace it. Nuture it. But, that means you must be extra cautious with every aspect of your writing - even to the point of taking extra care with everything you write, including something as seemingly benign as a forum post. Take pride in your writing. Remember, good, bad, or otherwise, you are the only one that can do what YOU do!
i actully dont have a grudge against him. i really dont know what his problem is with me. i was just upset he didnt put any suggestions or comments on my story like i did with his that is all. he might have a grudge against me and really i dont know why. remeber as i said in other post on this thread that he said nasty things about everybodies story . i started to realize this after he critqued the frist story i wrote. i really dont know why he says negitaive comments about everybodies stories, maybe it i just because he is a jerk or he is just not confiendent in himself about his own fiction. he is more of a poet though.
thewordsmith makes perfect sense in every aspect to her post. With all the responses here I am sure you realise what he did was wrong. It wasn't a full critique, just a nasty comment. Your grammer isn't the best, so he has quite a fair point there; he just worded it in a hurtful way. Learn from it and get over it, you'll be just fine!
