That's really sad. If people take the time to critique your work, it seems the least you can do is read what they've said.
This may sound bad, I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but for me, the title is very important in selecting which story I am going to read. Obviously if the story doesn't capture my interest after a couple of paragraphs, I switch stories, but the initial selection is of creative and interesting titles.
how do i choose? first of all, if it's fiction, it has to be violence-free, since i don't help with fiction that has any violent content... then, it has to have at least semi-decent writing... if it's totally hopeless, i'll pass, as i hate to have to tell someone their newborn is seriously deformed and has no chance to live... and that's about it...
You'll learn more if you take the time to analyze why the story doesn't work for you. The stories aren't there for your entertainment. They are there so you can practice analyzing them and finding ways to improve them. Sure, you can learn something by analyzing why a particular story gr
When I review, I often look for ambition on the part of the writer. I want to see someone striving to be something more than just another run-of-the-mill hack. I want to see a writer trying to use sentences and paragraphs effectively, with fresh imagery, interesting rhythm, unique style. I admire that kind of thing, but few young writers can really do it well. I know, because I was one once, and I wrote a lot of quasi-literary ambitious stuff that was laughably overdone. The whole first draft of my novel is giggleworthy because I was a kid trying to be James Joyce. I want, in some small way, to save another kid from wasting a lot of time doing that. On the other hand, maybe ambitious kids need to write like that to get the garbage out of their systems. It sure took me quite some time - I must have had an epic case of literary constipation.
This. I mean, I know with enough teaching, theoretically anyone could write great fiction, but we're not writing teachers. We're critiquing pieces to give people direction so that they can improve themselves, so if there's nothing there, no spark or nothing that surprises me, it's hard to bring myself to critique it well, whereas if I can see some latent potential or rough talent, then I have no problem doing a very thorough line-by-line critique.
I haven't reviewed on this forum, because I didn't like the responses I got on crits on another writing forum. I totally agree, but some writers become defensive, and even aggressive, in protesting why they didn't use proper grammar and spelling. I've chosen not to crit on forums anymore, but to exchange manuscripts with other bèta readers for crits. If someone is only looking for validation, I tend to skip the piece. If someone says 'please be gentle', I wonder if they ever submitted their work to a professional, like an agent or editor. The publishing world can be incredibly harsh, so if you're unable to distance yourself from your work and view it objectively, you're in for a world of hurt...
Like mammamaia, I avoid anything with violence. Frankly, I skip alot because I simply don't understand it. That may be the fault of the writer or of me as a reader. I'm new to creative writing and many techniques are foreign to me; I wonder if, like art, one needs to develop an appreciation for some of the forms or if it is simply garbage. I honestly don't know and feel unqualified to review or critique such pieces and so I skip over them. Too, though I make both grammatical and spelling errors, I try very hard to avoid them and if I dont feel that the author has put clsoe to the same amount of effort into their piece, I simply assume that they aren't trying and skip those as well. I was disappointed to read that so many authors skip over those pieces which are rough first drafts (Incidentally, good case here of a grammatical unknown for me. is there a comma between 'rough' and 'first'? I left it out because 'first draft' seems to be more of a phrase of which 'rough' is the sole adjective, though 'rough' and 'first' are, if I were diagramming the sentence, both adjectives. Point is, I did think about it, I just don't know.) Anyway, having never written a YA piece before, or for that matter, a creative writing piece - I am planning on forcing myself to submit something, knowing it will be horribly rough but doing so because if I wait till I know - or even think I know, what I'm doing...it will never get written. It's only by forcing myself to submit something I trust will be poorly done and subjecting myself to the critiques that I'm sure will be harsh, that I'll actually have a direction in which I can improve it. Judging from some of the comments here, I'm afraid many of the best writers will simply skip over it and I'll be left with critiques that may actually, well meaning as they may be, send me in the wrong direction. Back to the issue at hand; I critique those pieces that: 1. I understand. 2. I feel I have something to offer. 3. Written by someone who I've seen give thoughtful responses to others, even if I have yet to be the direct recipient of those responses.
I like short and fun literature to read. Whatever mood I mean and if I understand the story and see it has something I can add then I will comment.
