Hi everyone, I'm Jamie. I'm excited to have found this forum. It looks like just what I was looking for. I've been trying to write my ideas for a couple of years or so. I dedicate insufficient time to it, so progress has been slow. I've been trying to write short stories to give me practise at critically appraising and developing finished texts. However my short story ideas tend to turn out as at least novella-length. Since I'm not good enough yet to write a novella, they tend to get put on hold. (One of my early attempts was put on pause after 70 pages.) I did manage to write something short about a Naples-type refuse disposal crisis where all the refuse was books, but it turned out Julio Cortazar wrote this much better than I ever will decades ago so that's in the bin. Anyway I've mustered a couple of things and have lots of bits of others. What would be great now is critical advice from people who've been doing this longer than I have and know far more than I do. I know I have to critique some work before I can post my own. I don't think I'm really experienced enough to offer advice to people who've been doing this a while, so bear with me if my comments start out a bit inane. When I've built up a bit of confidence I'll hopefully have a bit more to offer. Anyway, short version was: hello!
Welcome to the site! I finished the 63k word story in my signature 2 years, 8 months after I first put words to the page (1970 words/month). Now I'm challenging myself to do 3500-4000 words a week unless something comes up. You'll get there The more you review, the more you notice in your next review Plus, reading other people's reviews is at least as helpful as reading the passage they're reviewing.
Thanks for the welcome! Loving your avatars too, I must sort one out for myself. I totally agree, I personally will benefit. I'm not shy on opinions either, I just don't think a noob like me has much to offer that's helpful yet. But I'll do my best.
Everyone is somewhere on the continuum of writing knowledge and ability ... not a continuum, more like a many-branching tree. Each new leaf synthesizes food for the entirety. Mutations occur, sometimes beneficial, sometimes fatal. The branch I'm on, for instance, seems malnourished and weak, but I have wings! Welcome and no carving initials in the trunk.
If you don't feel confident enough to offer your opinions as a writer (I've been there, trust me), just offer them as a reader. It can be enough to say "I didn't really like that Iain character, he seemed like kind of an asshole, why did the heroine fall for him?" the same way you would after finishing reading a book or watching a movie. "Too many notes" isn't helpful, but saying "This just felt really long" can be. Once you feel more confident, then you can point out that the paragraph two (or whatever) goes into way more detail than it needs to, plus it's an example of showing not telling, and you think that the information could just as easily be conveyed by having Iain chat with the bartender etc etc.
I can teach you how! You want me to? Step 1) Watch Monty Python's Argument Clinic Step 2) Don't do that
Thanks Iain, nice to be here. I agree with your advice. I guess it comes down to audacity: I can critique something as a reader but if I couldn't write what I'm critiquing it seems a bit rich. Giving it a good go though!
