If I do post the snippet will be called "Ultranumb". Aside from writing I do believe that there are methods out there that one or many authors used to help improve on the structure, voice or storyline. As I said previously that I know it is not like instant coffee.
Am I the only one who finds this troubling? To say something like that to someone who attended special need classes sounds a bit insensitive. There had to be better ways to word it than to compare your writing to a grade level well behind you. I agree with others that, judging by your posts, it's not a very fair assessment.
I apologize that my wording and use of putting my words into text can be rough and throw people off guard. People think it is nonsense that what I have struggled with and tried to improve in school did not work out to the best. It may not be a fair assessment however, from high school through college I have been criticized that my writing is juvenile or terrible. I preferred the professors to use terrible over juvenile. This is why I asked the question how can I improve on my writing.
Yikes, your boy friend sounds like my mother. I think you've got other problems, the guy sounds passive-agressive. Look, I read your discourse, and I see a woman who can converse with a number of differing forum personalities on several continents. You even make sense to me, which shows you have some affinity with the "synaptically challenged" end of the gene pool! Let me give you a little help in dealing with these kind of people. It's like my Aunt Clara used to say, "If you want to hit a guy on the back of his head, go through his nose." In other words, go directly to him, find out why he made the comment, and get the problem fixed. Look, many people here relate to you from a position of respect. There's a disconnect somewhere, and I think it's him.
Exactly my point. Does not your husband know better? Which term is informative and which is hurtful? I have just taken a quick look at your work in the Writing Workshop. Yes, there are flaws. You will work on them, and it will take time. But juvenile? Hardly.
What mistakes do sixth graders make? What makes them bad writers? What a terrible way to describe writing. I would suggest taking your blog post and cutting it down. Here is an example: "A doctor had visited my office and introduced himself as a professor of specialized nano technology." What is "had" doing there?
The juvenile is less then specific and not helpful. A professor using those terms is not a good teacher. Unfortunately the state of education today leaves much to be desired.
L2W, we're all here to improve our writing. If you're on the wrong path, then we all are. I agree with 'Psycho on this one. You've run into a numbskull for a professor. My wife is a teacher, and if I could find a singular word to describe her beliefs on this, it would be "helper."
Honestly, I would recommend caution in building your writing style off of dictation. I personally try to keep my narrative style as far away from common speech as possible. The written word can be like a foreign language compared to actual speech. Although, that doesn't mean the written word can't be read aloud. The ear is actually a great tool for learning how to write. Read aloud often enough and you can pick up on a certain candor or rhythm in writing. Not necessarily the metered rhythm, like a poem, but you can hear it in the writing of good authors. But as all things go with forums, that is just my personal opinion. As a counter point, Nick Hornby is one of my favorite authors. He tends to have a very causal narrative style, but his sentence structure remains impeccably fluid. Whatever your style ends up being, I still recommend reading aloud. Your own words and your own ears can be just as effective as a "professor's" when it comes to learning. (and in some cases more effective )
I had a similar problem when I started writing. It sounded like a sixth grader was writing it! I was a senior in college! What the heck! It was embarrassing, and I couldn't show anyone. You might be different, but I'll tell you what I did. I wrote almost every day for a year and it improved to the point where I felt comfortable showing other people. Right now, it's not by any means amazing, but it's very far from 6th grade. I like TWErvin2's suggestion on recording yourself speaking it, then transcribing it. Just do a few pages. You can also try reading an author with particularly good tone and typing up an excerpt. It's kind of like a training exercise for your brain. Other than that, keep educating yourself on writing. This forum is great, but check out podcasts, blogs, and books on writing.
Hi L2W Judging from your posts, I don't see your writing as juvenile. Is the content of writing maybe better suited to a younger audience - is it the content rather than the quality of the writing its-self. Here is a question I think you should ask yourself and be honest; What does your boyfriend know about writing? Is he a fellow writer? As a loved one he should be encouraging you not disheartening you. Family and friends can give their opinions, but keep in mind that, that is all it is their opinion. They may be right then again they may be way off the mark, it is up to you as an author to look at what they say and then either take on board what they have said or dismiss their advice as uninformed or nonsensical. I repeat I can see nothing juvenile about your writing, you are concise, you don't waffle, I don't see a problem. As to improving your writing - we are all looking to improve. Good luck
Getting critiques isn't the only way to learn, critiquing others work is also very helpful. I have posted no works of mine here but I do give a lot of critiques and I have to say I am learning a lot from it.
Have you tried critiquing others? If you can recognize what doesn't work in someone else's writing, it can often help improve your ability to see what is not working in your own.
I agree with this. Practice, practice, practice is really the only way to get better. Keep writing, get feedback, and adjust accordingly. Constructive critique is pretty irreplaceable. Nothing can replace actually writing, getting constructive critique, and revising. It's a process. I know a lot of people say to "read," and I do think it may help to a degree. But often enough, I think reading isn't really going to improve your actual writing all that much. (Especially since the authors in print can break all the unwritten writing rules that unpublished authors must always follow. ) I am not saying to not read. If it helps you, go for it. But don't expect reading to really fix your problem. The writing process is how you improve.
This. Read your stuff aloud. Read the work of good writers aloud. Read it aloud. You'll find your ear can teach you. You can hear where problems are even when you can't see them when you're just looking at the page. And, of course, read. Lots. And read when you're young - a preteen, if possible. The earlier your mind absorbs what good prose is, the better. So get a time machine and read as a kid. Failing that, read the best stuff you can get a hold of, and learn from it. But read your own stuff aloud. If it doesn't sound good, it probably isn't good. This may slow down your writing, but quality trumps quantity every time.
Whenever I rewrite a story now I load it into my Kindle and use the text-to-speech feature to listen to it; I find the computer voice really emphasises where the writing has problems when I hear it read them out.
The biggest things are to read lots of books and write a lot yourself. Anything else is optional. Also, I find my own writing can vary from very good to kind of sucky depending on a bunch of things - how strong my inspiration is, what I've been reading lately (bad writing seems to rub off on me), if I'm upset, etc. So pay attention to whether any of those factors may be changing your writing, and use that knowledge strategically. I try to read good writing on a topic that reminds me of my story, avoid writing when I'm really upset (though being slightly upset can add passion to my writing), and if I'm not inspired enough, I set the story aside and think about it some more.
I'll second this advice. To hear a different voice read out your work, even a computerised one, gives you a different angle on it. It definitely helps to isolate problems.
I'll go with "read" as the first thing to do. Read a lot. In the genre you want to write in, as well as outside of it. So I agree with people who listed that first. Next, write a lot. Get criticism from people whose viewpoint you value and trust. Next, critique the work of other people. Doing so will help you identify issues in your own writing. That's the order of importance I'd assign to those three things.
I called up my older sister and she highly recommended me to read Stephen King's "On Writing" Currently it is on my amazon list for $3.00
That's a very good book, in my view. It is less to do with how to write, though, and more about being a writer. King doesn't spend much time telling you how to plot, characterize, describe, or any of those things, but it is in interesting read and he has interesting things to say about being the process and life of being a writer.
I have read a good portion of the thread, but admittedly, skimmed through the last page or so since it seemed that most people were saying the same thing, and regurgitating the message. Of course, practice and reading is the only way you will get better. Writing is a skill, that is honed to perfection, and beyond. But do not think you can do it on your own, simply by just writing everyday. Find a mentor, someone you can grow with, someone who is obviously skilled, who has no problem looking over your work regularly, or somewhat frequently. Allow them to get used to you, so they can see your mistakes and the ones that re-occur. You can write or read to your heart's content, but if you do not know the difference between right and wrong, and why, how can you improve your own writing? If no one has shown you your mistakes, you'll just keep making them, over and over, until someone makes you aware, and you change. The goal is to hone that skill of review to the point where you can safely write on your own, and then you yourself become a reliable red pen for editing. This is my two cents. Hope it helps. If you have any other questions about anything, please feel free to message me. -Ghost
