After a year of not posting anything on here, I decided to put up a excerpt of my newest project... It got a bad review (no positives at all T_T) and despite that, I'm taking it on board. But now I feel put off to write. I think what hit home was that fact they thought English wasn't my first language .____. I'm in a need of a second opinion about all of this but no one seems to be giving one...I wonder if it's because my writing is really bad and no one can be bothered to review it. What should I do? I seriously don't know how I'm going to get motivated again, if all I think of is that critique. Thanks.
if you want, you can send me a brief summary of your piece and the first 3 pages and i'll be happy to give you a detailed second opinion... it's what i do for those i mentor all day, every day, and won't cost you a penny... love and hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
Sorry about the bad review Youniquee. Seeing that it was taking from the middle of your book and I didn't really have a clue of what was going on, why the characters were there and what the purpose of that chapter was, I couldn't really come up with a lot of useful advice. I honestly tried reading it a few times and could put my finger down on a single purpose. Were you trying to establish anger, frustration, fear, regret, disappointment. I felt all those emotions in one chapter which got confusing. Between the screaming kids, the noisy airport, the potential of his parent's be pregnant, some girl's messages he was reading...it felt all over the place. The only advice I could think of was to ask what the objective was and how can you better deliver that message in this chapter without all the other distractions. Once again, sorry for not being helpful.
>_< No, no no! Don't say that! Your review was helpful! Every review is helpful, no matter how harsh it is. I just need a second opinion about the things you said. Then I'll know for sure it's a problem. And about me being put off writing? Not your fault. So don't think it is. It's my fault for taking people's opinions personally. I'm sorry if I came off as your review not being helpful .___.
Critiques on this site are about pointing out potential improvements. Praise is nice, but it won't make you a better writer. As for how quickly they come in, you just need to be patient. Meanwhile, continue to critique other people's writing, and you will certainly reach a point where you will recognize some of your own writing flaws in their work. Go back and critique your own writing at that point.
You also gotta remember that what some people may perceive as crap, others may greatly enjoy your work. Also if your post is really really long, then the chances of a person reviewing it will be a lot shorter. How many times have you seen a wall of text post and instantly hit back? Also I think you're being a little hard on yourself. Nobody said downright that your work was poor. They offered criticism on how to improve it. Like Cog said, it's nice to get praise but you won't improve your work if you don't take negative feedback onboard.
Thank you! I might take up this offer soon I know that. True, but I seriously thought no one else was going to reply since it had been 5 days already. I got my second opinion now. I guess I was slightly impatient. Yeah, true. But that was the only opinion at the time. And the only one I had to go by. I appreciate that criticism. It was just more worse than I expected, I guess. ...
Thank you for posting this. It's a good tidbit to tuck away for when I get around to posting something of mine for the word vultures to pick apart... or not. Patience isn't one of my strongest virtues. ;^)
When you think of poor reviews (which a critique is not), look towards Thomas Hardy and Jude the Obscure. During his time, Hardy's book was slammed so hard that he quite writing, and he was a very avid writer. Just look at his list on Wikipedia
I haven't read your work in the review room, however I did read your introduction on there. You said you posted the absolute WORST chapters of your novel on there. So why are you do surprised that your critics agreed with you and gave you negative feedback? So why are you so discouraged by that, seeming as well, you sorta knew it was bad? If anything it says your judgement call was a good one - eg. it was bad writing (just an assumption, haven't read it) - but that actually shows you have promise as a writer because it means you can critique yourself and you're probably improving as a writer.
Don't worry. When people review your work, they mean for you to succeed in writing. Not drop dead and stop. They want to see progress in you, that is the reason people review. They do it to give the writer what other people would think so maybe they can change it next time.
