Here's something that I contributed to the B-L back in 2001 or so. I think it got an Honorable Mention in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy category: “I could tell you stories about this road we shall be traveling,” the old man told his young companions as he leaned on his staff and stroked his silver beard, “of how it was built by the Dwarves of Barad-dur in the days of Thranduil the Great, numberless years before the Elves of the Ered Luin left their silver woods in Lindon, sailed their ships over the Western Sea, and passed from the knowledge of men, but what would you learn from these tales, except that I squandered my college years reading far too much Tolkien instead of meeting girls?”
Grass — I always liked to sit there, and watch it grow — to breath in the scent of fresh nature, which has been the passtime for which I have been most accustomed these past seven years; herein lies the chronicle of my days beneath that fated willow tree, but let us begin not now but at the beginning, in the year of the coming of the great lawnmower.
This looks like an old thread, but I am new and want to give it a try. In my novel, the narrator begins by lamenting the ridicule he received from family and critics over the first line of a prior book he had written: "It was a perfectly normal spring day in New Albany, Indiana, and into that perfect day I went." What do you think, is it bad enough?
Did the person who wrote those words give you permission to share them? Do you think it's appropriate to read something for critique at one site and then go to another site and post it in a negative light, inviting mockery? I reported your post and the moderators have allowed it to stay, so I guess my values are out of sync with the values of the forum, but I think this is really awful behaviour. There's a trust involved in sharing something for critique, and I think you're badly breaking that trust.
Actually I do have that person's permission but I went through the trouble of putting **(not here) in quotes because I knew there might be some here who might be overly alarmed. I assume anyone who posts something here in threads where they have been asked to share, however, is inviting public criticism and I haven't heard from anyone publicly or privately that thought I was too hard on them. I guess if you had been the person that wrote that you would have felt mocked but it IS pretty corny and he and I both laughed about it. I'll tell him someone "stood up" for him though, but he can take care of himself. I think and I'm sure he would agree, that there's a lot worse things that people could trash you with, IF they were trashing you, than "corny".
You assume wrong. There is a big, big, difference between posting something for critique and inviting criticism. Critique is for the purpose of improvement. Ultimately, even when harsh, critique is for the ultimate purpose of building, not tearing down. Critique is part of the creative process. Mockery is not. Criticism is something that takes place after a piece is finished and serves no purpose during the creative process because it can involve mockery. ETA: Mockery can stunt the creative process. The guy may have given his permission, but I think it's vile behavior. How do we know he gave permission? How do we know he knew what you planned to do with it? Shit like this is why I work via PM. While it is but few, there are some people here I simply don't trust with or want involved in my creative process. Mods, isn't there something in the Forum rules about only posting your own work? If not there needs to be.
...because unattributed posting of other people’s writing is a behavior that you want to stridently defend?
Last time I looked, attribution was required and copyright was a thing. I find it dismaying that your post is still here.
The original purpose of this thread for participants to write their candidate for worst opening sentence, not to post the work of others. Let's get back to that. Posting the work of others invites ridicule of non-participants, and that's not what this forum is about. Only post your own candidates for worst opening sentence in this thread. Do not post the work of others.
How do you know anything people are posting here is their own work, if you want to get down to it? At least I did say it wasn't from me. I wasn't doing a "critique" in the literal sense, I was just bringing up a sentence that I thought pertained to the thread. Something I heard once and was memorable to me. I knew the person wouldn't mind. And your point about PM is correct, I would assume anyone not wanting public criticism would use PM.
Also, just as an FYI? That would have been an immediately fireable offense at the vast majority of creative companies. The offender would have been immediately terminated, not allowed to remove anything but their own coat and purse or wallet, and walked out of the building by security. That is how much of a breach of trust that is. Then the company would have gone through the person's desk to be sure the person was not in possession of any other copyrighted materials. Only then would someone pack up the person's personal effects and have them delivered via Fedx to their home. Just sayin'. It is damn hard to be fired immediately in California, but that's one thing that'll do it.
My response was to sheananigator, but I am going to reply to the Squirrel in private. This thread derailed due to the ususal instigators. The usual know-it-alls, cry babys, thin-skinned tattletales that usually get everybody minding their own business riled up. Half of you weren't even interested in this thread 'till you thought a war was about to break out. Half of you said you use that "ignore" button, why don't you use it instead of giving us your whinning all the time. I don't ignore people because I think it's childish, but if I wasn't talking to you I wish you would leave me alone. My friend isn't insulted by the word "corny".
Very simple: because we all help each other privately and see the works in progress draft after draft, scene after scene as edits are made. Apparently, that's not your experience here or you would know that. I wonder why that's not your experience here. I'm done with you.
Bye, bye then. I am not doing the private critique thing, I just reply to posts that I assume the OP was interested in discussing. What was I supposed to do, say this is from my neighbor John Doe that lives at 123 Main St.? It is none of your business who I was quoting. I knew I wasn't violating anybody's trust, you-know- it-alls did a lot of assuming. You know what they say about assuming don't you? Anyway, I did my report to Squirrel but since I am not a "contributor" who knows what kind of ears it landed on.
Rules. You've seen that the site has rules? Surprising as it may be--I'm sure it takes your breath away--they apply to you, too. Edited to add: And, interesting. You Reported someone for their failure to appreciate your choice to break those rules? Hmm.
I read the whole thread and I don't see that I did anything wrong and it flowed with everybody else. There's nothing about this thread that would make me think I have to identify my friend, that just saying it was someone I know wasn't good enough. See how you just can't leave well enough alone.
Here is the first post in this thread, in its entirety: The challenge posed by this post is, for emphasis, Compose the worst opening sentence everrrrr. That means YOU compose it. You do not quote someone else's sentence. Whether or not you have someone else's permission to quote their sentence is immaterial to the challenge. Also, without proper attribution, it is grounds for banning. It is up to the mods to determine whether that degree of punishment is required. I trust this makes things crystal clear.
I got it when you first said it but some people couldn't leave it alone. Now how about deleting all the other posts that failed to get it besides mine. Why are you trying to make it look like I am the only one that misinterpreted it.
