Be honest... - Page 2 - Writers Forum

wrdsmth · 08-07-2007, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flatworld

I see that people are criticizing your story instead of your technique, as per you request.

Wrdsmth must be some kind of an editor or something, but half of what he pointed out wasn't story or technique related, so whatever.

Flatworld, do you understand what technique is? Method, skill, procedure, style, performance. This, in fact, is exactly what I addressed in my response to FicFrk's post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flatworld

Anywho, its alright for a story, it does need a little bit more. Now, if you are worried about your technique (you know things like rhythm, flow, awkwardness) and want to limit typos, print out your story and read it out loud. When you read out loud you will see the words more phonetically and the typos will be clearer and some more awkward sounding phrases will stand out better. Take a pen and cirlce them or something and then rewrite. Don't just fix the typos, totally rewrite it from the top. You'll notice more things you can change the next time around. Rinse and repeat until you feel totally comfortable and are ready to face the forums.

I haven't written on the forums in a looong time, but that is the general strategy I use when writing papers and speeches.

Reading your manuscript out loud will help you to recognize the rough spots and maybe a misplaced modifier or conflict in number between subject and verb, etc. In all likelihood, it won't help you to hear the weakness of writing structure and style if people (i.e. friends who either don't want to hurt you or don't know the difference between good and bad writing in the first place) are telling you your writing is good.

Fiction Freak’s request was as follows:

Quote:

I expanded this idea. I don’t want help on my story or idea,

(Which I did not address)

Quote:

but more on the writing techniques I used when presenting it.

(Which I did)

Quote:

Is there anything you find jarring, or wrong with the way I wrote this.

(Which I also addressed)

My comments addressed exactly that … the writing techniques, which were awkward and, at times, even sophomoric. I could not begin to address the issues of the story and plotline because there was not sufficient story from which to work. Fiction Freak may well have what it takes to be a good writer someday, maybe after five or ten years of learning the art of writing. Then Freak can begin working on learning the business of writing, which should only take another thirty or forty years to learn.

Writing is not an easy business, even for those who make their living at it. And make no mistake, even for the most gifted writer, it is work. If this excerpt represents the standard of writing for Fiction Freak, he has a long way to go before he is ready to submit anything. Keep writing, by all means, but work on learning the intricacies of the art of writing. Quit with the flowery phrasing. Tighten up your sentence structure. Zero in on the purpose of your story. Find your writer’s voice and put that on the page. And then, after you finish your manuscript, you must edit it and spend untold hours on rewrites. Then, set it aside and begin working on another, and another, and after about six months, when the first story is no longer fresh in your mind, go back and read it again and spend more hours on editing. After about the third or fourth or tenth rewrite, then you might be ready to submit it to an agent.

Flatworld, you do no budding author a favor by telling him that his writing is good when it is not. You are not helping him by ignoring the deficits in his technique and style in the interests of making him feel good about his work. If you want him to feel good about himself and his craft, help him to hone his skills and make him a better writer; don’t let him remain stuck in the mire of his shortcomings. He’ll never make it that way.

NOTE: critique/criticize – it does not mean only to point out the flaws or errors or problems. It is a full on approach which compels the critic to seek out both the good and the not so good in the work, point out what works and what does not work and why. That is how the young author improves and grows as a writer. In order to do this, one must be removed, emotionally, from the subject. Do not become so enamoured of the art of writing that you forget to see the writing itself.