Writing a helpful post - Writers Forum

Olly Buckle · 08-23-2007, 03:37 PM

The main point of writing a post would seem to be to say something that gives the original writer the chance to improve, either what is already written or what they will write. It is also good to know that people read things and don't just glance over it and move on, these are the "Thankyou, I enjoyed this" posts and they have their place. What I want most though is to read some posts that people feel have helped them. I'm inviting people to say "On the thread .... the post by .... was good because" then we can all go and look at it and draw lessons from it. Make sense?

valeca · 08-23-2007, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Critique and Advice Works seeking critique, advice or assistance.

Were you wanting a critique on this or would you like it moved to the Tips and Advice section?

Olly Buckle · 08-24-2007, 05:03 AM

You are so right, careless of me. How do I go about it?

Olly Buckle · 08-24-2007, 05:36 PM

thankyou

Olly Buckle · 08-26-2007, 03:40 AM

O.K. I am going to kick this off by mentioning the post on my piece "Cold Water" in non fiction left for me by mammamaia. It shows me the sort of thing that she can correct without ripping the whole thing apart, at the same time she offers to take it further if I wish. It certainly made me think and could well lead to a rewrite, critical , friendly and encouraging all at once. Thank you again
Now you can see it will also direct people to read your original thread again I expect you will be looking back through them for good criticism.

Kinniku Mantaro · 08-26-2007, 07:30 AM

Quote:

The main point of writing a post would seem to be to say something that gives the original writer the chance to improve, either what is already written or what they will write. It is also good to know that people read things and don't just glance over it and move on, these are the "Thankyou, I enjoyed this" posts and they have their place. What I want most though is to read some posts that people feel have helped them. I'm inviting people to say "On the thread .... the post by .... was good because" then we can all go and look at it and draw lessons from it. Make sense?

Am I the only person who finds this excercise pointless? It just seems like a cheesy way of building one's ego or someone else's - not to mention most people know what good post is, and to start a thread about what is good and 'drawing lessons from it', seems pretty redundant. Besides, wouldn't it be better to find bad posts and to say how they could be improved, though what is a good/bad is pretty much subjective anyway. . .

Olly Buckle · 08-26-2007, 11:04 AM

As you say we all "know what a good post is" but it is subjective, that is to say we all might have different ideas about what makes a post useful. Of course we might all think the same but we won't know one way or the other. Slagging off the idea of trying to find out and improve things strikes me as far more redundant. Finding bad posts and seeing how they might be improved might work but a; I didn't think of it and went with this b; you might find your thread swamped, it could be harder to find a good post and, c; it's about as negative as the rest of your post. We could all just not bother and get on with the housework.