First the obvious – I love the English language. I adore writing and I’m an avid reader. I’m 23 years old and I’m going to college majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing. I have taken writing classes and I’ve read a great many writer reference books on my own time because quite frankly I’m a bit obsessed.
If you have gotten a review from me, please understand that I’ve only done my best to help. I try not to be too harsh, but I do point out any problems I see because constructive criticism is a part of helping. If I seem snippy, it’s probably b/c I’m making a concentrated effort not to cost you any more credits than I have to. I tend to be rather wordy, and sometimes I’m more successful at supressing it than oth…
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First the obvious – I love the English language. I adore writing and I’m an avid reader. I’m 23 years old and I’m going to college majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing. I have taken writing classes and I’ve read a great many writer reference books on my own time because quite frankly I’m a bit obsessed.
If you have gotten a review from me, please understand that I’ve only done my best to help. I try not to be too harsh, but I do point out any problems I see because constructive criticism is a part of helping. If I seem snippy, it’s probably b/c I’m making a concentrated effort not to cost you any more credits than I have to. I tend to be rather wordy, and sometimes I’m more successful at supressing it than others. Sorry about that.
I have a few pet peeves that are likely to affect the way I rate your work that I’ll point out here.
1. Always always always edit your work before posting it. Run through and check it for typos, misspellings, misused capital letters, incorrect punctuation, misused words, etc. If your work is important enough for you to post, and important enough for me to spend time critiquing it, it’s important enough to take five minutes to clean it up. It seems like a small thing, but it makes a piece look a great deal better, makes it easier to read, and shows you are genuinely putting effort into your work.
2. Post your work under the correct category. I understand if it’s a little difficult to place, but usually the section it should be in is pretty obvious. When I go to review short stories, and someone’s limerick pops up, it makes me think that person didn’t bother to look at the categories, didn’t care if it was placed correctly, and isn’t likely to take any advice I give anyway. Besides that, if you’re trying to get a piece published, and you send poetry to a magazine that only publishes short stories, for example, it’s going to get rejected out of hand. This is another small thing that I feel is important.
With that out of the way, I’d like to point out that no matter what I say about a piece, or what anyone else says about a piece, it is still your work and at the end it comes down to only making the changes you like. Also, even if you get a completely negative batch of reviews on a piece, that does not mean that the piece is not salvagable and it especially does not mean that you are a bad writer and should quit trying. All writers need practice. Part of that practice involves reworking pieces you’ve done, and experimenting with new pieces. Try all forms of writing. If you usually stick to short stories give a poem a try. If you usually only write poetry, try an essay. Also, read a lot. Read everything you can get your hands on. Read novels, read poetry, read books on writing.
I recommend:
Writing Poetry by Barbara Drake
Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway
On Writing by Stephen King
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
The Writer’s Idea Book by Jack Heffron
Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card
How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card
I do have more of my own work, but I’m very picky about deciding if a draft is finished or not. I will eventually post more. If you’re reviewing my work, please be completely honest about what you like AND what you don’t. If my writing can be made better I want to know about it. I make no guarantees that I’ll take your advice, but I will most definitely consider it. All of my pieces are likely to be revised at least once after being reviewed. So go ahead and be as critical as you want, as long as it can help me revise the piece.
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