McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Who/where do you bounce ideas?
Snowleopard:
--- Quote from: Nickeris86 on February 08, 2011, 06:24:56 PM ---I agree it is rather silly to get offended by criticism. That was one of my biggest issues I faced in my writing classes is that very few people were willing to give criticism, I suspect that they didn't want to hurt feelings but it kind of dulled the point of the entire class.
However on the other hand you have to be careful who you ask for opinions because some people don't know how to give constructive criticism. I have had people tell me something I wrote sucks but they didn't give me any ideas on how to correct it. Now that I find to be very irksome.
--- End quote ---
There is that too. You have family members who think that telling you that everything you do (even if flaming monkey poo is better) is terrific is the way to help you. You have those who give criticism but they are nit picking and not addressing the important points in your writing. Then you have, unfortunately, those who deliberately will put you down. Along with learning to accept criticism you also need to learn to filter the criticism you get - weeding out the well meaning and the nasty and getting to the ones who have valid points.
MrWiggles:
On writing.com, there this seemingly growing trend to only give positive reviews. I find this very irritating. I want to get better, giving me fluff warm feelings doesn't make me a better author. I need to know where I am weak, and hopefully suggestions on how to improve.
Snowleopard:
--- Quote from: MrWiggles on February 09, 2011, 06:00:56 AM ---On writing.com, there this seemingly growing trend to only give positive reviews. I find this very irritating. I want to get better, giving me fluff warm feelings doesn't make me a better author. I need to know where I am weak, and hopefully suggestions on how to improve.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, warm fuzzies will not improve your writing. As I tell my friends - I want to know where I can improve, where I'm hopelessly wrong - and what are the holes in the plot that you can drive a star cruiser through.
library lasciel:
--- Quote from: Snowleopard on February 09, 2011, 06:04:44 AM ---Yeah, warm fuzzies will not improve your writing. As I tell my friends - I want to know where I can improve, where I'm hopelessly wrong - and what are the holes in the plot that you can drive a star cruiser through.
--- End quote ---
See, this is what I want, and while I love my friends dearly and have great fun with them, they're really not the people for that type of feedback.
It's irksome. :-\
Snowleopard:
--- Quote from: library lasciel on February 10, 2011, 07:37:13 PM ---See, this is what I want, and while I love my friends dearly and have great fun with them, they're really not the people for that type of feedback.
It's irksome. :-\
--- End quote ---
Yeah, verily yeah. Maybe you need to make it clear to them what you really want. Some people aren't sure whether you want the truth or 'warm fuzzies" and don't want to make a mistake.
I'm fortunate to have several friends who will give me the plain unvarnished truth as they say.
I also have a friend who makes her living as a writer and she pulls no punches if I give her some of my work to look over.
I'm afraid I have a sometimes tenuous grasp of tenses which tends to irk her (heck it irks me). And my grammar and punctuation can be shaky too.
If you stay on the forum any length of time you'll probably find someone more than willing to listen to your ideas. And I think most of the consistent posters are good people who'll give you good feedback.
Heck, I've seen people asking for beta readers in the author's section of the forum.
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