First time giving critique. How'd you, as an author, feel to receive the following? Is it useful?

Discussion in 'Author Discussions' started by Relhak, Oct 27, 2019.

  1. Relhak

    Relhak Well-Known Member

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    I want to improve myself as an author, so I've started to give critique and feedback to develop my critical thinking.
    If you also want me to critique your novel, please let me know.

    Is the following critique something that you'd be happy to receive as an author?

     
  2. Deleted member 155674

    Deleted member 155674 Guest

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    Improve yourself, ignore it or just tke the critism into consideration, up to you as there is no right or wrong answer
     
  3. Relhak

    Relhak Well-Known Member

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    Hey, I think you misunderstood. This what I gave as criticism. What I wanted to ask, is it useful?
     
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  4. Deleted member 155674

    Deleted member 155674 Guest

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    Oh so you gave the criticism, well, who knows, the same could be said about the author as well, would they take it positively or negatively, depends on their personality but yes should be helpful should the author see it in that way
     
  5. replay

    replay ★Milk and Honey smelling Merchant★

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    hmmmm. . .
    rather than to improve your critical thinking. . .
    I think you should go out more. . .
    make some friends outside that can help you on writing. . .
    like for example. . .
    I got a friend who is a butcher and he let me once, kill a pig. . .
    well the feeling of slitting the throat of that pig while alive is freaking nerve wracking. . .
    it cries due to pain, and if you look to it's eyes you can also see it's like pleading for you to stop. . . .

    sometimes good materials do come from experiences themselves. . .
     
  6. Relhak

    Relhak Well-Known Member

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    But... the outside world is... scary.

    But, yea. I agree. Experiences are a good source of writing. But I also need to learn how to criticize work. Look at it objectively. You can learn this by evaluating other people's work, and then applying what you've learned to yourself.
     
  7. thepope

    thepope Well-Known Member

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    It is ok and I would take it in but... If you can give critic for author not for his/her work go more into details like what was wrong with the characters the scenery for the time flow I could give few books that have a 2h experience on 200 sites and it does not feel rushed at all.
    The same to scenery it should be a mix that put the reader into it, as viewer but how many details they are in it is up to it example: a murder scenery with Sherlock Holmes would go more into detail of surrounding as a fighting scene in a box ring where you are more on focus on body or thoughts of the characters.
     
  8. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Grammarly Premium mistakes are jokes. Most of them would be Word Choices that did not reflect the atmosphere of the scene, as well as Passive Voice which sometimes should be used.

    Just stick to easy-to-understand words and your feeling, and use Grammarly only for common mistakes. In the end, just writes more to improve, no one can make you magically write better other than yourself.
     
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  9. Relhak

    Relhak Well-Known Member

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    Yea, I also gave comments in a document and attached that, where I wrote down my thoughts as a reader first time around, and the second as an author, where I thought of inconsistencies, pacing, plot holes, etc.

    I agree. Grammarly is really good at spotting mistakes, but you shouldn't trust it blindly. Sometimes it recommends me to change a word with a synonym, where I think, "But this isn't the meaning I wanted to portray with this sentence at all."
     
  10. Arcturus

    Arcturus Cat, Hidden Sith Lord

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    It sounds like solid criticism to my eyes. You mention the first person narration as having some issues, you might want to address that a bit more and be specific with which tenses are problematic. I find that authors really struggle to use the perfect tense correctly in particular.
     
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  11. Femme Fatale

    Femme Fatale | Sublime Goddess Of Chance |

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    I agree.

    The best way to improve your writing is to experience different things. Eat adventurous foods. Go to places that are outside of your comfort zone. Meet different people! Learning about yourself and others makes for great material.....but it's something you have to do irl, online doesn't count.

    And...write about those experiences, like a diary or in messages to people. Try to write it from different points of view, the same scene....

    Writing itself is such a solitary project, but experiencing life to get material and experience can be a whole lot of fun and fulfilling.
     
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  12. Authornim

    Authornim Active Member

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    Well i don't know about others but i would love for to have someone who points out just what the hell is wrong. I wrote a untamed ff before. It was quite well liked by people but i felt like it was truly trash. and now when i am on my original work it is damn hard. any way you don't need to guide others step by step,for it takes efforts, just hints should be enough. As an outsider one can see the problems clearly. And for people say that do this do that but for someone like me, who onl oes out if there is fire inside the house, thses talks are no use. Jiayou
     
  13. imK

    imK Artful Dodger

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    Recommend visiting/joining the Critters Writers Workshop. The site is ugly as all hell but the content is good and the people are genuine about their craft. Worthwhile amount of information on critiquing and whatnot.
     
  14. maggitt147

    maggitt147 Well-Known Member

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    I read all comments. Positive ones, negative ones, pointless ones, non-english ones, and ones that don't make any sense at all. I don't respond to them all unless they are asking a direct question to me but i feel motivated by comments. It makes me feel like real people are actually reading what i wrote. The number of views and whatever doesn't give me the same feel as someone actively leaving a comment of whatever their fingers typed on their keyboard. If its criticism and not just an insult towards me, then of course I acknowledge it and see if i want to learn anything from it. One example is if someone said my characters don't have enough depth and are just stereotypes. Whether i agree or disagree, i would google how to make my characters have more depth and after some research try and add that into my story going forward.