Jun
15th
2012
What say the people? (Please read this) · 8:43pm Jun 15th, 2012
Hey guys. I really, really, desperately need replies to this. More than just a little reply from Melancholy. (Thanks for being faithful, Mel.)
Why do you want out of me as a writer? I've noticed that a lot of my work and blog posts are going by unnoticed, when over 80 people are being contacted for them each.
So I would like to hear your reasoning as to why such things are being ignored, and how I can solve it. And please, please, don't ignore this post just to spite me. When you read it, I beg you to at least leave a comment. I know I sound incredibly whiny and beggar-like right now, but I honestly want your critique to improve, and if it's not there, I can't.
Cheers,
ping111, Content Genius
The reason for me is that I'm lazy. I'm not singling you out; I treat most writers here this way.
Truly useful critique takes a lot of brainpower for me, more than just saying "jolly show!" and much more than just reading, and if I'm not in a reader-editor relationship, I simply don't have the energy. While I realise it sounds selfish, I go here to relax and enjoy myself, which I do by reading. I spend my brainpower here mostly on my own writing.
And yeah, I know people say "anything is good" but I consider that bollocks. Short comments like "Nothing happens" are hardly useful, To provide critique worth the name you need to sit down and make a proper analysis, clearly figuring out what you like and dislike and how you think it could be changed. You will find most spontaneous critique on this and other sites that you find in comments concern grammar. That's because such criticism is so much easier. I don't do that either, because English isn't my first language and because no energy.
Unless people are sending each other a ton of notes with carefully thought-out criticism, you are not unique. Most comments that are not "bad", "good", "meh" or one of the above expressed through a goddamn image macro are either grammar comments, or comments on what sort of plot you want ("Yay! finally a discord-bloomberg ship!"). I tend to frankly assume that fanfic authors decide the latter themselves unless they work off a request, so that's not much help either.
This is not helpful, but it is true. If you aren't already I'd suggest you search out a more active venue, such as one of the groups for authors (on whatever level you feel you are) on this sight. Readers won't help you - but at least it is not your fault, and nothing personal.
176302 Thank you for the speedy and thoughtful reply. I agree, the internet is a dangerous place for writing, for emotions cannot be conveyed and people believe they can simply drop a comment and zip away. Love as I may to join some writing club, I'm at a bypass of childhood. Though I can write far better (I don't even say that humbly - someone in my class cannot spell Canada properly) than nearly everyone in my grade (or even area), I fear that if I were to write amongst the older groups, I would be left behind, or my content would just flat-out not be as good as theirs.
Again, I thank you for your kind words, and hope to hear from you in the future on other projects!
Cheers!
I want you to be happy while you write. I dunno what else.
I confess I know how you feel, a big part of why I like to write is because seeing people say they are enjoying my work. I've had to learn to look past just comments as a sign though.
All in all though, I really like the feeling of making thought take shape, and try to focus on that after lacklustre responses.