HELP ME!

[Michelle]

shut up! xD *gives virtual shove* excuse me for trying to cover the basics! ;P

[[deleted user]]

C'mon, it's one of the most important cities in the world!

[Michelle]

how wuz i supposed to know YOU would know that?! xD the first question many aussies ask me when i tell them that is: "do you speak singaporean?" =.= lol

[[deleted user]]

No, the worst (but funniest) "Why aren't you Black? If your from Africa you should be" or "Speak African!"

~_~*

[Rea]

This has gone completely off topic. Do you want me to look at the rest of it?

I'm looking at this from the perspective of someone who has studied Creative Writing at university level, so it's beyond what your teacher will want from you (most likely) but it'll still help you to see where the problems with your writing are.

And no, writing's not supposed to flow. That's storytelling. Writing is a craft and a lot of hard work, pain, tears, frustration and dedication go into writing.

[[deleted user]]

Ueah, well, Rea, I'm in Year 9.
There's a big gap.

[Rea]

Well then, if you mean to actually write beyond playing about, read Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

But if you have no one pointing out where your problems are, or if you don't listen to them, you'll never improve. We saw that with Stephenie Meyer.

[Smog1997]

Stephanie Meyer is not a bad writer, she writes well, she just has a different style.
Francois: I think it's pretty good,(definitely better than anything I could have come up with) besides for some grammatical errors. Oh and also it might be a little slow paced, but that could just be me (because I find it similar to Maximum Ride/Alex Rider, just those are more fast paced).

[Rea]

Actually, she's not a good writer. She's a good storyteller. There's a difference. But what I was really getting at there was that Stephenie Meyer will not accept criticism of any kind, constructive or not. It is public knowledge that if anyone sends her any kind of criticism, she just throws the letter away and she won't read any bad reviews about her books. If you do that, never listen to your critics, you can never evolve as a writer. It's by listening to your critics, listening to what they have to tell you, that you get better.

It's like if one day you decide 2+2=5 and not 4, but then you refuse to listen to anyone who tells you that you've got it wrong because in your head you're convinced that you've got it right. Doesn't work very well, does it?

[Smog1997]

Actually I'm in middles of reading The Twilight Saga:The Official Illustrated Guideby Stephanie Meyer, and at the beginning of the book she does an interview with Shannon Hale. For one of her answers (the question was How do you go about rewriting? With Twilight did you send it off immediately, or did you go back and start revising it?)Stephanie Meyers says: "So even now that Twilight is "finished"-quote-unquote-oh, I'd love to revise it. I could do such a better job now. And I have a hard time rereading it. Because if I read it on the computer, I want to go in and change things- and it drives me crazy that I can't."

Another question (in response to Shannon Hale saying that she listens to her books on audio)"See, I can't ignore my mistakes as much when I hear it on audio. I have tried to listen to my books on audio, and I cannot do it. Because I hear the awkwardness in a phrase when it's spoken aloud, and I just think: Oh gosh! I shouldn't have phrased it that way. And there'll be other things where I hear the mistakes a lot louder than when I read through it and kind of skip over them with my eyes."

A third question was:... Is it still terrifying for you every time you put a book out?
Stephanie Meyer's answer: "Yeah...and with good reason. Because the world has changed- and the way books are received is different now. People are very vocal. And I do not have a lot of callouses on my creative soul-every blow feels like the first one. I have not learned how to take that lightly or let it roll off of me. I know it's something I need to learn before I go mad- but it's not something I've perfected. And so it's hard, even when you know it's coming."

The final answer I'll post was in response to Shannon Hale saying that you never know how people could react to how you write, and that she's in the process of writing another book now and if she knew what people wouldn't like, she would be "sorely tempted" to change them to try and please everyone. Stephanie Meyer's answer "... And so my reaction, when the criticism is really bad and really hard, is I wish I would have kept this in my computer. I should have just held on to this work and have it be mine alone. Because sometimes I wonder: Is it worth it to share it? But then you feel like you're not doing your characters a service with that-they deserve to live more fully, in someone else's mind.

So what was my point in typing all this up?
Basically to prove to you that the statement But what I was really getting at there was that Stephenie Meyer will not accept criticism of any kind, constructive or not. was false. Like many people Stephanie Meyer may not like to receive criticism, but it would anyway be impossible for her not to hear bad things about her books. And anyway it's not like she herself thinks her writing is perfect (on the contrary in fact).
Also another reason why people in general may not necessarily like to receive criticism, ( I know sometimes I'm like that) is because they may have their own ideas about how they're writing their piece. Like maybe Francois with the deep, slow breaths thing. So why ask someone to read it before hand? I don't know, personally I hate when my mother reads my essays before I hand them in because she'll start making suggestions and changes.

(Just by the way this was the longest post I've ever written.)

[Michelle]

Rea wrote: "Well then, if you mean to actually write beyond playing about, read Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

But if you have no one pointing out where your problems are, or..."

Rea wrote: "This has gone completely off topic. Do you want me to look at the rest of it?

I'm looking at this from the perspective of someone who has studied Creative Writing at university level, so it's beyo..."

that'a a little too critical, rea. sure writing isn't easy and sometimes there's a lot of story-telling that goes into it, but there is a HUGE difference between the two and frankly, if writing is all that u just pointed out, i'd rather stick to storytelling cuz if u dun get at least SOME happiness or fun out of writing, then there's seriously no point. Francois's just in year 9 and you can bet that he WILL improve cuz from what i read, his story is awesome just the way it is, not looking at the grammar etc at all, but the idea and the way he describes is better than what most people out there can actually come up with. writing can be taken seriously, or it doesn't have to be. ur choice.

Smog1997 wrote: "Actually I'm in middles of reading The Twilight Saga:The Official Illustrated Guideby Stephanie Meyer, and at the beginning of the book she does an interview with Shannon Hale. For one of her answe..."

*clap clap*
i dun particularly enjoy the twilight saga, but i have to admit the Stephanie's a good writer nonetheless, just the style that she writes in that doesn't come into my opinion

[Kübra ℂ⋆]

Showing rather than telling is what I’m good at but you know what Rea it takes time to master it. Give the kid a break, his only 14 and just started writing. He doesn’t have as much experience but from what i read it’s GOOD for a 14 year old boy. Stop acting like you know everything and just be nice. He accepted you criticism, so there is no need to drag it on and on.

[Kübra ℂ⋆]

Stephanie Meyer is an AWSOME WRITER. She wouldn’t have been a number 1 bestseller around the world if she wasn’t a good writer.

[Rea]

I think you'll find he asked for criticism. That is what I offered. The fact that I have a degree in Creative Writing just means that I've taken lessons on how to give a critique to help someone actually improve their writing rather than just telling them that it's zomg ossim!! just the way it is. I can point out what comes across as clunky where, sometimes I can say why, and sometimes I can only say that it does. When people ask for this sort of thing, it's usually because they want help polishing what they've written to help them improve. I didn't realise that it was only a piece of homework.

I've tried to help but obviously my help is not appreciated so I won't bother giving anymore of it. Critiquing takes a lot of my time. I'm not wasting my time if it's not appreciated because it's an actual critique and not just praise.

[[deleted user]]

I do appreciate it, Rea.
Although I would like to know where I went right...

[Rea]

I only did the first paragraph. And then got told off for actually critiquing rather than just praising.

From the first paragraph I can tell you that I preferred the new opening to the original one. Your idea seems interesting, with just the right number of hints that Dallas is going to be a complicated character (at least I hope he will be.) I would prefer you show me that he has enhanced vision - maybe by describing something on the otherside of the courtyard in detail, but the how of it is up to you. Saying the dagger gave him both pain and pleasure is interesting, but I think you need to expand that passage a bit to take it away from the cliché (it goes without saying that you should avoid clichés wherever possible in writing) - try fiddling with it a bit, expand a little, or change the wording from pleasure and pain to some form of synonymous imagery. I like the idea that he keeps this knife with him, and I like the Celtic pattern - that sets the story firmly in our universe, the castle courtyard sets it in circa mediaeval times, most likely in Europe - I like that you subtly introduced those details and trusted me to gleen them from your writing rather than whacking me around the head with them as some writers do.

And that's just one paragraph. To give you any more feedback I'd have to read the rest of it, but I'm not going to if I'm just going to get attacked for my troubles.

[[deleted user]]

Well, thank you for the criticism nonetheless...
I'm doing my best to take what you said into account.
;)

[Kübra ℂ⋆]

Dude! When will u start writing your first chapter?

[[deleted user]]

I started!

[Kübra ℂ⋆]

Thts good!