Curiouser and curiouser

[jemz]

Because I am curious about writing fanfic and not because I had too much fun with the ticky boxes, I want to know your thoughts. Feel free to comment about your thoughts. Elaborate, explicate, or just expound. No, I was not reading the E section of the dictionary today. I did that yesterday. :-P



[Poll #943206]

So how do you deal with concrit? Or trying to give concrit to a writer who doesn't really listen? Either from a writer's or a reader's perspective.

I remember going to a panel workshop on writing held by ponderosa121 (and a few others whose names escape me) and sitting next to someone who blatantly ignored a lot of what they were saying about writing and saying her own point of view. She brought an interesting point of view in which she wrote for herself and no one else and doesn't need a beta. It's a waste of time. But she didn't take any of the concrit to be a better writer since she really had no interest in becoming a better writer.

I dunno. I just remember being frustrated by her careless dismissal of genuine efforts to get her to look at her writing skills as something to be constantly worked upon as a writer. I thought Pond and the others handled it very well. I thought then and there, if I ever write anything, I definately want to improve my writing.

Any thoughts?

:/ I think I am just rambling again. Need more tea.

Comments

[ilanala]

I tend to only give concrit if people ask for it. I'm a pretty harsh beta sometimes, and I'll point out typos in finished fic, but I generally won't do serious concrit because people either ignore it or get annoyed. (And I didn't check the box about flailing, but I'll sometimes do that if the author is a friend and I really liked the fic and feel comfortable enough to flail.)

As for improving my writing...I do want to write things I can look back at without cringing, but I also write for fun, so there's a balance between wanting to write something good and not wanting to devote too much time to fixing up something. I mostly do my own editing, since I don't tend to have grammar or structure issues that I don't pick up myself, but if I'm unsure about a fic, I may ask someone to read it for me. I don't tend to do extensive rewriting, though.

I checked that I liked all three points of view on that question, but that's not really true. I've written a couple fics in second person, so I can't say I don't like it, but I think it's something that only works on very rare occasions. First person I generally don't like for fic as much as for original writing, but either way I'm very finicky about it. So mostly I like third person, if only because it's the most appropriate for a lot of pieces, I think, and is also the hardest to really mess up.

And I'm babbling, but I guess my point would be that I think people should try to improve as writers, but I can understand not wanting concrit on a specific piece of writing if it's not something you want to rewrite and fix up (although general concrit on style, etc. would still be useful there). The "I write for myself" thing is a poor excuse, though, because if you really write only for yourself, why are you posting your writing for other people to read and comment on? And even if you do write purely for yourself, don't you want to write yourself something good? That's an attitude I really don't understand.

[swtjemz.livejournal.com]

I agree with a lot of points you made.

I get so frustrated sometimes in trying to help and give concrit and the other person won't take it, whether it's grammatical or on the tone of their piece. And they post a one shot fic EVERY DAY.

and I wonder if they are improving, due to the sheer amount of fic they are writing, or stagnating, due to the fics all sounding exactly the same with the same characterizations especially since all the fics are in first person. I am very picky about first person since it is incredibly hard to do well. But when it's done well, it's utterly fantastic.

Thanks for your comment!