How This Critter Crits
Viewing comments for Chapter 3 "Macro/Micro Critting -- Continued"GROWTH? ADULATION? HURRY -- CHOOSE!
104 total reviews
Comment from Gloria ....
He simply suggested I quit with my similes, metaphors, and analogies and get with the program.
I love that line, that's funny even though I kinda really dig fresh similes, metaphors and analogies. Tired, old, clichés not so much, well, not at all.
Summaries are a terrific idea, because as the author you can see if your novel is progressing at a good pace or if you're dithering around and not really going anywhere.
The whole jaysquires part was hilarious. Whenever people use your full name they are being, how shall I put this euphemistically speaking, erm... cranky.
I love the word saggage. The fellow who brought that to light is the best. He was clearly constructive in his comments. One must always know who their audience is.
Your last sentence is perfectimo. regardless of level of experience, with honesty, caring and patience anyone can deliver a helpful crit.
Great writing, Jay! And once again as promised I have not peeked at the next chapter.
Gloria
reply by the author on 02-May-2015
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He simply suggested I quit with my similes, metaphors, and analogies and get with the program.
I love that line, that's funny even though I kinda really dig fresh similes, metaphors and analogies. Tired, old, clichés not so much, well, not at all.
Summaries are a terrific idea, because as the author you can see if your novel is progressing at a good pace or if you're dithering around and not really going anywhere.
The whole jaysquires part was hilarious. Whenever people use your full name they are being, how shall I put this euphemistically speaking, erm... cranky.
I love the word saggage. The fellow who brought that to light is the best. He was clearly constructive in his comments. One must always know who their audience is.
Your last sentence is perfectimo. regardless of level of experience, with honesty, caring and patience anyone can deliver a helpful crit.
Great writing, Jay! And once again as promised I have not peeked at the next chapter.
Gloria
Comment Written 30-Apr-2015
reply by the author on 02-May-2015
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Thanks for your usual great review, Gloria. I'm glad you agree with me that he/she helps most who writes from his/her (don't you love grammar?)true level of experience.
Comment from alf collier
Hi Jay. This is a very enlightening segment that tells us how you view writings posted, and I am ashamed to say I fell into the lessor category. I didn't post a summary ever, because I thought each chapter was supposed to stand on its own for reviewing. Now I understand this is not the case!!! I shall never make that mistake again, alf
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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Hi Jay. This is a very enlightening segment that tells us how you view writings posted, and I am ashamed to say I fell into the lessor category. I didn't post a summary ever, because I thought each chapter was supposed to stand on its own for reviewing. Now I understand this is not the case!!! I shall never make that mistake again, alf
Comment Written 30-Apr-2015
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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Thanks, Alf, for your kind comment. When a writer does leave a summary, he/she is the ultimate winner because he/she stands a better chance of having return readers.
Comment from boxergirl
Your humorous inner dialogue is what makes this post. Your voice comes through loud and clear and gives the reader an insight into your crittin mind. I have experienced these scenarios.
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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Your humorous inner dialogue is what makes this post. Your voice comes through loud and clear and gives the reader an insight into your crittin mind. I have experienced these scenarios.
Comment Written 30-Apr-2015
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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I'm happy you didn't seem to think the humor diversionary. Without the humor I coulda whittled all eleven chapters down into one ... very ... boring ... one. Thanks for your stars and your kindness.
Comment from Spiritual Echo
What I find endearing in this series, and I mean it, is the inner dialogue that not only makes it unto the page, but seems to be headed into a full-fledged novel--on reviewing, no less--after three months on the site, no less.
You reveal the asides, the bouncing neutrons as they volley inside your brain, taking both the scenic route and more entertaining, the personal odyssey. You have a nose-flipping attitude, without apology, that welcomes passengers, but is not disturbed one bit if the load lightens.
For me, highly entertaining. It's more about Jay that reviewing. That's what I look.
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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What I find endearing in this series, and I mean it, is the inner dialogue that not only makes it unto the page, but seems to be headed into a full-fledged novel--on reviewing, no less--after three months on the site, no less.
You reveal the asides, the bouncing neutrons as they volley inside your brain, taking both the scenic route and more entertaining, the personal odyssey. You have a nose-flipping attitude, without apology, that welcomes passengers, but is not disturbed one bit if the load lightens.
For me, highly entertaining. It's more about Jay that reviewing. That's what I look.
Comment Written 30-Apr-2015
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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Ingrid, thank you SO much for your encouraging words. As I just wrote to another (and will paste here): "Without the humor I coulda whittled all eleven chapters down into one ... very ... boring ... one." Don't ya love quoting yourself? Ingrid, I don't know what I'd do without your perky, yet insightful, input. Thanks again.
Comment from Fridayauthor
If 346 people have read this, I didn't have much luck finding errors!
Just a comment or two on longer pieces, and the lack of a summary. I'll look for obvious errors, of course. If the writer doesn't give me enough to follow the story, I comment on tightening... elimination of excess words, repeating words, (like I just did), adverbs where strong verbs would work better.
Worse yet, are sequels where if you haven't read books one through five, number six doesn't make sense.
Good job on this piece. It makes you think.
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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If 346 people have read this, I didn't have much luck finding errors!
Just a comment or two on longer pieces, and the lack of a summary. I'll look for obvious errors, of course. If the writer doesn't give me enough to follow the story, I comment on tightening... elimination of excess words, repeating words, (like I just did), adverbs where strong verbs would work better.
Worse yet, are sequels where if you haven't read books one through five, number six doesn't make sense.
Good job on this piece. It makes you think.
Comment Written 30-Apr-2015
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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Thank you so much, Ray. It's getting a lotta hype. I was told in private message when it first posted in '09 ... or was it '06, that management at FanStory did not care for it. I never understood why, but that person did appear to be in the inner circle of the movers and shakers. I think he was warning me not to expect any favors from them--though I can't imagine what favors they can bestow.
Comment from dejohnsrld (Debbie)
A great assessment of the critting process. I was scared to death to crit when I joined FS, afraid of offending the writer, so I tip-toed around an honest assessment. But thje more others critted my work, the more I saw how helpful it was to honing my craft. I decided it was only fair to honestly crit, and if done in a kind manner it is usually well-accepted. If you don't desire an honest crit, why post here. To just see your work typed and posted, an unknown blog anywhere in the universe would suffice And critters, please don't crit something you obviously haven't read. It is annoying, a waste of time and only serves to make you sound like a fool. Great write, Jay. I'm looking forward to more. Take care, my friend~Debbie
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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A great assessment of the critting process. I was scared to death to crit when I joined FS, afraid of offending the writer, so I tip-toed around an honest assessment. But thje more others critted my work, the more I saw how helpful it was to honing my craft. I decided it was only fair to honestly crit, and if done in a kind manner it is usually well-accepted. If you don't desire an honest crit, why post here. To just see your work typed and posted, an unknown blog anywhere in the universe would suffice And critters, please don't crit something you obviously haven't read. It is annoying, a waste of time and only serves to make you sound like a fool. Great write, Jay. I'm looking forward to more. Take care, my friend~Debbie
Comment Written 30-Apr-2015
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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Oh, I love it when you take away something from the post and show how it applies in your own experience here. It's gratifying. Thank you, as always, Debbie.
Comment from Spitfire
I see you practice what you preach with a summary at the top. Love the invitation to jump in or jump out. The lengthy intro could be tiring but it invites us into your delightful mind. Since I love writing scripts, I'll give you a couple of pointers should you start crittng them. Same as with stories, dialogue should advance the plot. Characters defined through speech, action, and what others say about them. Finally, a play should begin with a conflict already in bloom.
Not that I expect you to read it, but I wrote a satire called The Critique and it's ninety percent based on truth. My friend Charlie asked me to read his 600 pages plus novel!
I slammed it from beginning to end. ( I managed to find a few goodies.) The point is I can connect with your friend's advice although Charlie's book sagged all the way through. Unfortunately, all those who had kindly read it as a favor loved it or told him so with the exception of one other published writer.
Best advice:
the plot has to have an ever increasing number of obstacles for the protagonist to overcome on his way to a major, seemingly impossible obstacle, the overcoming of which will result in the climax and the denouement
A worthwhile read, my friend.
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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I see you practice what you preach with a summary at the top. Love the invitation to jump in or jump out. The lengthy intro could be tiring but it invites us into your delightful mind. Since I love writing scripts, I'll give you a couple of pointers should you start crittng them. Same as with stories, dialogue should advance the plot. Characters defined through speech, action, and what others say about them. Finally, a play should begin with a conflict already in bloom.
Not that I expect you to read it, but I wrote a satire called The Critique and it's ninety percent based on truth. My friend Charlie asked me to read his 600 pages plus novel!
I slammed it from beginning to end. ( I managed to find a few goodies.) The point is I can connect with your friend's advice although Charlie's book sagged all the way through. Unfortunately, all those who had kindly read it as a favor loved it or told him so with the exception of one other published writer.
Best advice:
the plot has to have an ever increasing number of obstacles for the protagonist to overcome on his way to a major, seemingly impossible obstacle, the overcoming of which will result in the climax and the denouement
A worthwhile read, my friend.
Comment Written 30-Apr-2015
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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I really do appreciate the time you spent on this, Shari and for offering a tutorial on scripts. The question I have in that regard is this: Shouldn't all the stage directions be objective and never tell what the actor is thinking, so that plot advancement comes only through the dialogue of the actors?
I think I know Charlie. Yep.
Again, for your kindness and insightfulness, a huge "thank you".
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Yes, it's the director and actor's job to determine the blocking in most of the script. Same with the thinking. I remember when the theater in my community staged my first play. The actress interpreted the line as a flattering comment when I meant it to be derogatory. Since I hadn't indicated either way, that's how she felt it and it worked very well!
Comment from kriver
Hi Jay
This series write is an outstanding effort to explain reviewing. I find it very hard sometimes to do this because some stuff
can be really bad. But yet you don't want to hurt the writer because they think it is good. Or maybe they have received a lot of outside awards for but you still think it is terrible. I find it quite difficult, not because I can't write something but because I place myself in their shoes and I know how I would feel so I just don't do it at all thinking that if others like it then it must just be me. Personally, I crit to help the writer not hurt them but some times they don't seem to see it that way and just get angry and then give a low rated review in return.Some times I have gone back and read all the previous chapters just so I can be up to speed on the chapter I am reviewing. But that takes an awful lot of time to do that for each novel/ book I really do like this series. It seems like it would be a difficult subject to tackle. I have found the information helpful. What I can't understand, is the spelling errors when all the writer needs to do is press spell check to correct them before the write is submitted. The grammar I can sort of understand. However, If they are writing a book to publish. I would think they would care enough about the write to at least try to check for mistakes and use a grammar program. But I guess that is what they use the crits for. Anyways this is a long winded way of saying I like your write and I am learning from it.
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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Hi Jay
This series write is an outstanding effort to explain reviewing. I find it very hard sometimes to do this because some stuff
can be really bad. But yet you don't want to hurt the writer because they think it is good. Or maybe they have received a lot of outside awards for but you still think it is terrible. I find it quite difficult, not because I can't write something but because I place myself in their shoes and I know how I would feel so I just don't do it at all thinking that if others like it then it must just be me. Personally, I crit to help the writer not hurt them but some times they don't seem to see it that way and just get angry and then give a low rated review in return.Some times I have gone back and read all the previous chapters just so I can be up to speed on the chapter I am reviewing. But that takes an awful lot of time to do that for each novel/ book I really do like this series. It seems like it would be a difficult subject to tackle. I have found the information helpful. What I can't understand, is the spelling errors when all the writer needs to do is press spell check to correct them before the write is submitted. The grammar I can sort of understand. However, If they are writing a book to publish. I would think they would care enough about the write to at least try to check for mistakes and use a grammar program. But I guess that is what they use the crits for. Anyways this is a long winded way of saying I like your write and I am learning from it.
Comment Written 30-Apr-2015
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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Kriver, (Is River your last name?) thank you for the depth of your crit. I really appreciate it. So many people have opened up and expressed their own challenges. It's interesting. I work from the premise that a writer pays his fee to have his work critted. There is a kind way of saying a post is not very good. If that way is not used, then shame on the critter. If the writer only wants compliments he should reserve his writings for his mama, who knows he is a genius, or his friends, who probably know less about writing than he, and don't want to damage the friendship. But if he wants improvement for his $49 (or is it $69) he should develop a thick skin and welcome all crits. If someone is truly trying to hurt him, that person can be muted. If he's not he might just be wrong with his crit, but trying to be helpful. If you know he is wrong ... you've already learned, but perhaps shouldn't tell him he's wrong. If he's spot on, you've learned something valuable and should endeavor not to make the same mistake again. Thanks again, K.
Comment from royowen
I'm one of those that never taken a class in writing, my mother pulled me out of school when I was 14, and I have never taken a class since, certainly not in writing, with me it's instinctive but I can spell reasonably well, but I have the attention span of a flea, and some writers are without mercy! My wife runs a book club, she also says readers have short attention span! So as a former language teacher, helps me a little, but 99.5% of the time leaves mr to my own devices! but I did enjoy your work! although this was heavy going. Well done, blessings, Roy.
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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I'm one of those that never taken a class in writing, my mother pulled me out of school when I was 14, and I have never taken a class since, certainly not in writing, with me it's instinctive but I can spell reasonably well, but I have the attention span of a flea, and some writers are without mercy! My wife runs a book club, she also says readers have short attention span! So as a former language teacher, helps me a little, but 99.5% of the time leaves mr to my own devices! but I did enjoy your work! although this was heavy going. Well done, blessings, Roy.
Comment Written 30-Apr-2015
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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It was meant to be humorously self-effacing, Roy. But I do like to have a few good points in each chapter, and hope the humor keeps them coming back. Thanks for being one of those.
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My pleasure Jay,as always, Roy.
Comment from Dashjianta
Another enjoyable piece Jay. I don't mind your tangents--they 're entertaining and humorous.
I've been guilty of not putting summaries on some of my chapters but I try not to do it with my new stuff.
And I agree--it's often those small comments, like losing interest, that can give the biggest help. Even when someone just does a simple summary and you think 'but that's not what I meant' it can help. And it's readers who buy/read the work in the end so a lack of writing experience doesn't take away from their being able to review.
Suggestion:
somewhere near - near the middle
--You've got a hyphen here.
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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Another enjoyable piece Jay. I don't mind your tangents--they 're entertaining and humorous.
I've been guilty of not putting summaries on some of my chapters but I try not to do it with my new stuff.
And I agree--it's often those small comments, like losing interest, that can give the biggest help. Even when someone just does a simple summary and you think 'but that's not what I meant' it can help. And it's readers who buy/read the work in the end so a lack of writing experience doesn't take away from their being able to review.
Suggestion:
somewhere near - near the middle
--You've got a hyphen here.
Comment Written 30-Apr-2015
reply by the author on 30-Apr-2015
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I'm so happy you're enjoying the series, Alex. I'll try to find that hyphen. You say it's somewhere near the middle? Nah, just kidding. I'll find it. I'm gonna go searching right now.
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lol. 'tis a hyphen in a wordstack.
