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Writing 101: The Importance of Feedback and Criticism


Commander

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aah this is real helpful man, thankchuu.

no seriously what did you do with "setting the world" i hate it when i don't catch puns

setting=world

This is really cool to see. I personally always think I'm a shit writer that has a lot to learn and seeing stuff like this is always nice to give me some tips to learn from. I don't think I've actually gotten criticized yet on my writing skills (for good or bad) but I do agree that criticisms is something everyone needs in order to see what exactly they do that's amazing and what they do that's sub-par.

Though I do have to admit I'm usually kind of wary of criticizing as my writing skills aren't the best. Makes me feel like a blind man trying to tell someone how to see.

P.S: I probably should never be criticizing on word choice as I am horrible at it.

Edited by Shadow Sketches
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It was originally going to be called saving the world, but I felt setting was a better pun there given they're the same thing

SS, you may feel like a hypocrite at first (don't worry, I've struggled with word choice, but I have a dictionary just in case and I have ways to use simple words in unique ways), but you wouldn't believe how much it helps. I was really weak at details at first because my brain sometimes just couldn't grasp visuals which is a major problem.

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It was originally going to be called saving the world, but I felt setting was a better pun there given they're the same thing

SS, you may feel like a hypocrite at first (don't worry, I've struggled with word choice, but I have a dictionary just in case and I have ways to use simple words in unique ways), but you wouldn't believe how much it helps. I was really weak at details at first because my brain sometimes just couldn't grasp visuals which is a major problem.

(No worries, I have google :^) )

Yea, there had been plenty of times where I would spend countless minutes just trying give detail to an aspect of the scene I'm writing because I'd have some trouble visualizing how it would look. Though I think I'm getting slightly better at it just from reading others' posts and practicing it more myself.

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  • Support Squad

Bear in mind criticism is not something to follow blindly. If the commenter had a valid query about the work or notices something you missed it can be good to register it but when it comes to more subjective things then you start stepping on shaky ground. When in doubt it can be better simply to dismiss a comment rather than let it negatively impact you. For example, when writing someone comments that they'd like to see X trope in your post apocalyptic story. Maybe they want a protagonist with some A-cup angst. So you work it in. You use the trope a little before leaving it alone. Then you look back and realise you had a girl worried about her body image in a world where it hardly matters to her immediate survival. It clashes in a way that some people might like but otherwise detracts from the serious nature of the story. This could have been avoided by dismissing the criticism.

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I thought it would be prudent to point out that you don't always have to give criticism. I can't speak for other writers, but personally, the three things that make me happiest, in descending order, are: writing, talking about my writing, and recieving criticism. Just talking about a story shows that you enjoyed it enough to form attachments to its characters and world. Criticism certainly helps the author to improve, but if you have nothing to criticise, just talk about the work with the author. Say what you did and didn't like about the chapter, make jokes about the characters, single out which character is your favorite; etc. Authors love talking about their work. They love their work being talked about. There are few greater gifts you can give an author than to engage at length with them in a discussion about their work.

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I thought it would be prudent to point out that you don't always have to give criticism. I can't speak for other writers, but personally, the three things that make me happiest, in descending order, are: writing, talking about my writing, and recieving criticism. Just talking about a story shows that you enjoyed it enough to form attachments to its characters and world. Criticism certainly helps the author to improve, but if you have nothing to criticise, just talk about the work with the author. Say what you did and didn't like about the chapter, make jokes about the characters, single out which character is your favorite; etc. Authors love talking about their work. They love their work being talked about. There are few greater gifts you can give an author than to engage at length with them in a discussion about their work.

Ayyy, this so much. One of my favorite things as a writer (If I can even call myself that) is to simply hear people talking about it. I love to know which characters people like, which characters people hate, and why. It's the random stuff like that that I appreciate the most, though I also very much appreciate criticism, don't get me wrong. Unfortunately, people don't seem very motivated to talk about that stuff around here (outside of a select few topics) unless prompted in a post-chapter questionnaire or something, which is a shame. Maybe it just means the writing wasn't interesting enough to prompt them to talk about it, who knows. But yeah, I love hearing what people think of the characters I make, the settings, the plot, whatever it may be.

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I thought it would be prudent to point out that you don't always have to give criticism. I can't speak for other writers, but personally, the three things that make me happiest, in descending order, are: writing, talking about my writing, and recieving criticism. Just talking about a story shows that you enjoyed it enough to form attachments to its characters and world. Criticism certainly helps the author to improve, but if you have nothing to criticise, just talk about the work with the author. Say what you did and didn't like about the chapter, make jokes about the characters, single out which character is your favorite; etc. Authors love talking about their work. They love their work being talked about. There are few greater gifts you can give an author than to engage at length with them in a discussion about their work.

If me bolding and making it type face that large wasn't enough... ((oh and making the text yellow cause I'm a butthead.)) I don't know what else I can do to stress this.

TALK TO ME ABOUT MY STUUUUUUUUUUUUUUFF. I want to talk about it... like seriously... I want to discuss this stuff with the people who enjoy reading it. Tell me things you loved and that made you laugh, why you like characters, if they remind you of something.

My favourite thing in my writing career thus far is ((and I won't name who.)) told me that a character reminded them of themselves. That she identified with a character I ahd written on a personal level. Seriously... it wasn't feedback and it wasn't criticism. It was just talking to me about my work. PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE do it more! I cannot stress this enough. I want to enjoy the banter between fans and myself and just people that really like my work. You'll see that everytime someone asks something or they talk about something in one of my threads... I always answer. BECAUSE I WANT TO DISCUSS MY WORK XD. Why else write it if I can't talk about it?

Also, Commander, would you mind if I pin this thread? On the condition you fix the black text though in the spoilers cause man... I shouldn't have to highlight something to be able to read it properly lol.

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As an English major (or at least a declared one,) I can say that getting criticism is one of the best things that can happen. I'm not talking about the "why is there no shipping zero out of a hundred" type criticism of course, but anything that helps me see what the public didn't like really helps. If someone didn't like the setting, it helps to know. If they don't like a fantasy setting, it can help me change my form. Plus, criticism helps me know that someone actually read my story. The fact that someone is actually taking time out of their day to write something is both a boost to my self confidence, and let's me become a better writer. Just reading something I've made and not putting anything down is kind of brutal, as it means my story wasn't worth talking about, or gosh forbid, wan't even worth finishing. If even wasn't worth finishing, I'd like to know why. Feedback is the lifeblood of an author, and those who leave without it shall now be dubbed "Feedback Vampires!"

That sounded a lot better in my head.

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Saying nothing is almost no different than saying you didn't like the story. It more or less means you didn't care for it and don't feel like it's worth the effort to say anything. Silence is the worst thing for a writer as it fills them with doubt and kills their self esteem and motivation. Short one lined comments are a tiny bit better, but not that much. To me, it feels like I failed as a writer for not getting you engaged to say anything more than you liked it. Why did you like it? If anything, it could be that you didn't like it and wanted me to feel better.

You don't have to be a critic or even really good at giving feedback to really motivate a writer. A little bit goes a very long way. I love it when people give me a small paragraph and reasons why they liked it as it makes me want to do more. Seriously, 3-4 sentences to the writer goes a long way and more is better. As a writer, I've gone back through both criticism and feedback many times when I feel down or I am struggling to write. Both are just so important and make me feel like I'm not wasting my time.

I thought it would be prudent to point out that you don't always have to give criticism. I can't speak for other writers, but personally, the three things that make me happiest, in descending order, are: writing, talking about my writing, and recieving criticism. Just talking about a story shows that you enjoyed it enough to form attachments to its characters and world. Criticism certainly helps the author to improve, but if you have nothing to criticise, just talk about the work with the author. Say what you did and didn't like about the chapter, make jokes about the characters, single out which character is your favorite; etc. Authors love talking about their work. They love their work being talked about. There are few greater gifts you can give an author than to engage at length with them in a discussion about their work.

I actually do agree with you. That's even why I put in things in criticism that can be talked about so casually such as a favorite character. Generally through, I welcome any type of discussion on anything I do so long as its the truth. I've seen people fear saying stuff as it might make them look bad, but I gained a reputation of being the one guy to go to as he was completely honest. But I pretty much enjoy everything on equal terms, but I like really long comments because they're easy to go back to and fun to respond. You could give me 50 comments on anything I write and I would respond to every single one as writing is a passion.

And I know Dobby said that criticism can be hurtful, but I actually was part of a community that sometimes backlashed against criticism as it was considered "hurting others and putting them down." Since this is more about the reader, I decided to not include anything about when to take and ignore criticism because surprise, surprise, that might make someone think giving criticism is completely pointless, which it's not. Criticism from a writer's POV is a really big topic in and of itself which if people want me to do more of these, I would certainly cover it.

And Huk, yes, please pin this. I kind of was expecting that because yeah, it's a post I want people to go to if they don't know what to say on something they read and get the writer's perspective. (I'm also going to add Aqui's post in the OP since it's better written than anything I could add).

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Silence truly is a terrible thing for a writer putting their work out. While writers generally write for themselves and because they want to, that itself is only half of it. When writers put their work out, it's because they want to engage with an audience on some level. We don't care if it's criticism or praise. We honestly want to take satisfaction in the fact that someone took the time and effort to read through and try to understand that craft as well as to be able to engage in a conversation about the work we crafted.

At least, that's how the romantic in me sees it~

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Well, if I was planning on doing creative writing, which I'm not good at, cuz I suck at describign things, there would be problems, cuz I imporperly use commas, and probably have some form of dislexia, I make a lot of typos involving putting letters in the wrong order

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  • 3 years later...

Tell me about how silence kills self-esteem.

 

Seriously, I haven't had anyone tell me any constructive thing about my story since weeks, when I posted the first chapters, despite my fic having a decent flow of visitors and views.

Urgh, and now I'm asking a few people for a bit of opinion sharing and I feel like an insecure mess of an attention whore.

 

Do you have any advice on how to personnally deal with this as an author?

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7 minutes ago, Gabriel1 said:

Tell me about how silence kills self-esteem.

 

Seriously, I haven't had anyone tell me any constructive thing about my story since weeks, when I posted the first chapters, despite my fic having a decent flow of visitors and views.

Urgh, and now I'm asking a few people for a bit of opinion sharing and I feel like an insecure mess of an attention whore.

 

Do you have any advice on how to personnally deal with this as an author?

Well I don't know if it counts as necroposting but who honestly cares at this point. So I'll just give you a reality check that all authors strive to reach a skill level called "there" for now. Without looking at anything you haven't reached that point yet. Because of that, getting to "there" is a brutal task in and of itself.

 

It is a hit harder because the big fish (not sure if I count) are not doing any activity here to bring in traffic. I'd love to do it but there is just too much on my plate. It unfortunately is because of that no real trend can start up. You need a lot of patience and reaching out to people for advice like you're doing here. I had to basically beg people to play the mod I was working on and then it eventually picked up traction months afterwards. That's because I was getting better which attracts more interest.

 

Seems like you're troubled by something. I know you're not alone on this so I can do a lecture type thing to help noobs out or I can look at it individually and give you advice on where to go from now. I'm not going to be able to give you instant results. It doesn't work like that.

 

Now if you want me to look at whatever you are working on, shoot me a PM giving some details. Don't just say I need feedback because you know more about the work than I do. How do you want me to help you? I know you want discussion but what kind of discussion as there's a number of ways to answer that. 

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1 minute ago, Commander said:

Well I don't know if it counts as necroposting but who honestly cares at this point. So I'll just give you a reality check that all authors strive to reach a skill level called "there" for now. Without looking at anything you haven't reached that point yet. Because of that, getting to "there" is a brutal task in and of itself.

 

It is a hit harder because the big fish (not sure if I count) are not doing any activity here to bring in traffic. I'd love to do it but there is just too much on my plate. It unfortunately is because of that no real trend can start up. You need a lot of patience and reaching out to people for advice like you're doing here. I had to basically beg people to play the mod I was working on and then it eventually picked up traction months afterwards. That's because I was getting better which attracts more interest.

 

Seems like you're troubled by something. I know you're not alone on this so I can do a lecture type thing to help noobs out or I can look at it individually and give you advice on where to go from now. I'm not going to be able to give you instant results. It doesn't work like that.

 

Now if you want me to look at whatever you are working on, shoot me a PM giving some details. Don't just say I need feedback because you know more about the work than I do. How do you want me to help you? I know you want discussion but what kind of discussion as there's a number of ways to answer that. 

 

Damn, I hadn't noticed the last post's date. Sorry about that.

 

Besides, thank you for the reply. I'm going to follow this up in PM, like you suggested.

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