(no subject)
Went to the old writers' group Saturday for a critique of the book I'm writing. Offered them the first two chapters. Got some very positive feedback. I am exhilatered by what I learned from their careful analysis of my writing.
However - there always seems to be a fly in the ointment....
The man who runs the meeting is a dork.. Pure and simple... No, I didn't say that, did I? I meant a lot worse, but I will keep this gentle.... I'm actually beyond livid.... Not for what he said about my stuff, I'm learning to tune him out, but for his indimidating and manipulating ways. (BUT - I am grateful I 'saw' what he was about...)
He wrote of three pieces of the mechanics of writing. I'll not go into them at the moment, but for all three, he wrote on my paper that I MUST NOT DO THIS... In large latters. One of these trite messages was circled! I immediately remembered my training and told myself not to take it personally. Which worked for five minutes. - No, it really is a great tool to live by.
Being not 'university-trained' - I immediately thought, Oh gosh! I've gone and done something wrong - but this time, in stead of my usual self-deprecation, I thought I'd research his points.
Turns out - the mechanics of writing are rather ambiguous, prone to the 'fashion' of the day, and to who taught you grammar and what year and what school *g*
What galls me the most is that he wrote as if it were Gospel... And I'm sure he's been doing this for years; I shudder to think of all the other writers who have come to this 'gentle' critique and left after tearing their stories to shreds.... My own daughter, when I shared this, said it reminded her of a writing class she took in college... She thought she'd written good pieces, but the papers came back all with the infamous RED writing all over them. She told me she never wrote again.
Somedays, I just want to take Orcs like these folk and string them up by their thumbs!
However - there always seems to be a fly in the ointment....
The man who runs the meeting is a dork.. Pure and simple... No, I didn't say that, did I? I meant a lot worse, but I will keep this gentle.... I'm actually beyond livid.... Not for what he said about my stuff, I'm learning to tune him out, but for his indimidating and manipulating ways. (BUT - I am grateful I 'saw' what he was about...)
He wrote of three pieces of the mechanics of writing. I'll not go into them at the moment, but for all three, he wrote on my paper that I MUST NOT DO THIS... In large latters. One of these trite messages was circled! I immediately remembered my training and told myself not to take it personally. Which worked for five minutes. - No, it really is a great tool to live by.
Being not 'university-trained' - I immediately thought, Oh gosh! I've gone and done something wrong - but this time, in stead of my usual self-deprecation, I thought I'd research his points.
Turns out - the mechanics of writing are rather ambiguous, prone to the 'fashion' of the day, and to who taught you grammar and what year and what school *g*
What galls me the most is that he wrote as if it were Gospel... And I'm sure he's been doing this for years; I shudder to think of all the other writers who have come to this 'gentle' critique and left after tearing their stories to shreds.... My own daughter, when I shared this, said it reminded her of a writing class she took in college... She thought she'd written good pieces, but the papers came back all with the infamous RED writing all over them. She told me she never wrote again.
Somedays, I just want to take Orcs like these folk and string them up by their thumbs!