The Great Write Meme

[findmeakor]

Ok, so I thought it would be fun to do a little informal critique on each other's fiction. The idea stemmed from blessed_beast's The Icon Truth Meme, for icon makers.

THE GREAT WRITE MEME- Comment with your username, and those willing shall reply with thoughts on any fiction, fandom or original, that you compose. That means it does not make a difference what

Comments

[anonymous]

I think your greatest strength is characterisation. In the moment-by-moment dialogue sense, but also in a broader across-the-story sense. In the way in which your stories progress - the building relationships etc - you never lose your grip on the complexities of each individual character. It makes every story feel rough, in the best possible sense, real - even where there's a clear arc, it's never so smooth that it doesn't feel true, in a really visceral way. I'm thinking in particular of Scenes from a Lesser War, here. Great fic. I think the same is true of Close Encounters as well, which I also really enjoyed.

I think where there are weaknesses in your work, at root, they come down to the nuts-and-bolts of writing. The phrasing is sometimes quite awkward. One thing I notice is tonal shifts, where weirdly formal words intrude into what's otherwise quite a casual, colloquial POV. I find that jarring. There's some off imagery in places - one that made me wince was dicks waving in the wind from Scenes - but, generally, what I notice is how little imagery there is at all. Just. There's just a general lack of spark to the language (sorry, I know that's vague but I don't know how else to put it): where you aren't writing the very intense emotional scenes, which are beautiful, there are these stretches of quite barren language ("This happened. That happened. He did that. He said that."). It's effective in setting the scene and doing what it has to, plot-wise, but not really involving.

Hm. This is coming across as more negative than I mean it to. I really do love your stories. You involve me emotionally with the characters in a way that a lot of more polished fiction just doesn't: the experience of reading your stories is intense and involving and just good. But it also feels a little uneven, technically, and that pulls me out of the story sometimes - I think some work on those aspects of your writing could make your work just amazing.

[amireal]

*nods* re: Characterization, that's what I've heard, sometimes even in gushing replies and sometimes I'm just-- but this is how they'd act. But while I seem to have a handle on that, there are other things I'm having a hard time dealing with, I suppose we've all got our faults.

As to the nuts and bolts: Yes. OMG yes. I try and pick up one or two basic things with each story, get my beta to pound some basic principle into my head. Or to get down the cease fire terms with my beta, telling her what she should and shouldn't comment on, etc.

And then there are the days I'm sabotaged by my fingers. Damn them and the fact that they like their apostrophes.

[amireal]

I just realized that I didn't comment on the whole 'lack of spark' thing. And you're right and it's something that I've always worried about in some ways, that and repatative word syndrome, especially in the sex scenes. But now that it's been articulated I hope I'll keep it in mind for the next editing process.