I should be able to make it to Quick(Mini)Con this year. Unfortunately, though, I can't be there the entire weekend due to various matters. I'll give you details over email
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I'm afraid that would be a few too many Internet breadcrumbs for my liking. Also, at this point I am fairly convinced I need to rewrite the beginning/trunk it for a while.
That negative comment you posted isn't constructive in any way. The person didn't pinpoint anything specific. S/he just ranted.
That's not a critique. That's an axe to grind. That person has no business critiquing anyone's work, much less people s/he doesn't know.
In my writing group, I've said some negative things, but never an umbrella statement. If I say something like, "I don't like your male love interest," I then back it up with where I find him prickly, what he said or did to turn me off him, and some alternatives of presenting these personality traits without changing the character or continuing to make him unlikable.
I can be pretty harsh, but that's beyond harsh. It's just plain mean.
Well, in fairness, that was just an excerpt. The critique did contain some specific comments that weren't entirely off-point (though they were equally unkind).
However, you're not wrong about an axe to grind, as it turns out.
I can see maybe making such sneering remarks in a review of a book one paid to read, but there's only one purpose of sending them directly to the writer, and it's not to make friends. So, I'd be unsurprised to learn that critique person had some personal reason for writing such nasty remarks, none of which actually reflect on the work.
I need to do another blog entry on critique again soon. I wrote one a while back, but it muddled the most important point. That being, you can't listen to everyone, and you can't address every point. Learning which comments to integrate is just as important as integrating them.
I used to make myself crazy, trying to make everyone happy. Then I started to leave the editing until a few days after the crit session, after I'd had a chance to think over what I was trying to do and why people got the impressions they did. My editing got a lot more polished after that.
I probably need to do that, too. (Let the critiques sit a while, I mean.)
As for the critique in question, that turned out to be merely a prelude. Evidently, I've run afoul of a Special Snowflake who seems to have friends. She didn't like a critique I posted of her work, and so...
(My critique was rather blunt, but I certainly did not say anything like "You suck and I would never pay money to read this.")
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unless something drastic happens, being there is the plan.
also, without actually having seen the work in question, but based on AQ at least, i dont think your previous writing self-assessment was off. really.
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That's not a critique. That's an axe to grind. That person has no business critiquing anyone's work, much less people s/he doesn't know.
In my writing group, I've said some negative things, but never an umbrella statement. If I say something like, "I don't like your male love interest," I then back it up with where I find him prickly, what he said or did to turn me off him, and some alternatives of presenting these personality traits without changing the character or continuing to make him unlikable.
I can be pretty harsh, but that's beyond harsh. It's just plain mean.
Reply
However, you're not wrong about an axe to grind, as it turns out.
Reply
I need to do another blog entry on critique again soon. I wrote one a while back, but it muddled the most important point. That being, you can't listen to everyone, and you can't address every point. Learning which comments to integrate is just as important as integrating them.
I used to make myself crazy, trying to make everyone happy. Then I started to leave the editing until a few days after the crit session, after I'd had a chance to think over what I was trying to do and why people got the impressions they did. My editing got a lot more polished after that.
Reply
As for the critique in question, that turned out to be merely a prelude. Evidently, I've run afoul of a Special Snowflake who seems to have friends. She didn't like a critique I posted of her work, and so...
(My critique was rather blunt, but I certainly did not say anything like "You suck and I would never pay money to read this.")
Reply
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