This is what Kahlua makes me do.
Hooboy.
Just read a really really really badly written fic. I mean, I want to be generous, I'd hate to get slammed for anything I'd written, no matter how bad it was, because it would be something I at least HOPED was good enough for public consumption. I assume this is how it works for most fic-writers.
But it was terrible. Not just badly punctuated, or with crappy dialogue, or a totally bizarre lack of context, or with absolutely NO FLOW, but ALL of those. And more. This is someone who can't write (yet). This is possibly even someone who shouldn't write (ever).
My first urge was to write some really bitchy comment about how bad it was, largely because if you're writing and you suck, I don't want you to inflict it on me. I DID NOT DO IT. That should be clear. I didn't do that, and I'm not going to. But I want to. I want, at the moment, to seek out every really bad fic writer and say horrible, nasty, cruel things about their writing so they won't do it any more.
I've read other people's journal entries on the topic of bad writing and how annoying it is, and we all try to be decent people and not flame, because really, it doesn't change anything and it only makes the flamer look like a complete asshole. Fair enough. It IS an asshole thing to do.
But baby, isn't it also sometimes helpful to be harsh, to point out the flaws in as plain a way as possible, so that there's no option for the writer but to try harder? I've read fics that are truly masterpieces, they're rich and complex and contain some of the most awesome (not in the Valley Girl sense, thank you) character development and descriptive language I've ever encountered. I'm SURE those people had criticism in the beginning, just because it's necessary to know where your flaws are, to develop beyond them. There are drabbles and ficlets and every other form of writing that fit in the masterpiece category too, of course.
It's the ones where Author isn't trying, where he/she has banged out some piece of utter crap and then not even bothered to re-read it for glaring errors or ease-of-read (minimal effort at LEAST, please), and then flung it up in a comm. Really, be as awful as you like in your own journal, I applaud you for giving it a shot, but if you're putting the writing up in a forum, at least TRY to write something worth the effort of clicking on the cut, huh?
MORON MORON MORON FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS LITERARY PLEASE STOP WRITING THIS SHIT. GET A BETA. BUY A NOVEL, ANY NOVEL. READ IT. THAT IS WHAT A STORY LOOKS LIKE. IF THERE IS DIALOGUE, THINK ABOUT WHY THAT DIALOGUE WORKS. THINK ABOUT WHY YOURS DOESN'T. IF YOU CAN'T SEE THE DIFFERENCE, STOP WRITING FOREVER.
OK, I've vented. At length. Clearly, I'm some huge kind of twonk for the whole thing, but it's done and I'm not sorry. Nyah.
On a happy note, Alan Rickman is now purring in my ear: Quick. Quick. Slow… *ahem* Yes SIR!
Just read a really really really badly written fic. I mean, I want to be generous, I'd hate to get slammed for anything I'd written, no matter how bad it was, because it would be something I at least HOPED was good enough for public consumption. I assume this is how it works for most fic-writers.
But it was terrible. Not just badly punctuated, or with crappy dialogue, or a totally bizarre lack of context, or with absolutely NO FLOW, but ALL of those. And more. This is someone who can't write (yet). This is possibly even someone who shouldn't write (ever).
My first urge was to write some really bitchy comment about how bad it was, largely because if you're writing and you suck, I don't want you to inflict it on me. I DID NOT DO IT. That should be clear. I didn't do that, and I'm not going to. But I want to. I want, at the moment, to seek out every really bad fic writer and say horrible, nasty, cruel things about their writing so they won't do it any more.
I've read other people's journal entries on the topic of bad writing and how annoying it is, and we all try to be decent people and not flame, because really, it doesn't change anything and it only makes the flamer look like a complete asshole. Fair enough. It IS an asshole thing to do.
But baby, isn't it also sometimes helpful to be harsh, to point out the flaws in as plain a way as possible, so that there's no option for the writer but to try harder? I've read fics that are truly masterpieces, they're rich and complex and contain some of the most awesome (not in the Valley Girl sense, thank you) character development and descriptive language I've ever encountered. I'm SURE those people had criticism in the beginning, just because it's necessary to know where your flaws are, to develop beyond them. There are drabbles and ficlets and every other form of writing that fit in the masterpiece category too, of course.
It's the ones where Author isn't trying, where he/she has banged out some piece of utter crap and then not even bothered to re-read it for glaring errors or ease-of-read (minimal effort at LEAST, please), and then flung it up in a comm. Really, be as awful as you like in your own journal, I applaud you for giving it a shot, but if you're putting the writing up in a forum, at least TRY to write something worth the effort of clicking on the cut, huh?
MORON MORON MORON FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS LITERARY PLEASE STOP WRITING THIS SHIT. GET A BETA. BUY A NOVEL, ANY NOVEL. READ IT. THAT IS WHAT A STORY LOOKS LIKE. IF THERE IS DIALOGUE, THINK ABOUT WHY THAT DIALOGUE WORKS. THINK ABOUT WHY YOURS DOESN'T. IF YOU CAN'T SEE THE DIFFERENCE, STOP WRITING FOREVER.
OK, I've vented. At length. Clearly, I'm some huge kind of twonk for the whole thing, but it's done and I'm not sorry. Nyah.
On a happy note, Alan Rickman is now purring in my ear: Quick. Quick. Slow… *ahem* Yes SIR!