November Discussion

[jenny b]

This has probably been done before, but I'm sure it'll be good to discuss.

In the discussion this month we're going to focus on reviewing and its effect on your writing. So basically how much your writing has changed/improved since you've started to put thought and detail into your reviews, whether reading and reviewing certain genres has propelled you to write different stories, if you tend to pick up faults in your own fics more often than you used to and so on. Feel free to talk about whatever you like; it's a pretty broad topic.

That's not too bad, is it? >.>

[Kerichi]

Thank Merlin (and Jennifer) for broad topics! Between nanowrimo and other writing, I wasn’t up to crying over a remembrance drabble this month, so I appreciate it.

Writing SPEW reviews hasn’t changed my writing, to be honest. I’ve always written a variety of pairings in different genres, and since I posted my first HP story over five years ago (on a non-moderated site where it remains proof readers will overlook a multitude of errors if they like the story, heh), I’ve strived to improve in the craft of writing.

I do feel a bit hypocritical, at times, pointing out things I’ve done in my own fics. Missing direct address commas, repetition of words (in an inadvertent, not meaningful way), using dialogue tags that retell what the dialogue clearly implied. It’s like reviewing with the snarky ghost of writing past whispering, “Yes, you would notice that, wouldn’t you?” in my ear. I have to remind myself that giving concrit isn’t saying you yourself are perfect, just that you’re growing as a writer and trying to use what you’ve learned to help others develop their craft.

That doesn’t stop me from wondering if one day I’ll get a SPEW review of an older fic highlighting errors I already know about but haven’t edited—and probably never will—because I’m too busy with current projects. And I wonder if I’ve done the same to others, and whether they nod and say to themselves like I would, “Yes, I used to do that.”

What I’ve discovered about writing in-depth, specific reviews is that there are writers’ workshop type benefits to it. You validate the need for writing to be taken seriously, and learn as much (and sometimes more, since you’re objective) from the constructive praise and criticism of other writers’ work.