Current Events > gotta tbh, reviewing other people's creative writing is cringe

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm sure mine's not too great either

But man

you could at least begin dialogue at a new paragraph. Surely you've read books before? to say nothing of the actual content

We're here to improve and I don't mean to be snobby or superior, but jeez it's just hard for me to get through. I experience second hand embarrassment really easily and so I suppose it's just that I would be really embarrassed if I wrote this

(inb4 my shitpost typing is indicative of my own writing quality)
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I was writing 'a bit awkward' for clumsy sentences but I may have to change tactics because, honestly, it applies to each one...
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gotta to be honest
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Dont hold back. Ive reviewed grad school writing and been disappointed by the fact that they made it so far while performing so poorly.
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Gotta let these kids know now before someone less forgiving does.
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Oh man clothes are coming off
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What's the worse you've read?
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"Mary was an emotional female." ~male author

oh boy
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JimCarrysToe posted...

What's the worse you've read?

This might actually be it, what I'm working on right now. A long time ago I would've said a family member. But really, bad writing has more things in common than things that set it apart. What my family member wrote about was absolutely inoffensive. This one's just so weird.
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You really got to give more examples here.
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A lot of people want to write. Most of them don't have the juice to do it professionally. I've been an editor for 25-ish years, and read some absolutely awful stuff during the period when I was editing fiction.

Still, it's a fine hobby and that's what Wattpad is for, I guess.

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I think I would have done that when I was younger but honestly it's fucked up to quip about a writing that has been given to you more or less in confidentiality

But I will say, that line I posted before was something, but the one that made me freeze on the page was

Rubbing her cold feet along John's hairy legs was the only thing that made their marriage feel alive
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If it makes you cringe, it's not cringe. It's cringey.
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Her breasts bounced with femininity as she rushed to answer the door.
expressing her desire to see the Man she loved, she smiled with a spark in her eye
Her ovaries felt a surge of electricity as she opened the door.
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Laserion posted...

If it makes you cringe, it's not cringe. It's cringey.

Write like you talk. Vernacular is king.

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Doe posted...

Rubbing her cold feet along John's hairy legs was the only thing that made their marriage feel alive

Reliant on context I wouldn't object to this.

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I don't disagree
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Doe posted...

I think I would have done that when I was younger but honestly it's fucked up to quip about a writing that has been given to you more or less in confidentiality

But I will say, that line I posted before was something, but the one that made me freeze on the page was

Rubbing her cold feet along John's hairy legs was the only thing that made their marriage feel alive

LMAO
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Doe posted...

Rubbing her cold feet along John's hairy legs was the only thing that made their marriage feel alive

this is actually pretty good... it has just the right amount of weirdness and creepiness and discomfort to it...
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vigorm0rtis posted...

Write like you talk. Vernacular is king.

Given how a lot of people talk, this is terrible advice.
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vigorm0rtis posted...

Laserion posted...

If it makes you cringe, it's not cringe. It's cringey.

Write like you talk. Vernacular is king.

I don't mean just writing, but talking too. If something causes you fear, do you also say "that is so scare!" instead of "that is so scary!" ?
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Yo TC, can you rate my writing?
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I would not mind reviewing a CEman's work were it posted, but I won't have time tonight.
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RdVEHfJqAvUPIbk posted...

Her breasts bounced with femininity as she rushed to answer the door.
expressing her desire to see the Man she loved, she smiled with a spark in her eye
Her ovaries felt a surge of electricity as she opened the door.

Pleas r8
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yo why are you all using present tense, classmates
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As she ran into the loving arms of the repairman, her heart was beating with a confused rhythm. She was unable to tell if she truly could cheat on her husband. Her female mind broken between the depraved lust upon her female parts and the other half concerned with finishing the laundry.

Better?
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the person who wrote this next story definitely vapes
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RdVEHfJqAvUPIbk posted...

As she ran into the loving arms of the repairman, her heart was beating with a confused rhythm. She was unable to tell if she truly could cheat on her husband. Her female mind broken between the depraved lust upon her female parts and the other half concerned with finishing the laundry.

Better?

sounds like incel fan fiction
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There's a trope in amateur writing where a story, consciously or not, becomes the writer's show-and-tell list of their favorite musicians/writers/comedians/hobbies. This is one of those stories.
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konokonohamaru posted...

sounds like incel fan fiction

The 30 year old girl began to let her female emotions overcome her. As tears ran down her face the repairman simply said "as a female, you can't help cry. But you can't blame yourself for leaving your husband for a nice guy".
relieved she offered him the dinner she was preparing for her husband. It wasn't sex he was rewarded with but chicken tendies. In his mind he was happy. He was saving her from her husbands neglectful ways.
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Doe posted...

I would not mind reviewing a CEman's work were it posted, but I won't have time tonight.

I would not mind posting a sample of my work, but I don't really have anything that wouldn't get me thrown in purgatory.
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RdVEHfJqAvUPIbk posted...

konokonohamaru posted...

sounds like incel fan fiction

The 30 year old girl began to let her female emotions overcome her. As tears ran down her face the repairman simply said "as a female, you can't help cry. But you can't blame yourself for leaving your husband for a nice guy".
relieved she offered him the dinner she was preparing for her husband. It wasn't sex he was rewarded with but chicken tendies. In his mind he was happy. He was saving her from her husbands neglectful ways.

i.... i like this...
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Its very difficult to deliver engaging writing material to complete strangers so yes, I can imagine.

It becomes a tad easier if you know your target audience but still. Writing 100% fiction anchors on some extreme intangible qualities.
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freshman writing class
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TC do I have what it takes
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You wrote something so you are miles ahead of most aspiring writers
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I spent two and a half years writing a book and not a single person had constructive criticisms for me. Everybody praised it without being specific except for one. He beat the shit out of it and never even finished reading it. He hated it from a conceptual level and bashed it grammatically. He gave me zero constructive criticism.

I think he was just jealous I put together 100k words of a cohesive, well-developed story and characters and couldn't bring himself to reading it through because he had never done anything like that himself. That all being said, I never found a publisher for the book. He was probably right. It's unreadable to avid readers. 100k words of mundane writing? Doesn't matter how good the story is, if it's a slow, boring read, that's just the way it is. I didn't feel it was boring, but the 50-some-odd agents I sent it to didn't think it was worth publishing. Must've sucked.

Doe posted...

You wrote something so you are miles ahead of most aspiring writers

Wow. That was just from the newest romance novel I'm working on
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when I was in first year, my english prof got everyone to peer edit each others' essays.

my partner and I met up and exchanged papers.

he introduced an idea and gave an example of from the text. then his next sentence started with "a more concrete example of thrs is..."

I looked at him and said "you do realize you just told me that your previous example wasn't concrete, right?"

then after one more stupid sentence like that, I was like "... I do not want this guy editing my paper"

the guy was in 2nd year and his essay looked like something I would have written in grade 9 or 10
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BLAKUboy posted...

Given how a lot of people talk, this is terrible advice.

Tell Cormac McCarthy.

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Laserion posted...

I don't mean just writing, but talking too. If something causes you fear, do you also say "that is so scare!" instead of "that is so scary!" ?

Yeah, I understand, but this is part of what will separate writers that can hold readers and ones that don't. Preferably you write the way people speak-- specifically who you're writing, but occasionally this means writing like a fucking idiot. Every time I see an article with a title like "X Just Happened and We Can't Even" I want to scoop an eye out with a sharpened spoon.

Still, you have to try to make it work or risk sounding inauthentic.

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vigorm0rtis posted...

Still, it's a fine hobby and that's what Wattpad is for, I guess.

You can self-publish too, such as on Amazon and Smashwords.
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smoke_break posted...

You can self-publish too.

Yeah... I don't hold self-publication in any particular regard.

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vigorm0rtis posted...

smoke_break posted...

You can self-publish too.

Yeah... I don't hold self-publication in any particular regard.

But it's one scenario where you could go pro even if your writing isn't great. Erotica comes to mind. As long as you feature their fetish people don't care how poorly written it is.
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vigorm0rtis posted...

smoke_break posted...

You can self-publish too.

Yeah... I don't hold self-publication in any particular regard.

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smoke_break posted...

But it's one scenario where you could go pro even if your writing isn't great. Erotica comes to mind. As long as you feature their fetish people don't care how poorly written it is.

Oh, sure. I know a guy who writes short horror erotica and publishes on Amazon and makes... well, a really good living.

Other examples of it wind up being gatekeeping for people without the money to hire artists, editors and promotion. Self-published storefronts are a clutter of garbage (I'm often reminded of Steam).

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Grade mine.. Here.. I'll write something while I brush my teeth.

Abdul's arms were crafted as though they were made of the finest rope. Slight, yet secure in their own unique way. My body slinging back and forth in a fashion similar to a young child abusing a tire swing with a baseball bat.

"You're more massive than all of my previous lovers...." My panting ceasing with a sharp inhale and pause as I exclaim, "..combined!"

His actions went unchanged as he continued using my frail, well-aged body like a leather glove filled with water based lubricant. No regard for my well-being or his own, considering it was obvious my fistulas were festering with a potentially contagious disease of some sort. Abdul was as much a risk-taker as he was a ravenous lover.
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A sophomore girl approached me after class and said I spoke very well about writing...

With great power comes great responsibility
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