A couple of days ago Damien Isaak posted a question "Cover letter. Go for it.. Tell me good or bad" and added "Just give it to me straight....."
I took time and care, recognising that on some points my view is biased, to give as honest and positive a response as possible.
I did not expect my comments to be liked but I hoped that they would provoke thought and, possibly, be of some positive benefit.
I have re-submitted some amended work and asked for comment.
While the response "Damien Isaak1 hour ago
David the fishmonger Butcher.
Would you like to borrow my WPB I have room..." might be seen as humorous is it useful, positive or informative?
I have no objection to being criticized for my work and often find even negative criticism useful when it can be applied to achieve improvemnt. Positive comment that helps me to develop my work is even more useful.
Just being told that anything is "great" is very pleasant: but it doen't do much to help me to develop.
So, what do we want on here? Unbridled praise or to be "given it straight"?
Perhaps Damien would like to explain why my effort should go straight into the WPB or, possibly, what would improve it?
Then again I would really like comments from anyone that would be kind enough to take a look.
David
Thanks for the link Jonathan; it looks useful. :-)
David
Registering on the site as a writer can be quite tricky. We are clearly all beginners and learners to this writing malarkey and any advice that is given is given as a novice. Jonathan you have come up with some good points, maybe this isn't the site to go on if you want somebody to dissect your 254 page novel just to tell you they think its sxxx. I personally have no objections of anybody dissecting my novel depending on the manor it is done. We need to remember we all have different tastes so when we make a comment on somebody's blog it should be with referenced to the writing not the subject. I have had some fantastic advice from the likes of you Jonathan and David so thanks for that.
Damien
David - can I make a suggestion?
The problem (if you'd consider it such) with posting work on this site is that it's not really designed for critiques. Okay - it is, but on a very basic level. I've commented on a few bits of work but it takes thought and time, with little prospect of any return and the real risk of upsetting members whose efforts need a lot of work simply because they are new to writing.
For criticism you'd be better off also joining a peer-review site (the best I've come across is www.youwriteon.com) where you review others' work in exchange for comments on your own. You'll get faint praise and a few home truths told you in equal measure, but you will see the flaws in your work as I did in mine. Plus it's good practice reading stories by others and finding what they've done wrong - that also improves your writing ability.
I posted a few excerpts here which were generally praised but I wasn't looking for that - I wanted readers to tell me what they didn't like, and failed. Plaudits are nice as Victoria says but it's criticism that improves you, as well as encouraging growth of the very necessary thicker skin!
Hope that's some help :)