What do you think of my writing?
As a regular responder on the Quora 'How to write' questions, I get a number of 'What do you think of my writing?' requests.I rarely answer these, though I will commonly look at what they have written. Typically - as in this case - it will be few paragraphs which at most will indicate spelling, grammar, and style, but rarely anything to do with the plot or characterization. In fact the sort of work that a primary school child would hand in when asked to write a story, and be judged for their literary gradeWhen I do respond, my advice is commonly the same as most professional writers, and along the lines ofNever ever show unfinished work to anyone. It is totally meaningless to criticize work that is unfinished, unstructured, and out of contextUnless it is clear cut what the market is, there is no way to judge the readership or how to compare it with the competition, and if you don't know your market then you are going nowhereIt does not matter what I, or anyone else thinks of your writing in regards to whether it is worth publishing. The people you need to impress are the Publishers, Agents, and Reviewers, and they are not writers. They are the people who earn a living by judging the merits of a book as a product, and that is what it is. If, by the merest chance it happens to be a work of art, then you will certainly be fully aware of this yourselfThough it may seem trivial when one starts writing, 'Writing' is a job. Anyone who is capable of judging your work to the point of analyzing it, commenting on it, restructuring it, and presenting it back to you in a useful way, is also capable of doing that to their own work, and unless they are a teacher paid to do such work, they would prefer to spend their time more usefullyAnd lastly, if you do get those prepared to consider your work and spend time trying to be helpful, you might take time to consider replying to them for their efforts (but not to me, as I do not intend being helpful on these types of question)Having said that, I do have a website for writers at MakeMovies Database it has virtually everything you will ever need to learn about writing on it.
What do you think of my story?
Oh wow, that's wonderful. Just asking, did you get Jasper from Twilight? Anyways, here some things you need to work on: You need to use better word choice. Use a theosurous. You have some, but not quite enough. For example, you can change, "Then it got quiet." You could use a connection sentence like, "It was as shushed as a purring kitten." or whatever. And, when you finished your dream saying, "Nothing so I let it go." You could of said, "I tried again, scrambling up to catch just a gasp of oxegon, but sunk in failure." You also have lots of typos, but that's okay because I know this isn't your real copy. Other then that, I seriously want to hear the rest. Can you finish? :) Great story.
What do you think of my story?
If you're only fourteen, you need to never stop writing. Ever. Here's my two cents; this is a great piece of fiction for a lot of reasons. It has excellent grammar and spelling. The syntax is very engaging. Your vocabulary is admirable and you do a great job of using strong, descriptive, smaller words instead of trying to use bigger fancy ones. Since I don't believe in ever giving just negative or just positive criticism, I have to try and find some sort of thing I think needs fixing, so on and so forth. But really, all I have is this. --First, reading this brought several images to my mind. Eragon, a bit of Harry Potter, Willow (old movie), and some more. I would caution you to be careful with how you proceed as you don't want to appear to be copying those or make it too clichéd. However, I know that is not your intention, and that you probably plan on taking the story in a different direction entirely. So, that's not really an issue. --Second, the only part that pulled me away from the story was the basket. In the beginning it says the woman is carrying a bundle. The mental picture I got was just a bunch of blankets wrapped around the baby, but then suddenly there was this basket and I began wondering where it came from. Aside from those two relatively minor things, I am impressed with your skill. I also cannot give enough praise to the following sentence: "For in her arms lay a beautiful child, with hair as black as the night itself, and skin as bright as the moon." For some reason that sentence really stood out to me and it's just great. The contrast between dark and light, but using two inseparable objects... It's genius and paints a very vivid and captivating image in the readers' minds. Very well done. Your plot sounds very classic and engaging. (Just so you're aware, when I say cliché it's typically not a good thing, but classic is like a cliché that's good.) Finally, just out of curiosity, is Mel short for anything or is her name just Mel? Thanks for the good read. Hope this helps, and best of luck!
Do you think that is ever okay to be preachy in writing a story?
"Okay" is an odd word to use for something like this. Is it okay to write stories with zombies in them? Well, I have a friend who hates horror, so it's not okay with him.It's not okay to write preachy stories if you want to please me. Or if you want me to read your story. At even the slightest hint of preachiness, I will quit reading. Being preached to is not what I look for in stories.If a character is preachy and that's totally natural to him—if it's in an aspect of his character—I may be fine with it. But if I have a sense that the character is being used as a mouth piece for the author, I'll hate it. I don't want to think of a book as authored while I'm reading it. I want to get as close as a I can to believing that the characters are real people. I want to have a relationship with Hamlet, not Shakespeare; with Gatsby, not Fitzgerald. I won't be able to fall in love (or hate) with the characters if an authorial voice keeps reminding me that they are his puppets.Preachy fiction is a horribly inefficient tool at advocacy, and most of it is a symptom of the author wanting to show off his morality, rather than a sincere attempt to change the world. If you can really get me inside the experience of (for instance) a slave, then I might wind up enlightened, because your story will let me suffer along with him. But in that case, you won't have any need to preach. And, if you do, it will be redundant, and it will distance me from the visceral experience. Like jokes, sensual experiences are blunted when you explain them. In the end, preaching is bad because it's telling rather than showing. And even showing isn't all that great. Rather than telling or showing, a good storyteller should evoke feelings and sensations. Don't tell me slavery is bad. Make me feel the sting of the whip cutting into the slave's back. And once I've felt that, don't explain to me what conclusion I should draw from it. Trust that I will either draw my own conclusion or accept that if I haven't, preaching to me won't help. Unless you're preaching to the choir.