Tuesday, October 15, 2002
I must rant.
There is a young woman in my writing class who sits at the computer next to mine. She is outspoken and unafraid to make commentary on everyone's writing -- which is good, I suppose -- but she also makes an awful lot of criticism, often in a sarcastic, condescending manner. Which is irksome -- but you know, even that would be understandable if this girl was a very gifted writer and always spot-on with her comments. But she's not!
In fact, I would classify her as maybe mediocre. And her commentary... Wow, she has almost no sense whatsoever of an author's personal style or intent, and makes no attempt to respect or preserve those things when she suggests corrections. In short, her suggestions SUCK. You know, my beta readers are all people whose writing I enjoy and whose ability I admire. I would respect their opinions even if they gave me bogus comments. But they don't give me bogus comments; their suggestions are generally very helpful in polishing a story, and they are always made with a certain regard for the purpose and style of the piece. This girl does nothing of the sort, and she expects me to nod and smile and accept her comments and take her suggestions? Ha! I think she needs to shut up and look at her own writing for once.
I'm not trying to be elitist. I know I'm not a perfect writer, and I'm not even "the best" within this small class. But I'm pretty good, and darn it, I do not want to have everything I write for this class picked apart by this woman who thinks she's some wonderful, all-knowing writer, when really she is so very not. Gah.
| 1:00 PM |
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Who am I? I'm a twenty-two-
