Agreed! But people need TRAINING and PRACTICE in criticism. It is REALLY had to be a good critiquer because all critiquing is (by its nature) subjective. It's very hard to get someone who is willing to go "This story goes entirely against what I like but I still recognize it as an AMAZING story."
On my college campus, I both submit stories to be included in my school's literary magazine and critique other people's work. Too often have I seen "Oh wow, this story is terrible" or "This story is really great!" without any sort of constructive critiques (the worst thing is when critiquers drift into analogy: "This story is as bad as a...")
So, I have taken a 3-part policy. First, state the "General Theme of the story", second, state which part of the story made me think to put the story in this context, and thirdly, what parts of the story didn't fit within this context. This allows me to understand my own subjective perception of the story, so that when the artist receives this criticism they can understand my reasons for critiquing them. (and my critique isn't simply: "Fix your grammer and speeling")
I was also greatly moved by Phil's piece: it's the nature of the internet to be open to all, but we're gonna need gatekeepers if we want to find the good stuff.
So, here's an idea. You all know of the Brony fandom at this point; and that fandom has been able to become highly centralized around one blog: Equestria Daily. With a massive team of "pre-readers", they've been able to gate-keep pretty much all of pony fanfiction to hand-pick which ones get featured. Would the furry fandom benefit from this?
So, I end on three questions:
1. How do we get people to be GOOD critiquers, not simply COOL STORY BROs or DIS SUCKS DUDEs? (it took me 8 years of practice to get to the point where I am today. And I'm STILL not too good at it.)
2. Would the furry fandom benefit from Equestria Daily-style market centralization in terms of literature output? (Equestria Daily has raised the ire of MANY writers in the pony fandom, to the point there's even an anti-EQD club)
3. Wait a minute, isn't there something out there like this already? Isn't there some place you can submit your furry stories and have them critiqued by a group of people in an official manner like...you know...we do at my school?
4. WAIT NO I LIED SORRY; what methods do other people use to critique? My 3-part approach has worked well enough for me so far, but what you use?
Agreed! But people need TRAINING and PRACTICE in criticism. It is REALLY had to be a good critiquer because all critiquing is (by its nature) subjective. It's very hard to get someone who is willing to go "This story goes entirely against what I like but I still recognize it as an AMAZING story."
On my college campus, I both submit stories to be included in my school's literary magazine and critique other people's work. Too often have I seen "Oh wow, this story is terrible" or "This story is really great!" without any sort of constructive critiques (the worst thing is when critiquers drift into analogy: "This story is as bad as a...")
So, I have taken a 3-part policy. First, state the "General Theme of the story", second, state which part of the story made me think to put the story in this context, and thirdly, what parts of the story didn't fit within this context. This allows me to understand my own subjective perception of the story, so that when the artist receives this criticism they can understand my reasons for critiquing them. (and my critique isn't simply: "Fix your grammer and speeling")
I was also greatly moved by Phil's piece: it's the nature of the internet to be open to all, but we're gonna need gatekeepers if we want to find the good stuff.
So, here's an idea. You all know of the Brony fandom at this point; and that fandom has been able to become highly centralized around one blog: Equestria Daily. With a massive team of "pre-readers", they've been able to gate-keep pretty much all of pony fanfiction to hand-pick which ones get featured. Would the furry fandom benefit from this?
So, I end on three questions:
1. How do we get people to be GOOD critiquers, not simply COOL STORY BROs or DIS SUCKS DUDEs? (it took me 8 years of practice to get to the point where I am today. And I'm STILL not too good at it.)
2. Would the furry fandom benefit from Equestria Daily-style market centralization in terms of literature output? (Equestria Daily has raised the ire of MANY writers in the pony fandom, to the point there's even an anti-EQD club)
3. Wait a minute, isn't there something out there like this already? Isn't there some place you can submit your furry stories and have them critiqued by a group of people in an official manner like...you know...we do at my school?
4. WAIT NO I LIED SORRY; what methods do other people use to critique? My 3-part approach has worked well enough for me so far, but what you use?