Fanfiction Help

[Breezy]

Do you think it's better for an author to be told how to improve on something right away or to have the author himself notice his own mistakes even though it might take awhile?

It just came to mind after seeing the reviewer thread and the fiction tip thread.

Personally, no matter how many times my fanfiction mentor told me how to do this and how to write that and that I messed up here and there gramatically wise, I still didn't understand what it meant til I saw it with my own eyes. However, I know that's not the case for everyone. IDK. IMO again, letting the author learn himself also helps him develop his own writing style instead of, in a sense, mimicking his tutor's.

Your opinion?

 

[Dragonfree]

People should point out the mistakes.

Sure, the author won't necessarily improve right away, but ultimately it does tell them something about how to improve once they're ready to do some improving.

 

[Negrek]

*is with Dragonfree*

It's true that you're not going to absorb all the information at once and correcting your mistakes will take a long time, particularly if it's something insidious like poor dialogue, but at least you know where you need to direct your attention.

I've found a lot of mistakes and general problems with my earlier works that I really wish people would have pointed out so I would have at least known about them, whether or not I was able to do anything about it. Sure, I found out eventually... but by that point it was "too late", if you take my meaning, and I wasn't writing the thing anymore.

 

[Orange_Flaaffy]

IMO again, letting the author learn himself also helps him develop his own writing style instead of, in a sense, mimicking his tutor's.

Your opinion?

I agree with you Breezy. Taking reviews into consideration is always good but there comes a time when to truly grow as a writer a author should be able to note their mistakes and fix them, not to anothers standards but to the their own (in the area of plot and such).
Now as far as spelling and other errors of that type I can use myself as a example: I have a learning disability and some dyslexia, and reviewers have for ages been pointing out words that were mis-spell checked to me for a very long time now. For years I never got any better because: I simply did not see the errors, the words looked fine to me. Now, though years of reading and writing essays I am starting to be able to see and fix words on my own, but it is a slow hard road to travel....Still, doing so myself is the only way I will be able to 'get better' for good, rather than having the 'quick fixes' of reveiwers.

 

[Gazmof]

I don't think reviewers should try and influence how the plot itself turns out, but spelling and grammar errors are all fine to take note of. The best part in having reviews though, for me, is people can say if and why they like the story.

 

[Kiyohime]

Hmmm. The reviewer ought to help in his/ her own way, but ultimately, it's the author that has to take the steps to improve herself. But reviews pointing out mistakes would definitely be helpful, I believe.

 

[Psychic]

I think it's actually kind of hard for a writer to find their own mistakes. When I say this, I don't only mean beginners. I mean even the best of the best, whether on SPPf or in real life. I think that a writer always needs a fresh pair of eyes to look at their works, because when you read something over and over, you just get sick of it and can't do anything with it (IMO, at least).

But that was for more advanced writers. When it comes to newbies and other beginning writers *laughs* well, some of them just need someone to tell them they're doing something wrong.
I won't give any names, but there's this girl here that is constantly writing fics and One-Shots. I always reviewed her stuff (she came to resent that at some point) and it was FULL of mistakes, and always the same gramatical mistakes (I don't mean she always spelled a word wrong- I mean that her sentence structures were weak or she had run-ons and things like that- though I won't say what her exact problem/s are/were) and she just wasn't getting it. She thought her writing was fine and she didn't believe she was making so many mistakes. She needed to be shown and practically spoon-fed until she got the message (though I don't know if she actually listened to me or not in the end).


Anyways, my point is that though writers don't need to be spoon-fed, they need to be shown that they're making mistakes. A writer can read their story over and over and NEVER find all the mistakes, which is why I think others should point them out.
It's granted that some writers will notice at some point that they have a problem with (for example) comma abuse and they teach themselves to be more careful with commas. Really, a writer needs to be able to help themself at some point, but still, there's no reason for them not to listen to what their reviewers say! ^.~


~Psychic

 

[Clockworkz]

The point of a review, IMO, is to point out mistakes made by the author, and to ask questions that weren't answered in the stroy itself.
Example.
"Jessie and James corned Ash and Pikachu, and then they exploded from a bolt of lightning!"
Why did they corner them? How did they get exploded? What were they after?
A good story answers all the questions a reviewer could potentially ask, thus negating any negative plot feedback.