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Post by RAVENEYE on Sept 6, 2021 8:17:59 GMT -6
If a professional editor can squeeze a story into their editing schedule on such short notice and get it back to you in time, I'm impressed. But, um, let's not, okay?
However, AFTER the contest is over, if you wish to receive further comments and developmental editing advice, then that's up to you. If you do take that step, I hope you'll take the next logical step and submit your work to magazines for publication. That would be awesome.
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Post by pelwrath on Sept 6, 2021 8:37:21 GMT -6
No problem
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Post by ScintillaMyntan on Sept 6, 2021 12:34:20 GMT -6
Hey, do you not know the grammar rules, or do you not catch the mistakes? You should learn the rules, internalize them so following them becomes more of a habit in the first place, and put the effort into editing your own submission. |
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Post by pelwrath on Sept 6, 2021 13:54:16 GMT -6
No I don’t catch the mistakes, that’s an obvious fact. I have a hard time remembering them. English as a subject in high school and college was always one I dreaded. A 70 final grade I treated as an A+.
Many here have been awesome with there efforts to help me learn, and I’ve always been a disappointment to them but even more to myself. I wouldn’t be surprised to know I’ve made, dare I say a few, maybe not enemies, but have earned them giving up on me because I haven’t shown the progress I should’ve. I rely on Grammarly, WORD editor, and Hemingway for my editing along with the Read Aloud function in Word 365. I don’t hear or see many issues from them.
For the recent contest I commented about my editing and was told to not to over edit a story. Great advice, but since I don’t know how to edit or write at an adult level,I asked when is too much. No answer was provided.
I go into every contest here feeling in my gut that for me a perfect absolutely best score I’ll get will be a 4, due to my inability to remember/learn the rules of writing. Maybe I shouldn’t even try contests any more. I’m 62, perhaps my time to learn them had passed. I create/tell a really good story. I hear and see the movie of my story in my head, that’s what I feel is on the page.
I was dubbed the Master of Periods by a former member. There’s no easy way to write, it doesn’t happen via osmosis. It takes work, dedication, time, and some luck.
Sorry for the rant, I’ll continue to try, after all at least I’m a trooper.
That’s all on me
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Post by ScintillaMyntan on Sept 6, 2021 16:05:46 GMT -6
I go into every contest here feeling in my gut that for me a perfect absolutely best score I’ll get will be a 4, due to my inability to remember/learn the rules of writing. Maybe I shouldn’t even try contests any more. I’m 62, perhaps my time to learn them had passed. I create/tell a really good story. I hear and see the movie of my story in my head, that’s what I feel is on the page. I was dubbed the Master of Periods by a former member. There’s no easy way to write, it doesn’t happen via osmosis. It takes work, dedication, time, and some luck. Sorry for the rant, I’ll continue to try, after all at least I’m a trooper. That’s all on me I'm glad you want to continue to try. I can really tell you're working at it and trying to learn. You have some memorable story ideas; I still remember a story from years ago where you wrote a dialogue among the id, the ego, and the superego.
I wish I knew better what to suggest; my own writing attempts are kind of hit or miss, with a lot more misses. Sometimes I get the sense you misunderstand some fiction writing principles and just need to get them sorted out. As for remembering grammar rules, it's a skill that happens to come easily to me, but I know that's far from the case with everyone, and I imagine it's a big challenge for some writers. It's like how I'm not good at learning and remembering physical skills; I've taken dance classes, but I didn't understand how other people can memorize routines so quickly. Remembering the sequences of moves was such an obstacle for me even though I liked the classes.
In terms of my view of critiquing, I don't actually believe in LegendFire contests. I decided that years ago. It sounds weird to say because the majority of my activity here is contests. I take part because they're super fun, but it's just a game to me. I don't believe these contest votes are really what a critique should be, weighing what's good and bad about a piece and then putting on a score for how good it is. Good critiques — and this is how it was approached in my university writing classes — are the reader's reactions. "This character seemed annoying," "I didn't find the scene tense, more kind of cozy." These could be good or bad; maybe the writer intended the character to be annoying or the scene to be cozy, or maybe they didn't. The point of a critique is for the writer to consider the readers' reactions and then rewrite if the reactions weren't what they wanted. Not like "this character was annoying, and I don't care whether you wanted them to be or not, but that's wrong, and so you get deducted a point in Artistic."
I hope you keep writing and improving.
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Post by pelwrath on Sept 6, 2021 16:20:54 GMT -6
Scintilla,
Thank you for saying that about my story, it meant a lot that you remembered it. I seem to be living proof of Ben Franklin’s definition of insanity; doing the same thing over and over yet expecting a different result. I’ve gone back and forth on what to do with my entry, from deleting it to major literary urban renewal. It’s hard psyching myself up for each contest only to flame out like Icarus.
Maybe if I used your perspective, it’s a game not a contest might help?
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Post by RAVENEYE on Sept 6, 2021 17:35:19 GMT -6
Whew, I usually have my voting done way before the final minute. There is a little over 24 hours to go, and I still have three poems to look at. This'll be interesting.
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Post by pelwrath on Sept 6, 2021 18:15:38 GMT -6
I'm similar position, 2 stories remain for me.
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Post by RAVENEYE on Sept 7, 2021 10:57:00 GMT -6
 12 HOURS TO VOTE!
Go Go Go
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Post by FoxxGlove on Sept 7, 2021 11:03:32 GMT -6
So glad you are able to meet the deadline, Raven.
I hated the thought of you considering withdrawal.
I do hope you are going to include your own submissions for potential prize awards.
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Post by Alatariel on Sept 7, 2021 13:10:03 GMT -6
No I don’t catch the mistakes, that’s an obvious fact. I have a hard time remembering them. English as a subject in high school and college was always one I dreaded. A 70 final grade I treated as an A+. Many here have been awesome with there efforts to help me learn, and I’ve always been a disappointment to them but even more to myself. I wouldn’t be surprised to know I’ve made, dare I say a few, maybe not enemies, but have earned them giving up on me because I haven’t shown the progress I should’ve. I rely on Grammarly, WORD editor, and Hemingway for my editing along with the Read Aloud function in Word 365. I don’t hear or see many issues from them. For the recent contest I commented about my editing and was told to not to over edit a story. Great advice, but since I don’t know how to edit or write at an adult level,I asked when is too much. No answer was provided. I go into every contest here feeling in my gut that for me a perfect absolutely best score I’ll get will be a 4, due to my inability to remember/learn the rules of writing. Maybe I shouldn’t even try contests any more. I’m 62, perhaps my time to learn them had passed. I create/tell a really good story. I hear and see the movie of my story in my head, that’s what I feel is on the page. I was dubbed the Master of Periods by a former member. There’s no easy way to write, it doesn’t happen via osmosis. It takes work, dedication, time, and some luck. Sorry for the rant, I’ll continue to try, after all at least I’m a trooper. That’s all on me Don't fret, my dad is the same way. He's almost 80 (that's weird to type out...) and grammar is not his strong suit. He has other gifts and talents, but grammar is really hard for him to remember. Luckily my mom is a grammar wiz, but she's stopped helping because it just sooooo much for her to correct. This might be a good discussion with the leadership, can we get contest entries edited by someone before submitting? I'd be inclined to argue for yes....but it could get messy because it's be an honor code type thing. Only get grammar and spelling edited, not developmental story stuff. And how would we know that was the case? It's a hard one. Especially since I can relate to your struggle. No matter how many times my dad goes over his own work, he'll never remember how to do quotations or commas correctly. Even with google and grammerly and books and my mom. It just doesn't stick in his brain. |
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Post by pelwrath on Sept 7, 2021 14:10:52 GMT -6
Thank you Ala. Check an earlier post and Raveneye’s response to the question of editing.
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Post by RAVENEYE on Sept 7, 2021 14:42:41 GMT -6
No I don’t catch the mistakes, that’s an obvious fact. I have a hard time remembering them. English as a subject in high school and college was always one I dreaded. A 70 final grade I treated as an A+. Many here have been awesome with there efforts to help me learn, and I’ve always been a disappointment to them but even more to myself. I wouldn’t be surprised to know I’ve made, dare I say a few, maybe not enemies, but have earned them giving up on me because I haven’t shown the progress I should’ve. I rely on Grammarly, WORD editor, and Hemingway for my editing along with the Read Aloud function in Word 365. I don’t hear or see many issues from them. For the recent contest I commented about my editing and was told to not to over edit a story. Great advice, but since I don’t know how to edit or write at an adult level,I asked when is too much. No answer was provided. I go into every contest here feeling in my gut that for me a perfect absolutely best score I’ll get will be a 4, due to my inability to remember/learn the rules of writing. Maybe I shouldn’t even try contests any more. I’m 62, perhaps my time to learn them had passed. I create/tell a really good story. I hear and see the movie of my story in my head, that’s what I feel is on the page. I was dubbed the Master of Periods by a former member. There’s no easy way to write, it doesn’t happen via osmosis. It takes work, dedication, time, and some luck. Sorry for the rant, I’ll continue to try, after all at least I’m a trooper. That’s all on me Don't fret, my dad is the same way. He's almost 80 (that's weird to type out...) and grammar is not his strong suit. He has other gifts and talents, but grammar is really hard for him to remember. Luckily my mom is a grammar wiz, but she's stopped helping because it just sooooo much for her to correct. This might be a good discussion with the leadership, can we get contest entries edited by someone before submitting? I'd be inclined to argue for yes....but it could get messy because it's be an honor code type thing. Only get grammar and spelling edited, not developmental story stuff. And how would we know that was the case? It's a hard one. Especially since I can relate to your struggle. No matter how many times my dad goes over his own work, he'll never remember how to do quotations or commas correctly. Even with google and grammerly and books and my mom. It just doesn't stick in his brain. That's a really good argument, Ala. It does throw things into question. We want our contests to be enjoyed by everyone, for sure. But it makes sense that some folks won't enter because they feel their skillsets don't make the cut. On the other hand, the fundamentals are just that. Fundamentals. On the other hand, do we want to be punctuation snobs? On the other hand... So this might be a topic worthy of its own discussion thread. Seriously. I can see this being a big deal and important to folks. |
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labrat
Spark
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Post by labrat on Sept 7, 2021 14:56:22 GMT -6
Just three more to go for me! I already read the entries and wrote my notes in a notebook, so I just need to transcribe them onto my laptop. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to help my kids with their homework tonight.
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Post by Alatariel on Sept 7, 2021 15:47:17 GMT -6
Don't fret, my dad is the same way. He's almost 80 (that's weird to type out...) and grammar is not his strong suit. He has other gifts and talents, but grammar is really hard for him to remember. Luckily my mom is a grammar wiz, but she's stopped helping because it just sooooo much for her to correct. This might be a good discussion with the leadership, can we get contest entries edited by someone before submitting? I'd be inclined to argue for yes....but it could get messy because it's be an honor code type thing. Only get grammar and spelling edited, not developmental story stuff. And how would we know that was the case? It's a hard one. Especially since I can relate to your struggle. No matter how many times my dad goes over his own work, he'll never remember how to do quotations or commas correctly. Even with google and grammerly and books and my mom. It just doesn't stick in his brain. That's a really good argument, Ala. It does throw things into question. We want our contests to be enjoyed by everyone, for sure. But it makes sense that some folks won't enter because they feel their skillsets don't make the cut. On the other hand, the fundamentals are just that. Fundamentals. On the other hand, do we want to be punctuation snobs? On the other hand... So this might be a topic worthy of its own discussion thread. Seriously. I can see this being a big deal and important to folks. I think it's worth a discussion. Even if we come to the same conclusion in the end (no on outside editing) it'll at least get all the angles viewed and heard. |
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