After six months at my new job, I find myself under a performance review time, and I’m worried. Why shouldn’t I be? I haven’t quit a job since I graduated high school, and I’ve had quite a few since then. Plus we recently had layoffs (3% of the company) in response to the economic crisis. And my peer evaluations were less than stellar. Most of my negatives came from my interpersonal communication or lack thereof. Welcome to the problem that has persisted me all my life. And you know what, I’m sick of being told to change it. It’s just who I am. Get used to it. I am sick…
-
-
Vampire Family Story: Polls Are Closed!
I have the final results of the Vampire Family story from Critters. It seems that reaction was overall positive. Several people said they liked the concept. A few said it seemed pulpy and they didn’t like it. When there’s contradictions like that, especially regarding the central idea, I don’t listen. It’s one of those cases where I’ve got to write what I’ve got to write, and if I try to please everybody, I end up pleasing nobody. I was especially pleased to find out one of my writing instincts was right, and I should have gone along with it. I made the beginning bulkier in order to show the relationship…
-
Critters Bite
I’m getting quite a few critiques on Black Hole Son. The first chapter is in Critters right now, and I think it’s gotten even more buzz than either Blood 2 or Avatar. It’s Monday and I’ve gotten ten critiques. Three of those, though, were not so nice. One’s first line was that I’ve gotten quite a reputation on Critters, and that it’s not good. He then goes through a 4,090 word critique (of my 7,000 word piece) where he nitpicks every paragraph, every sentence, every word, was met with some harsh, and spiteful-just-for-the-sake-of-being-spiteful comment. I don’t know why, I’ve never critiqued anything of this guy’s as far as I can…
-
Avatar – The Reckoning
All writers are insecure. And I was insecure to begin with, so that’s like a double stuff oreo of insecurity. It seems like my skill in writing is two steps forward, two steps back. Here’s the example, after I had my Stephen King dream on Sunday, I needed some comfort because I was feeling insecure that my story – Avatar – is now on Critters, but hasn’t gotten many reviews. That disappointed me because, unlike Blood 2, this represents my current writing talent. This one I really tried on, I made it a subject I know, I blended humor, drama. It’s not a whiny kid. There’s a plot. And so…
-
Is Tact Necessary?
Haven’t been blogging, because I’ve had a good writing streak lately, and time is of the essence. I always feel like I’ll never have enough time to write the stories I want to, they always pile up. Had a company outing yesterday, so no chance for writing, got to catch up. I’ll be turning in my Critter’s trade-off novel today. I got mine back, and my co-conspirator is chomping at the bit for her feedback. The problem is, I don’t think she’s going to like it. I’m going through it right now, and reviewing my comments to make sure that nothing’s too harsh or mean. The fact is, the story…
-
I Can Critiques Blood 2?
I think I might have found someone who’s actually going to give me a fair and complete critique of Blood 2. I’m doing a novel exchange with someone who contacted me through Critters, and I’m looking at her story right now. I feel a little bad cause her story is near half mine’s length. I’m also worried I might be too harsh on her, I’m not trying to be, but I’m trying to teach some lessons here. Not that I really have the authority to do so. But her writing sounds a lot like me when I was first starting back in high school, so at least it’s not drudgery…
-
Diaries and FictionSlamming
This week I’ve got some diary entries to write, so there may not be much in productive words. Plus I’m tired as hell today. Running on auto-pilot. I will talk about FictionSlamming though. I sent them my story in April and still don’t have a technical “judgement” on it, on whether I’m “in” or not. I had one clear yes, one clear no, and ambiguous comments that mostly consisted of criticism, but no vote. Last time I got a clear resolution from one of the moderators, but that was in a month or less. Where is it now? No one’s bothered to answer. Not that I really care anymore. Critters…
-
The Politics of Critters
I have an interesting situation going on in the Critters critiques labels these days. Three weeks ago I got a fulfillment of a “Request for Dedicated Readers” (people who volunteer to read long works. It was accompanied with a suggestion to check out her Yahoo! Groups fantasy critique group. I looked at it, 10 members, and since I haven’t written any fantasy, I mentally declined. Well, over the course of the three weeks, I get three or four more e-mails suggesting I join. It’s like spam. I think about telling her to stop sending me these things, but she’s reading my long novel, and I haven’t gotten many takers, so…
-
The Submissions Keep Rolling
Horrible story I had to critique for Critters today. 50% exposition, cliche story, dull characters. And everybody talks in midievil (I gotta learn how to spell that. That and suspicious are my two words I never seem to get) speak. “Yes, Mother. Tell the young man that he should not wait any longer.” No one important uses contractions. That’s for the masses. Goddammit, write how people talk. I had a good run of luck with some decent stories, but this one broke my streak. You know it doesn’t look good when I’m looking at a half page of comments in raw form alone. I wonder what gets in some people’s…
-
The Difficulties of Summaries and Criticism
Yesterday, my wife was asking about my book Blood 2: The Unforgiven. I’ve now come up with a maxim for one of my previous statements: “Whatever you don’t think will get criticized, will get criticized”. Kind of like Murphy’s Law. She commented that the title didn’t appeal to her. This was strange to me, because I’ve never thought of the story as anything BUT Blood 2: The Unforgiven. I can’t imagine what else it would be. I can’t imagine what else it could be. It’s “The Unforgiven”. That’s the focus of the story. That’s the motif, the main idea. The thread that binds the tapestry. I can’t see anything that…