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head up his ass
18 Dec 2014 05:40 pmThere's this guy in my fiction writing class that is on my last nerve. Thankfully the class ends on Tuesday. Unfortunately, he'll probalby be in my advanced writing class next term (since there are only two classes for the course each term).
This guy is a complete douche. We're supposed to leave constructive criticism on at least two stories each week. There is a rubric that explains what should be in the critique which includes, obviously, finding something nice to say about the piece, focusing on some areas for improvement, and closing with a review of your points. To me this is just... I don't know... second nature. It's how I write critiques because it makes sense. Obviouslly not everyone is good at this, but this guy--his head is firmly up his ass.
I just read through five critiques he left on hour postcard stories. They had to be less than 250 words. Not one single critique had anything positive to say. None of his reviews have positive things--he just jumps in with all the things he doesn't like, gets all high & mighty, then leaves on a negative note. I want to punch him in his smug face.
Two weeks ago he left a comment on my story saying it wasn't a real story because it didn't have conflict in it. He didn't think my protagonist caught in the middle of a shoot-out was conflict enough. Fine, whatever, that's his opinion. What pissed me off was his condescending attitude that came off as, "why don't you understand this yet?"
I was nice enough to reply to him (because I reply to everyone that comments on one of my posts) thanking him for his opinion and even considered how I could change the story to give the protagonist more of an internal conflict within the confines of the story. Then last week I reviewed his story. The focus was dialogue so he wrote his story completely in dialogue.
Writing completely in dialgue is a good exercise, in my opinion. We did those challenges at writerverse. I have a four part series that is completely in dialogue. But really, they aren't complete stories--there never feels like there is action; it's simply a conversation. They can still be fun to read if written correctly. He didn't do it well, though.
His story was a phone conversation between a guy that worked at a crisis hotline and an old woman that calls because she is upset her husband died. It just goes back and forth, back and forth, like a freaking tennis game, but less interesting. It was boring and predictable (the woman was the one that killed her husband and it had just happened which I figured out 1/2 way through). And did I mention, boring.
So, I got to leave a critique about how his story wasn't really a story. Except I did it nicely, told him what worked well, what he could probably do to improve the story, and then summed it all up at the end. Of course, he never commented back to me. He did to the other person that left a comment--the one that left the "this was really good" comment. After mine. So it's not like he didn't see mine. What a tool.
Anyway, he's an asshole, and it's really showing this week. I'm so glad this term is over.
This guy is a complete douche. We're supposed to leave constructive criticism on at least two stories each week. There is a rubric that explains what should be in the critique which includes, obviously, finding something nice to say about the piece, focusing on some areas for improvement, and closing with a review of your points. To me this is just... I don't know... second nature. It's how I write critiques because it makes sense. Obviouslly not everyone is good at this, but this guy--his head is firmly up his ass.
I just read through five critiques he left on hour postcard stories. They had to be less than 250 words. Not one single critique had anything positive to say. None of his reviews have positive things--he just jumps in with all the things he doesn't like, gets all high & mighty, then leaves on a negative note. I want to punch him in his smug face.
Two weeks ago he left a comment on my story saying it wasn't a real story because it didn't have conflict in it. He didn't think my protagonist caught in the middle of a shoot-out was conflict enough. Fine, whatever, that's his opinion. What pissed me off was his condescending attitude that came off as, "why don't you understand this yet?"
I was nice enough to reply to him (because I reply to everyone that comments on one of my posts) thanking him for his opinion and even considered how I could change the story to give the protagonist more of an internal conflict within the confines of the story. Then last week I reviewed his story. The focus was dialogue so he wrote his story completely in dialogue.
Writing completely in dialgue is a good exercise, in my opinion. We did those challenges at writerverse. I have a four part series that is completely in dialogue. But really, they aren't complete stories--there never feels like there is action; it's simply a conversation. They can still be fun to read if written correctly. He didn't do it well, though.
His story was a phone conversation between a guy that worked at a crisis hotline and an old woman that calls because she is upset her husband died. It just goes back and forth, back and forth, like a freaking tennis game, but less interesting. It was boring and predictable (the woman was the one that killed her husband and it had just happened which I figured out 1/2 way through). And did I mention, boring.
So, I got to leave a critique about how his story wasn't really a story. Except I did it nicely, told him what worked well, what he could probably do to improve the story, and then summed it all up at the end. Of course, he never commented back to me. He did to the other person that left a comment--the one that left the "this was really good" comment. After mine. So it's not like he didn't see mine. What a tool.
Anyway, he's an asshole, and it's really showing this week. I'm so glad this term is over.
