Reviews for That Essay That Everyone Else Writes

Reviews For: That Essay That Everyone Else Writes - Reviews: Page 1 of 12

Loly Darko 2008-06-17 ch 12,	abuseI think this is hilarious and very enlightening, haha... I'm sorry, I can't leave a better review, but this is really good and clever. FP should have a book with this information in it haha... and as for a new idea... I dunno, why not go over the obsession with describing their characters in big, hulky paragraphs, or the obsession over unreal/unbelievable/totally forced 'uniqueness'? =]
anonymous 2008-06-08 ch 10, anon.	abuseOn the originality of the Japanese writing system: Isn't only Kanji based on the Chinese writing system? I thought Katakana and Hiragana were created solely by the Japanese. Might be wrong though, so if I am, kindly ignore this review!
alexis grey 2008-06-06 ch 4,	abuseGoing for some brownie points here. "For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction." Although I learned it as "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction", I think its... Newton's Third Law of Motion...?
alexis grey 2008-06-06 ch 3,	abuseThis should be compulsory reading for every aspiring writer!
cat-and-mouse 2008-05-14 ch 12,	abuseHey there! Just saying that I love your essays and that they're really* helping me out. (Though I confess, once I used the "keyboard-slam" method of making a language. In two different stories I actually wrote the sentence backwards and broke the words differently to make an incantation. Now when I go back, I have no clue what the he11 my character's saying!) Anyway, I think the next essay should focus on magic. You could have ways to make your magic-using character be NOT all-powerful. Later, could you write an essay on doing a good death scene, really making the audience cry? (I tend to kill of characters, and I want a good reaction.)
InSilverShadows 2008-04-12 ch 11,	abuseUp until the worldbuilding chapters, you take on this aggro-defensive tone that suggests you're sick of the bad stories you've read. The fact is, if I stumble across a bad story, I stop reading it a paragraph in. I really think that only in the worldbuilding chapters do you really start to attempt to give advice. Mind you, I'm as sick of bad stories as the next person, but as I said before, aggro-defensive, sarcastic essays aren't going to purge this place. What writers of Mary-Sues and cliches might really need is the kind of thoughtful advice you give in the worldbuilding chapters (and in a few other places throughout.) You know your audience. Take the humor genre. It's a risky business going into it, bacause there are two types that turn up a lot: completely random LOLZERS!-style humor, and the classic bitter-wit liver-tripe stews of satire and sarcasm. The fantasy genre? Those beloved ripoffs of Tolkien and vampire erotica. The teen-drama genre need not even be brought up. But you can't change the world simply by beating it so hard that it bursts into tears and gathers its belongings and tromps down the office stairs. You obviously have the insight to offer advice to right these wrongs, and I'd love to see you really start to take that insight and write it in a manner that people OTHER than sarcastic FictionPress veterans will read to get a chuckle out of. Make this essay (even if it is one that everyone has written already) one that is meant to HELP, not to chase off. I find it arrogant of people to write sets of 'rules' for this place if you will, because though there are many who only write to get reviews, there are also many who come here in search of good advice and betterment. They probably soon realize they're hard-pressed to find it, but that doesn't change the basic ideal that every writer wants only one thing, and that one thing is to IMPROVE; the facts are that veteran writers are a good source of the feedback and perhaps the bitter honesty they need. But that doesn't mean that they need to get the bitter honesty from someone trying to chase them off. If you ARE looking for more serious or educated readers, it would be a good idea to take your material to more specialized online communities, and not one so open to the public. I think you HAVE the insight to teach young writers quite a lot, from your voice, diction, and the thought you put into places in this, and I would really love to see you use it in a new and better way.
InSilverShadows 2008-04-12 ch 6,	abuseReturning reviews is a dangerous venture. I like to check out the work of my reviewers, but I for one refuse to return 'gr8 story read mine kthxbai's'.
InSilverShadows 2008-04-12 ch 1,	abuseComplaining about young writers is NOT going to chase them off of FictionPress. Let them have their fun. If you don't like their stories, don't read them. At least most of them are doing something constructive like writing instead of selling their bodies on MySpace.
essie 2008-04-09 ch 2, anon.	abusedamn! and here i thought with 'the horror! the horror!' as chapter title i would finally discover what joseph conrad's characters saw as they travelled down that damn river. heh
McQuinn 2008-03-24 ch 12,	abuseI've just skimmed this whole piece--I'll be back to read it thoroughly and review appropriately when I'm a little more lucid, and somewhat less tired. But I found I should comment on the Judaism part of this chapter--well, let you know of a small correction I have, that is: The Reform Movement of Judaism refers to its place of worship as "temple;" however, this is not so for other Jews. I think a more correct term to use would, in fact, be "synagogue," which is more universally known to be connected to the Jewish faith. -McQuinn
Phantos 2008-03-17 ch 11,	abuseshowers you with love As a linguistics major, your essay on language and world building really hit me, in a good, happy way. (Especially when you mentioned Bantu, as that's my phonology prof's favorite example language.) People usually have no consideration for everything language is when they go to build one - phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, etc - and most people don't even begin to understand the complexity behind it all. So thank you for trying to bring some knowledge to the FPC community. Though you misspelled "tongue" in the title. You bring a decent amount of humor to your essays, more than you usually find in the rants. It helps ease the sting of "Oh my God, I actually have done that, shame, shame, shame." That said, for all your lecturing on spelling and grammar, you seem to have some issues with it yourself. Case in point: the misspelling of "tongue." Not that I'm one to scold, as I used to fail my spelling tests in elementary school. Grammatically, you occasionally leave out words (usually prepositions) or substitute alternate forms (I saw an "-ing" where you needed a "-ly"). I'm sorry I didn't write down specifics for you. All in all, good going! You hit on all the major irritations! -P
Hed in the Cloudz 2008-03-09 ch 1,	abuseI love this idea! And the metaphor is quite nice as well. I would like to point out, however, that Romeo and Juliet is, in fact, yet another example of the habits that you're speaking of. I'm sure by now someone has mentioned this, but young Shakespeare stole the plot (it was a common theme for tales in his time) and just happened to write it in a way that we find amazing. Sure, people still copy it thinking that it's HIS idea, but it wasn't-- and that was why so many people disliked him when he was alive, and why he didn't reach fame until later. History lesson over-- I simply must read more of this!
Written 2008-02-27 ch 4,	abuseI love it :) I like how you explain things in an interesting way, and adding physics in is just wonderful! and divine right theory? I really did giggle. Great guide. I would do well to take pointers ;) I'm adding this to a C2 I have going, just for my own reference. Thanks for writing!
K. Presson 2008-02-21 ch 7,	abuseL Ok, I have to admit, I now have the urge to write a story and title it, "Tales From The Fireside XXII: Who Moved My S’more?" I abosolutely love your style of presentation. Not only do you state the facts --and state them well, but you also paint a picture both verbally and visually. The art of a true writer is to "paint the words so we see the house instead of just being told what it looks like," ~R. Garcia. English prof. of 25 years. My mentor. I can see the house, and it's pretty.
K. Presson 2008-02-21 ch 5,	abuseOk, I'm only this far in your essay, but I must say you've done an intelligent job of explaining cliches. Most will tend to say something to the effect of, "They suck. They're everywhere." and not explain why. Bringing in IRL examples was a nice touch. For this chapter, I loved the short piece on Melinda and the development of her character, Xiana. There are too many instances where I've read stories that contain this problem. In order for a character to be interesting --even if they are clothed in a few cliches--they must be multi-dimensional: Not just able to travel through multi-dimensions. My novel contains some cliche's --I won't lie-- but I've tried to make it my own, and make it as origional as possible. However, the deep deep subplot will not be noticed until maybe the 2nd, or third book. Teehee. I was proud of your Mary Sue chapter. As a former Mary Sue attempted writer myself, I learned that everyone needs to go through this phase in their writing development. However, it doesn't need to be posted online. I wrote a SeaQuest Mary-Sue once, and hated it. The two characters just WERE NOT suppose to interact that way. It was forced, and I felt dirty. No one else has ever, nor will ever see it. The only way I see any Mary-Sue (or Gary-Stu) action should be in the author's own origional works. I will enjoy reading the rest of your essay.

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