TheCreativeMind: Death may be the King of terrors... but Jesus is the King of kings! --Dwight L. Moody |
||
| ||
| ||
| ||
- | ||
| ||
Poet Star - | ||
|
TheCreativeMind: "How soon not now, becomes never." --Martin Luther |
||
|
TheCreativeMind: I would go to the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit. It is good for me to have been afflicted, that I might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary. --Charles Spurgeon |
||
| ||
|
TheCreativeMind: One of my all time Favorite Quotes! ! !: "VoilĂ ! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." --V for Vendetta. |
||
|
TheCreativeMind: I like this site, but I feel its hard for someones work to stand out when everyone basically gets a 5 star rating. I think as a majority, reviewers on here rate overly high. Probably for several reasons: 1. Low standard set by FS's reviewing guide. '5 star rating: Enjoyable (no corrections)' I feel this is overall a very low standard for something that is to receive 5 stars, even with a 6th star after it. 2. Reviews have become inundated with consumerism. People simply read through a piece of work, say a few kind comments, mention one or two things about it, and then move on. This is done simply out of the need for Member $'s, and the faster and simpler we can review something, the faster we can acquire and stockpile member $'s to support our own work. 3. People give generous ratings because they feel that if they do so, they will likely receive higher ratings from that individual as well (which is mostly true). Also they fear the reverse effect, in that if they rate someone how they really believe their work should be, and its on the lower scale of things, that there will be retribution (which is also sadly true for the most part), and that individual will then rate their works low, regardless of skill. What I want, and I probably wont find here, is a dedicated group of poets and writers, who can rate each person's work, and give good solid feedback. Now I understand that that is not necessarily what we have setup here, but if anyone has an idea of somewhere like that, I would love to hear about it. As a side note, I feel that ratings here are entirely biased. As people who have already gained a following, albeit they earned that following to begin with, will basically have 25+ reviews on anything they put out. Be it amazing or garbage, and the entire system for promoting your work is trash as well, to be polite! I mean, paying and competing to have your work on the first page so people will be able to view it? It only encourages people to make more and more crappy, unhelpful, un-beneficial reviews in order to gain member $'s to promote their own works. Thus is earning a slot on the first page, they now can enjoy the benefits of having 25+ people read and review their poem, telling them how great it is, while they speed on to the next, all the while working to replace that man's poem with their own on the front page. I am new here, which I'm sure I will be told after this, and I know many of you will probably disagree with me. But being new, I believe I've come into this website with a fresh set of eyes and perspective. Maybe its something you need to take note of as well. Either way this is an elongated rant, Thanks to everyone who will take time to respond in advance, take care and God bless. - Ryan |
||
The five-star rating does, indeed, seem to be the norm on FS. And yes, the reviewing guides are rather subjective, i.e., they leave a lot of room for individual interpretation. Sometimes a little troubling but hey, that's the nature of any rating scheme. Some (not all) members review simply to acquire more FS currency, which enables them to promote their work--all the way to the top of the front page, if they're ambitious enough. Of course, that's the business model for this site. Those member dollars cost REAL dollars; it's how the site stays financially solvent. Without a source of income (membership dues and the purchase of member dollars) there would be no site, plain and simple. Mindless tit for tat ratings? Sure, they probably exist, but not everyone sinks to that level. The trick is finding the ones who don't. More on that later. Your "what I want" paragraph describes perfectly what many of us here want: honest and useful critiques of our work by our peers, which help us get better at our craft. It's also true, as you've pointed out, that those who have a "following" tend to receive a greater number of reviews. Better ratings? Sometimes yes, sometimes no; it depends on who's doing the rating. So, what can a 'serious' writer do to get those honest, useful FS reviews? First, be patient. It takes a while to get your work (and your name) out there. My first few pieces garnered a handful of reviews; it took weeks, maybe months, to start getting noticed. My advice: write often and write well. Duh, right? But it's true. If you're wealthy enough, you can also spend all kinds of money on member dollars and promote the heck out of your stuff. That's another way to get noticed, and yeah, you'l gradually get more and more ratings as people (a) recognize you, and (b) gobble up those payoffs. Will that necessarily guarantee that your ratings will be honest and useful? Nope. Here's a good Plan B: Network with similar-minded members. You can do that by becoming a fan of those writers who share your literary values. Check out their reviews of others' work; if they sound like the type of reviews YOU would like to receive, fan 'em. They will often fan you right back, and that two-way connection will pay dividends, as your work will be brought to their personal attention. Also, come to the Forum. (See that button at the top of the page labeled "Profile"? Click on it, then click on "Forum".) Once there, visit the "Reviewing" forum. There are lots of members there sharing and discussing the identical issues you've raised in your profile post. Intellectually stimulating, yes, but also a great way to identify and meet like-minded reviewers. I'm sure you'll receive more than just my feedback on this. Take it all in, take then whetever advice you find useful. Like most things in life, you'll generally get out of this site what you put into it. - | ||
| ||
I am a newbie here and have non even paid to join the writers yet. All I have done so far is write a 5-7-5 which I entered into the free contest and reviewed some of the poems on this site. I agree with all you said about the ratings etc. It is hard to get reviews which actually tell you how to improve your work. Writing is a bit like art. The beauty is in the eye of the beholder and a reader either likes the work or they don't. I have seen some famous art works which I would not bother hanging on my own walls if I was paid to do it simply because I personally don't like the work. I don't care how famous it is. The same applies to to literature. Sometimes it is hard to explain what you don't like about something and how you think it can be improved. Some things just irritate the beholder of the work. However part of a good work is the ability of the work to create an emotion or reaction in the reader even if the emotion is one of disgust or irritability. Some writers manage to irritate a lot of people with their writing but that irritation causes the critiques to reject it rather than accept it and give a fair critique. The problem with any critique is that it is always subjective. Writers take it personally and in the end it creates conflict between readers and writers. Such is life. I think good writing has the ability to promote itself. More authors ought to trust their own work. The work ought to promote the author instead of vice versa. Finding exceptional quality is like finding a rare gem. Good writing is a dime a dozen. The book shops are full of it. In the end the best sales pitch wins the game and makes the most money. Its not about quality, it is about convincing the consumer they should buy what you are selling. - | ||
|
TheCreativeMind: Are the pieces we put on here considered copyrighted? Just wondering. |
||
| ||
| ||
|
TheCreativeMind: By perseverance the snail reached the ark. --Charles Spurgeon |
||
|
TheCreativeMind: I read Whitman, and I liked his structured poems, with rhyme and reason, like 'O Captain, my captain'. But even still, in reading free verse by him, I found no appeal to it. |
||
| ||
| ||
|
TheCreativeMind: Why do I HATE free verse so much? Am I the only one who feels like it is a kitschy, excuse of a poem? |
||
Take a look at Walt Whitman's free verse. It has all the hallmarks of great poetry without obeying standard convention and is quite "poetic" (in many people's opinion, at least). I agree that a lot of what passes for free verse just doesn't cut it as poetry; and maybe that's because it's not GOOD free verse. Perhaps that's an indication of how difficult it is to compose quality free verse poetry. It may LOOK easy, but it isn't... I'm not a poet, BTW, but I know what I like: Whitman, T.S. Eliot, Carl Sandburg; not everything they wrote moves me, but a lot of it is really terrific poetry. In my opinion... ;-D - | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
|
TheCreativeMind: "Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God." --Martin Luther |
||
| ||
Too many people follow their heart because they assume that makes them right. It is folly. "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." [@ Timothy 2:15] - | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
|
TheCreativeMind: It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness. --Charles Spurgeon |
||
Oh, this isn't Facebook. ;) - | ||
| ||
| ||
You know, I think that Spurgeon guy may have been right... ;-D - | ||
|
TheCreativeMind: I do not lose contests... I win or I quit them because they are unfair =). |
||
|
TheCreativeMind: Ahhh, Someone needs to open a Crown of Sonnets contest. I have one I really want to post =). |
||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
|
TheCreativeMind: New to this site, hoping to improve my writing, and perhaps make some friends along the way =). |
||
| ||
| ||
- | ||
| ||
|