| Essay Non-Fiction posted June 13, 2014 |
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Essay On Reviewing-Contest Entry
New Antibiotic Cures SPAG!
by michaelcahill
Reviewing is the hub of the giant wheel that is Fanstory. Everything revolves around reviewing and without it, nothing moves forward. It is, in the long run, a sensible hub to utilize. Reviewing is work and a solid work-based foundation seems a sturdy material from which to build. We all know this, don't we? We know the structure. Review a piece, get a buck, post a piece, spend a buck and repeat until you become a skeletal figure in front of a blank screen. Honestly, we review because we have to. We like to be reviewed, but we don't like to give reviews. Wives, does this sound familiar? (Sorry, couldn't resist.) Seriously, though, what are we looking for in a review? Secondly, what should we reasonably expect?
The very first thing we seek, especially when new to being reviewed, is, "is this good?", "do you like it?" That is a reasonable, albeit insecure, question. I didn't know, when I timidly posted my first few pieces here, if they had any merit. I thought they did. I hoped they had a lot of merit. But, I honestly didn't know. Now here, the first trick came into play. There's a bunch of liars here, great big fib tellers from the land of mendacity. I know because the same person that tells me my piece is good also tells someone else that their piece is good and… IT ISN'T! Hello! I actually want a REAL answer. IS IT ANY GOOD? After a while, we begin to determine who is telling the truth and who is just being nice.
Guess what? Some people don't want to hear the truth. They just want to hear that they are good whether they are or not. We figure out who they are too. The problem comes into play when people don't want to go along with that. To that, I say, what's it to you if someone wants to live in a fantasy world? Live and let live; if that is what they want, I say let them enjoy.
It's going to start getting scary now. If you've discovered that you have some merit, you may get this strange idea that you'd like to get even better. I know, pretty strange. There are people here that will help you with that. Terrible, awful people that tell wicked nasty truths designed to REVEAL FLAWS and SHORTCOMINGS in your precious little pieces. I've heard they get together and laugh about their wicked comments and read some of our terrible offerings out loud to amuse themselves. They accuse you of having a disease. I don't know how one catches SPAG, but I expect there is ink and nudity involved. For the amount of SPAG I've contracted, you'd think I'd have a few amusing anecdotes to relate. Apparently, blackouts are part of the deal.
Finally, the thing many of us hate doing: giving reviews. This is truly the honor system here. Being a group of creative people means that we can make up a bunch of nonsense and pretend to review virtually anything. Hell, most of us could write Cliff Notes without having even seen the play. Here is where personal integrity comes to play. You gain nothing by cheating. Is it really that difficult to read something and give an honest opinion? Do you value your fellow writers so little that you can't afford them that small courtesy? I've seen pieces entered in 5-7-5 contests disqualified for missing the syllable count in spite of dozens of views and several reviews. Not one person bothered to give their fellow writer a little heads up for an easy fix. Aren't we better than that?
Well, I've had some fun and pointed some fingers. I certainly am not separating myself out of the group in any way. These are just some thoughts that I have had. They are some ideas that I've discussed with a few friends on the site. Take them as you will. The system of reviewing here is good enough to have helped me improve my own skills tenfold since I have started here. So, I say bravo to a great program. Is there room for improvement? There always is.
Essay On Reviewing writing prompt entry
Reviewing is the hub of the giant wheel that is Fanstory. Everything revolves around reviewing and without it, nothing moves forward. It is, in the long run, a sensible hub to utilize. Reviewing is work and a solid work-based foundation seems a sturdy material from which to build. We all know this, don't we? We know the structure. Review a piece, get a buck, post a piece, spend a buck and repeat until you become a skeletal figure in front of a blank screen. Honestly, we review because we have to. We like to be reviewed, but we don't like to give reviews. Wives, does this sound familiar? (Sorry, couldn't resist.) Seriously, though, what are we looking for in a review? Secondly, what should we reasonably expect?
The very first thing we seek, especially when new to being reviewed, is, "is this good?", "do you like it?" That is a reasonable, albeit insecure, question. I didn't know, when I timidly posted my first few pieces here, if they had any merit. I thought they did. I hoped they had a lot of merit. But, I honestly didn't know. Now here, the first trick came into play. There's a bunch of liars here, great big fib tellers from the land of mendacity. I know because the same person that tells me my piece is good also tells someone else that their piece is good and… IT ISN'T! Hello! I actually want a REAL answer. IS IT ANY GOOD? After a while, we begin to determine who is telling the truth and who is just being nice.
Guess what? Some people don't want to hear the truth. They just want to hear that they are good whether they are or not. We figure out who they are too. The problem comes into play when people don't want to go along with that. To that, I say, what's it to you if someone wants to live in a fantasy world? Live and let live; if that is what they want, I say let them enjoy.
It's going to start getting scary now. If you've discovered that you have some merit, you may get this strange idea that you'd like to get even better. I know, pretty strange. There are people here that will help you with that. Terrible, awful people that tell wicked nasty truths designed to REVEAL FLAWS and SHORTCOMINGS in your precious little pieces. I've heard they get together and laugh about their wicked comments and read some of our terrible offerings out loud to amuse themselves. They accuse you of having a disease. I don't know how one catches SPAG, but I expect there is ink and nudity involved. For the amount of SPAG I've contracted, you'd think I'd have a few amusing anecdotes to relate. Apparently, blackouts are part of the deal.
Finally, the thing many of us hate doing: giving reviews. This is truly the honor system here. Being a group of creative people means that we can make up a bunch of nonsense and pretend to review virtually anything. Hell, most of us could write Cliff Notes without having even seen the play. Here is where personal integrity comes to play. You gain nothing by cheating. Is it really that difficult to read something and give an honest opinion? Do you value your fellow writers so little that you can't afford them that small courtesy? I've seen pieces entered in 5-7-5 contests disqualified for missing the syllable count in spite of dozens of views and several reviews. Not one person bothered to give their fellow writer a little heads up for an easy fix. Aren't we better than that?
Well, I've had some fun and pointed some fingers. I certainly am not separating myself out of the group in any way. These are just some thoughts that I have had. They are some ideas that I've discussed with a few friends on the site. Take them as you will. The system of reviewing here is good enough to have helped me improve my own skills tenfold since I have started here. So, I say bravo to a great program. Is there room for improvement? There always is.
The very first thing we seek, especially when new to being reviewed, is, "is this good?", "do you like it?" That is a reasonable, albeit insecure, question. I didn't know, when I timidly posted my first few pieces here, if they had any merit. I thought they did. I hoped they had a lot of merit. But, I honestly didn't know. Now here, the first trick came into play. There's a bunch of liars here, great big fib tellers from the land of mendacity. I know because the same person that tells me my piece is good also tells someone else that their piece is good and… IT ISN'T! Hello! I actually want a REAL answer. IS IT ANY GOOD? After a while, we begin to determine who is telling the truth and who is just being nice.
Guess what? Some people don't want to hear the truth. They just want to hear that they are good whether they are or not. We figure out who they are too. The problem comes into play when people don't want to go along with that. To that, I say, what's it to you if someone wants to live in a fantasy world? Live and let live; if that is what they want, I say let them enjoy.
It's going to start getting scary now. If you've discovered that you have some merit, you may get this strange idea that you'd like to get even better. I know, pretty strange. There are people here that will help you with that. Terrible, awful people that tell wicked nasty truths designed to REVEAL FLAWS and SHORTCOMINGS in your precious little pieces. I've heard they get together and laugh about their wicked comments and read some of our terrible offerings out loud to amuse themselves. They accuse you of having a disease. I don't know how one catches SPAG, but I expect there is ink and nudity involved. For the amount of SPAG I've contracted, you'd think I'd have a few amusing anecdotes to relate. Apparently, blackouts are part of the deal.
Finally, the thing many of us hate doing: giving reviews. This is truly the honor system here. Being a group of creative people means that we can make up a bunch of nonsense and pretend to review virtually anything. Hell, most of us could write Cliff Notes without having even seen the play. Here is where personal integrity comes to play. You gain nothing by cheating. Is it really that difficult to read something and give an honest opinion? Do you value your fellow writers so little that you can't afford them that small courtesy? I've seen pieces entered in 5-7-5 contests disqualified for missing the syllable count in spite of dozens of views and several reviews. Not one person bothered to give their fellow writer a little heads up for an easy fix. Aren't we better than that?
Well, I've had some fun and pointed some fingers. I certainly am not separating myself out of the group in any way. These are just some thoughts that I have had. They are some ideas that I've discussed with a few friends on the site. Take them as you will. The system of reviewing here is good enough to have helped me improve my own skills tenfold since I have started here. So, I say bravo to a great program. Is there room for improvement? There always is.
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Writing Prompt For this contest, you must write an essay about how to review. Please see announcement for details and rules. |
 Recognized |
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Some of this is for fun, but I hope there are some points made as well that the reader takes to heart.
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