Topic ID: 11821
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Nate
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 Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:31 am Post subject: Taking Age Into Account When Reviewing |
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When writing a review, there are many aspects of the piece to take into consideration. You have to look at the style, the dialogue, descriptions, character development, clichés, grammatical errors, incoherence, rambling monologues, etc., etc., etc. In truth, for most people it’s only a few certain aspects. Some reviewers like to only comment on the grammar, while others prefer to only comment on the style. However, everyone should also take into account the author’s age.
Taking age into account is not necessarily easy. After all, I can think of three members of YWS right off the top of my head that under the age of 13 and yet produce superior work. But generally speaking, you cannot expect the same quality of work from someone who is eleven versus someone who is eighteen. The difference between the two ages, not only in terms of schooling but in terms of experiences as well, is absolutely monumental and every reviewer should take age into account.
For those who are under 13, typically all they need is encouragement along with what you liked about the piece and what you didn’t like. You don’t need to tell them that “Wow, this is awesome!” but you could tell them, “This shows promise. Keep it up and keep writing.” You don’t even need to write a long review because, chances are, they’re not going to read past the first few sentences.
No one should expect an 11 year old to write like a 18 year old, and yet that is what I see time and time again. Just a couple weeks ago, I was reading one story by an eleven year old, and a couple of the reviews said, “This is trash.” Not only is that inappropriate for YWS, but you’ve pretty much discouraged someone from writing ever again. The purpose of YWS is not to be a critic, but to actively encourage creative writing as a past time. |
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bubblewrapped
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| Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:40 am Post subject: |
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Good point Nate! I hope I havent been mean to anyone **looks worried** I do tend to expect a lot from poets, even young ones...but you'd tell me if I was mean, right??
Um. Aside from that though, I agree. Should always try and be a bit gentler with younger writers, because (speaking from my own experiences) writing at that age is generally less developed, chiefly because of lack of experience with the "real" world...
But I wont repeat everything you've said, LOL. I'll just agree. Shutting up now... |
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Snoink
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| Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:49 am Post subject: |
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Also, please remember that your comments might actually encourage the writers to write more. You do eventually grow out of the bad crappy young writer stage, and then it's good. You first have to survive the initial stage though.  |
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| Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:27 am Post subject: |
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I don't entirely agree with this, mostly because when I was writing in that preteen stage, it frustrated me when people responded like that. And, yeah, it still bothers me. "This is good for your age," is SO unbelievably condescending and it STILL makes me twitch.
I can understand why you would and maybe should look at a writer while being mindful of their age (and I still don't think age should matter; what DOES matter is the amount of writing experience you have), but I'm not 100% sure I could follow through on this. Again, at the pre-thirteen stage, I hated when people spent less time and energy on younger writers' stories, and I hated the lack of constructive criticism rife in feedback for those stories. So as a matter of principle, I generally ignore people's ages. Or never factor that in. |
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Sam
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| Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:34 am Post subject: |
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It doesn't matter how old you are- a piece of bad writing is a piece of bad writing. Even if the people are eleven, it's still helpful to factor in some sort of constructive criticism, or else they'll never get better...of course, the structure of a critique for an eleven year old is going to be much different (more praise, more explanation for what you didn't like) but it shouldn't be dumbed down.
I think it's more a matter of 'years writing'- an ten year old who has been writing for five years is going to be much better than a twenty year old who has only written for school. |
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| Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 10:25 am Post subject: |
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I don't know if I've done this but when it comes to my little brothers and sister I sometimes give them really bad comments like, "Don't ever write this kind of stuff again," and then I feel bad.
We have a writing group at home and we each have themes to write short stories for. Even though they are in their preteen ages I find some of their stuff really creative and give them more credit and point out stuff they should take a closer look at. |
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