In my last post, which was too long ago, I wrote of how Ray Bradbury inspired me to begin writing 1000 words every day. I took his advice, wrote with zest and gusto, and before I knew it I had a short story that is roughly 60 pages on the iPad in eBook format. Well played Mister Bradbury, well played. But before I ran out in front of the reality bus that is the world, I decided to gather some critiques both biased and unbiased. Thus far it has been both exciting and disappointing.

The story I wrote was nothing of ground breaking, in fact, it roughly bordered on cliche. The tale I told was a story of one girl’s plan for revenge. Her father had been taken from her family when she was eight, and for ten years she trained. Now, on her eighteenth birthday, she leaves her home in the Southlands to find the swordsman who killed her father and claimed the title of greatest swordsman in the entire realm. The plot had been done, but it was the characters that I hoped would allow it to shine apart from the rest. I was working on honing my craft rather than story depth and intricacies. I believe I allow enough foreshadowing to be interesting and my dialog is hopefully not dollar store drivel. But those are my opinions!

I then decided to post my story on a website for critique as I couldn’t find a writing group nearby. I would rather a “first session free” kind of deal as if I didn’t find it helpful, I wouldn’t want to pay for ten sessions upfront. Despite my objections, I found a decent website that allowed posting, editing and critiquing. It was free too! I decided this would be the beginning of my editing journey. I had gone over my story a number of times and felt ready to unleash the internet hoards upon my very heartstrings.

I submitted it and waited.

I waited some more.

Finally an email prompted me that a review had come through! Fantastic!

Overall rating: 6/10. *Insert the sound of my heart shattering here*

I took a deep breath and stared at the screen. A six? Really? I decided not to believe the reviewer. However as my eyes drifted across his review and the inline comments, I realised I was being petty. I took his criticism and made the changes accordingly. Thanking him for his time, I also informed him that I had made the edits and hoped to hear from him again. It stung, having something you wrote judged harshly. Although at least it was above five!

My anticipation for another review had me nearly frothing at the mouth. I then discovered a button for a kind of “forced critique”. The system works so that they assign you four reviews, and then they owe you three. I needed something to do anyway and they guaranteed the reviews within twelve hours, so I figured, why not? I read, edited and critiqued a story that was well written and the plot was decent. Hey, this wasn’t so bad I thought.

Then, it drifted downhill.

The next story I read lacked impact… or grammar… and sometimes spelling. I felt terrible rating the story a three as it was hard to follow with so many errors. I gave as much information as I could without trying to sound as though I thought she was terrible. I mean after all, if she was a ten year old writing that story, I’d be impressed! But it still needed a lot of work. I reviewed and edited two other stories and then checked my email.

My reviews had arrived.

As I eagerly checked each one, I felt as though I had made huge strides from that first review! It felt great to know that I had already improved upon my work, my confidence was soaring, A nine! A ten! Wow! I was getting some great reviews and productive feedback! One review left, let’s see…

Overall Rating: 3/10.

My heart skipped a beat.

Umm, I had made progress. Or so I thought. As I read through her comments, I could feel the very soul being drained from my being. I felt I had a grasp on writing, or at least the english language… why was she so harsh? Did I critique her? Her daughter maybe? I stared dumbfounded at the screen. Ouch.

I finally snapped out of my daze and decided to write back to her. She stopped reading my story halfway through and it felt like a slap in the face. Imagine your puppy running up to a stranger, just wanting love, attention and maybe even to play, and that stranger lighting your dog on fire. I picture that is close to how I felt. We writers put our hearts on the line every time we write something and ask someone to take a look at it. It’s as if we are trusting them a piece of ourselves.

She was kind and later apologised for her review. She admitted she was tired and under time constraints, and said she’d get back to it eventually. I felt vindicated, but at the same time I still took some of her harsh criticisms and turned them into edits as well. I mean, she wasn’t entirely wrong. The dog should have been on a leash, but still no reason to set him on fire.

Since then I’ve been aiming for a goal of 20 individual critiques, since the three I’ve had many fantastic reviews and criticisms. Strangely enough people were asking for more detail into the setting, which from when I started writing I always had the problem of giving too much. I suppose I have gone too far in the opposite direction now, but that is alright. I’ve been considering publishing my short story through Lulu and into the iBooks store to get more feedback on how I’m doing. The critiques on there would be more general than from fellow writers, but it has been overall a great experience for once I eventually begin penning the one novel to rule them all.

Anyway if anyone out there has read the story, fantastic! I’d love any and all feedback (grammar correction, spelling, plot holes, things you loved, hated, etc…) the email is at the top right!

If you haven’t, click here to give it a go! (Please note, the layout is a bit brutal now as their text editor on the website is crude and simple. It will look much better once I put the correct formatting in!)