Be sure to read the Notes and Credits for more advice that might help you! They got into some things that didn't occur to me as well so don't overlook it! Links to the critiques and reference docs- Go to Google Docs, follow the main site URL with /document/d/ and copy paste in 10Qo7URmxIAI6_rAU7q3X6Vp1Qc6TFT94IxWT-Zfg9EA/edit?usp=sharing for the critique itself and 18GPPq62k0NXkd8ZA-7zdomS64r332pJMExy1csgLVvo/edit?usp=sharing to follow along on the original excerpts. It was meant to be recorded and put in a project, but I ran out of time lol
(Background in project is by Studio Ghibli artists) (Music is Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness - "High Dive") Wisdom from other SWC Leaders and Cos! @carnivalgirl47 - I have a sister who’s about 10, she’s much younger than me and extremely annoying but she can be useful sometimes anyways whenever I’ve gone over the max word count or just want to cut out some bits, I read the writing to her and because she can’t understand most of the over elongated painful to read words I use I just cut out the bits she can’t understand So I’d say that pretend you’re writing this for someone younger than you - would they understand everything? Would they be bored? And use that as advice. Also, try and make sure that at least one ‘thing’ happens in each section of your book. Chapter, page, paragraph if it’s a short story, whatever. Just give it a new development every section. That helps speed things along rip this is probably terrible advice @AtheneNocturna - Off the top of my head, you should always outline your writing so it stays fluid and you can't really stray off topic. You could also, as was said, read it to someone else and have them critique it. @HonestlyRon - Well, to prevent your story from being too wordy and/or clumsy, I suggest saying it out loud as you type/write it. If it's first person, imagine you are telling your friend about something that happened to you. If it's in third person, imagine you are telling your friend a story that you witnessed. For both, would you say, “She looked very beautiful and good and her dress looked extra this and that but her hair looked blah blah blah” or “She looked very beautiful, her hair and her dress were equally stunning and blah blah blah”? How to determine if something can be cut out without losing the main idea of the story? Um, well for me it's pretty easy to determine main/important characters/details from stuff that is not, but I get that it might not be for all people. I'd say, imagine the story without that character/detail. For instance: could Harry Potter be Harry Potter without Hermione Granger? No. She's really important to the plot. But Harry Potter could exist without Bill Weasley (sorry Bill Weasley, we still love you.) @smartcutecandy - When I’m trying to cut things out I usually don’t look for huge chunks, rather little things that can go. What’s already being implied in this scene that I don’t need to say again? Could I take out a dialogue tag? Am I telling too much- can I remove a description and replace it with action or dialogue? Is there too much showing- should I take a long piece of dialogue or action and replace it with a simple description? Is there something here that’s not “in character” or realistic? Sometimes I write something in the middle of the night because nighttime Candy thinks “oh yeah this sounds awesome” because I’m tired but then when I look at it again it’s just cheesy and doesn’t fit. I hope this helps :)
