Robertpaullocke's 3rd Assignment

[robertpaullocke]

thank you for re affirming for me what I kinda knew from the beginning, And that is. I suck. I should just stick with poetry and my blog. I will never be come a decent writer, no matter how much I try I will never be good. So I'll just stick with leaving all the great story ideas I have in my head and never let them see the light of day. I get it. though, writing is a passion for me but just like everything else I just dont have the talent so whats the point? Thanks.

[Mad Lews]

Robert,
It's not a question of talent, it's technique. If you can speak you can tell a story. Putting it down in written words is were it gets a bit hairy. If it truely is a passion don't give up. Follow Mr Deans advice and redo this last assignment.
In fact I'd suggest getting a little pissed at him and show him exactly how well you can do!
There are a lot of simple Grammar and style books out there that are quite helpful. Muse's suggestion is the best though. Once you finish the story set it aside for a while then read it out loud. If that doesn't show you the tense errors it's because you are auto correcting what you read (Saying what you meant to write rather than what you wrote) If that's the problem get someone else to read it aloud to you.
I'm sure you can tell this story in a more authentic way than you've written it.
I'm sure you don't speak like that. Give it another try.
Mad Lews

[H Dean]

thank you for re affirming for me what I kinda knew from the beginning, And that is. I suck. I should just stick with poetry and my blog. I will never be come a decent writer, no matter how much I try I will never be good. So I'll just stick with leaving all the great story ideas I have in my head and never let them see the light of day. I get it. though, writing is a passion for me but just like everything else I just dont have the talent so whats the point? Thanks.

Robert, did you bother reading any of the authors I suggested to you or did you just have your pitty party and then make a quick revision of the story?

Ya know, one of the things I am known here for is being brutally frank. I am not going to tell you that you are great when you suck. I am not going to tell you that something has potential when it has none. If I say I like any portion of what you write you can be damned certain I did.

You say you write poetry and a blog. Do you want to write a blog with "LOL" and "bcoz" and all the silly little intenet shorthand shit that goes with it or do you really want to write? If you really want to write you have to take your lumps and you have to learn to write. It sure doesn't come overnight. Hell, Mad still can't spell the word "truly" without throwing in a limp "e". But Mad is one of the best writers the Library has seen.

What I want to see, Robert, is for you to take time. Not an hour or a day - but time. Make it a week. Go through some other author's works. Go through the block and read what people have written and what we have hammered on. Then, go through your story. Take some time. Then tell us the story so we can understand it. Not so you understand it - but so we can.

I promise you that comparing your structure to the structure of other authors will help. Give it a shot and don't be so fucking down on yourself. I used to suck at writing. Now I actually have fans. Two fans. And a snake.