Well, if I would hit the back button on it, I'd classify it as bad. But My reading standards are pretty high. As a beta (or a judge for that matter) when I want to gnaw my eyeballs out to escape, it's bad. Different scale.
Seriously, I do what some other people on the thread here and at riters_r_us suggested-- give Extremely Painfully detailed comments on what's wrong and Why for at least a good chunk or section of the work, and see how they respond. If they're learning and growing, I am willing to put in my time, but I really have to see they're putting as much into it as I am, trying to avoid the same mistakes and asking good questions. I would say I use the "don't have time excuse" to extricate myself from bad situations, but in fact I've also used it more often for people who were doing well and showed promise, because I really Didn't have time. As a perusal of the tag "wee hob" on my journal should make abundantly clear.
The one thing idea I agree with-- for me it's generally the one element I think the writer is at a place where s/he's receptive or able to learn it. Or for a better author, a challenge to take it that one step further-- to make the leap from a nice fluffy short romp to something with a theme, some substance.
Some people don't Want that, though. Incidentally, you might go back and post this question as a reply on sahiya's comment and see what her response to the same question might be. She probably won't see this reply, but she would see it in her e-mail if you replied directly on her comment.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-03-23 01:17 am (UTC)Seriously, I do what some other people on the thread here and at riters_r_us suggested-- give Extremely Painfully detailed comments on what's wrong and Why for at least a good chunk or section of the work, and see how they respond. If they're learning and growing, I am willing to put in my time, but I really have to see they're putting as much into it as I am, trying to avoid the same mistakes and asking good questions. I would say I use the "don't have time excuse" to extricate myself from bad situations, but in fact I've also used it more often for people who were doing well and showed promise, because I really Didn't have time. As a perusal of the tag "wee hob" on my journal should make abundantly clear.
The one thing idea I agree with-- for me it's generally the one element I think the writer is at a place where s/he's receptive or able to learn it. Or for a better author, a challenge to take it that one step further-- to make the leap from a nice fluffy short romp to something with a theme, some substance.
Some people don't Want that, though. Incidentally, you might go back and post this question as a reply on sahiya's comment and see what her response to the same question might be. She probably won't see this reply, but she would see it in her e-mail if you replied directly on her comment.