respond-- it's the thing to do

[Hayseed Huck]

I respond..

Posters knock themselves out posting poems and
stories and general writing, but don't respond--
much-- except to hand our indiscriminate praise,
when they do crit.

Does that help?
The ego-- helps the writer's ego.

They plead-- "Crit mine."

"Look at mine ... oh"

I crit.

Let me repeat that, "I crit."

I respond when I would rather call my girlfriend
and see if she got my letters.

I respond when I would rather dive my convertible
around LA.

I crit at the expense of losing my reputation
of being the nicest man here.

I crit and respond.

I respond because it's the thing to do.

I am not talking about my postings, only. Many writers
here post and get no or one or two responses.

It's a give and take situation.

Play fair.

HH

[hillwalker]

HH

A lot of very valid points - if you post a piece expecting a response then you should take trouble to offer your response to other posters' pieces - its called courtesy.

But lavishing praise in a single 'v good' will not help the writer improve - or get a genuine feel for how their piece really reads.

There should be a couple of rules implicit in posting - everyone who posts a poem/story must crit someone else's work.
And every crit must identify what it is they like - or dislike - in the piece they have just read. Criticism - good or bad - is valuable as long as it is constructive.....

If all you want is flattery - get a 'vanity publisher' and leave these pages to serious writers.

H

[MrRegular]

This is very good, I really like it. By the way, have you read my short story?

Lol, just kidding. You're 100% percent correct here. Anyone interested in pursuing his art must understand the value of maintaining his community, thus collaborating with and assisting his fellow artists.