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Mystery: December 16, 2015 Issue [#7377]

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Mystery


 This week: Constructive Criticism
  Edited by: Jeff Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter


"The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense
of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery."

-- Anaïs Nin



Mystery Trivia of the Week: Alan Dershowitz isn't just a fancy lawyer who has defended the likes of Mike Tyson, Patty Hearst, Jim Bakker, and O.J. Simpson (as an appellate adviser); he's also authored a variety of books about politics and law. He's also an expert legal commentator on the Arab-Israeli conflict.


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Letter from the editor


CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM


This is going to be a short editorial this week, because I want to make an important point that I think would be diluted with an overly-long narrative. On two separate occasions this week, I've heard from WdC members who have mentioned that feedback they've received on their work has been so discouraging that it's made them want to give up on writing altogether.

So I would like to offer the following two statements in light of these incidents, and ones like them.

If you are reviewing someone's work, don't be unnecessarily harsh or cruel. Someone spent time and energy on that piece of writing you're reviewing, and that person has feelings. Even if you think the piece is terrible... even if you think the writer wasted your time as a reader... your job as a reviewer is to be constructively critical rather than cruelly critical. You shouldn't be trying to tear someone down and the takeaway from your review definitely shouldn't be that they're beyond hope and might as well quit writing altogether.

If you are having your work reviewed, you need to have a thick skin. Not every reviewer will take the last statement into consideration and some people are just plain blunt, unhelpful, or even downright nasty. Part of being a writer is putting your work out in the world and having other people read it and make judgments about its quality. The most important thing to remember is that even the harshest, nastiest, most mean-spirited feedback is feedback a response to what you've written. You need to separate your own self-worth from the worth you assign to your work. A negative reaction to your work is not necessarily the same thing as a negative reaction to you. Writers need thick skin to stand up to the criticism they're going to receive, so please try not to convince yourself that you're either wholly great or entirely terrible as a writer based on a limited sample of feedback to one thing you've written.


I was really discouraged to hear two different people on this site tell me that they'd received such nasty feedback that they wanted to give up entirely. Let's make sure that, in the course of providing feedback, we're being constructive and encouraging, rather than trying to burn something to the ground. If you read something you didn't think was very good, make some polite suggestions about what you thought was missing or what could be improved. And if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Until next time,


Jeff Author IconMail Icon
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If you're interested in checking out my work:
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Editor's Picks


I encourage you to check out the following mystery items:


A Lesson Learned Open in new Window. [18+]
December Entry for the Twisted Tales Contest
by JustPeachy Author Icon

EXCERPT: Marie stood over the body unsure what to do. She knew most people would probably pick up the phone and dial the police, but she couldn’t do that. Not after everything that happened. What would she tell them? How could she explain?



The Prophet Open in new Window. [13+]
Tergon finds himself in an unknown land, looking to capitalise on his unique skills
by Matt Author Icon

EXCERPT: The great dwarven city of R’gar was ablaze, the flames clawing up at the black sky, a false sunset against the blanket of dark smoke. From the city gates a disorderly line of refugees trudged disconsolately, carrying their belongings in carts and rucksacks. Occasionally one would stop and turn to look longingly at their home, watching it be swallowed by the greedy embers.



 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor

EXCERPT: Eric was the organised one, the one with authority. He was intelligent enough to run the business whereas Bert was useless at thinking for himself. They had similar social habits though; same pub, same beer, same group of friends…almost.




 Another Mysterious Death Open in new Window. [ASR]
MunDon has a mysterious death very similar to the one he had almost fifteen years ago.
by PureSciFi Author Icon

EXCERPT: “Calm down. Just tell me what you saw.” Mysterious Death Questioner MunDon took down notes as he talked to a hysterical Clearner. ViaKai couldn’t stop herself from ranting and raving. She had a bigger problem with yelling and screaming – she couldn’t stop. MunDon tried to relax her, but it’s very hard to do – especially since she couldn’t sit still either. Every few minutes she got up.




 Footprints in the Snow Open in new Window. [E]
Who made the footprints in the Snow?
by Prosperous Snow celebrating Author Icon

EXCERPT: As I listened to the radio,
I stood at the window
watching footprints forming in the snow.


 
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Ask & Answer



Feedback from my last newsletter about thrillers as a primary genre:



Quick-Quill Author Icon writes: "I struggle with the term Thriller. I tried to write a thriller but got caught up in the facts of culture."{/quote}

"Thriller" can be a tough genre to wrap your head around, because it has so many elements of other genres in it as well, and there's so many different types of thrillers you can tell. For me, it's kind of like sci-fi, where yeah there's an overall type, but boy are there a lot of options and sub-genres to consider!




DB Cooper Author Icon writes: "AWSOME NL! I went to high school with world renowned romance writer Julie Leto? "{/quote}

I'm not familiar with Julie Leto, but that's very cool!


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