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Printed from https://shop.writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/7486-Reviewing-Style--Substance.html
For Authors: February 17, 2016 Issue [#7486]

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For Authors


 This week: Reviewing: Style & Substance
  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

A header image for my official For Authors newsletters.


"The two most engaging powers of an author are to make
new things familiar, and to make familiar things new."

-- Samuel Johnson



Trivia of the Week: Cormac McCarthy is known for a unique writing style that makes sparse use of proper punctuation marks. He rarely using quotation marks or attribution for dialogue, doesn't use semicolons, and will sometimes not even use capital letters, commas, or periods unless absolutely necessary. It's created a divide among contemporaries and critics; some think it shows a masterful use of the language and others think it's lazy and/or pretentious. Regardless of its effect, though, McCarthy has used it to become one of the most unique and distinct writers of his generation.


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Letter from the editor


REVIEWING: STYLE & SUBSTANCE


I recently joined a couple of small, online writers groups with the goal of developing a close-knit group of writers that know one another's work intimately and can therefore offer more specific, targeted advice on the work being presented. One of the things I'm surprised at (which is also a problem on Writing.Com from time to time) is how often reviewers criticize a piece of writing on the basis of it not being how they would have written the story. Particularly in terms of both style and substance.

STYLE is the way in which something is written. Each writer has their own unique style, which can vary wildly. Some authors like to describe every little detail and nuance of a scene's setting, while others prefer to keep it simple and let the reader's imagination fill in the blanks after providing only the most basic of details. Where one author may like to use simple sentences and word choices, another might want complicated sentences and highly-nuanced, less common words to paint a more accurate picture. Some writers might have a penchant for onomatopoeia for dramatic effect, while others might rely more heavily on alliteration or metaphor or synecdoche to get their point across. The way an author strings together words and sentences and paragraphs and chapters is a personal choice that varies from writer to writer.

SUBSTANCE, on the other hand, is what's on the page. It's the elements that aren't related to the technical presentation. While this also includes literary elements like character and plot and structure and the quality of the dialogue (which is a whole topic for another newsletter), I want to focus on a very particular set of overall substantive qualities in this newsletter, namely the choice of format and presentation. When it comes to a story concept, one author might choose to write a short story, while another might want to turn that idea into a novella, or a novel, or even a series of novels. That choice of form, in turn, might involve telling the story from a first person, third person, or even second person perspective, with varying degrees of omniscience.

One of the things we should strive for, as reviewers, is to help the author improve what's written on the page, rather than trying to get what's on the page to fit the vision of what the reviewer thinks the story should be. While there are certainly times when suggestions for improvement might involve suggesting different possibilities for executing the story, a reviewer certainly shouldn't hold it against the writer when those different executions aren't employed.

Example: If a writer employs sparse, simple dialogue and description, a reviewer shouldn't criticize the lack of detail unless it actually creates a problem with reading comprehension...

Good: "I would have liked a little more description of the police station setting, because I didn't get a clear sense of where the different offices and departments are in relation to one another, which becomes important later."
Bad: "You should describe the bedroom's furniture and decorations more because I like those extra details."


Example: If a writer pens a short story with a limited word count that feels like it should be part of a larger work...

Good: "It worked as a short story, but there's also the potential for a bigger narrative. Have you considered expanding this into a novel?"
Bad: "This was too short. You could write a whole series of novels about it!"


Example: If a writer chooses not to include a lot of omniscient point of view perspective and the character's motivations are unclear...

Good: "I had a hard time understanding the character's motivation. It would help to get a little further inside the character's head to understand what really drives him/her."
Bad: "You need to include more of the character's thoughts and feelings."


Another key element you might have picked up from the good/bad examples is that the bad ones are all very blunt, while the good ones tend to emphasize potential solutions or what would work for that particular reader, where the bad ones tend to dictate what should be done and make it sound like an objective fact. It's always a good idea, when suggestion a particular course of action in your feedback, to either clarify that the note was intended to apply to you personally ("I think," "I feel," and "I believe" are all great modifiers for this), or to phrase it in the form of a question ("Have you considered...," "Maybe it would be more effective if...," "One idea of how to address this might be...").

The key here is to remember that, as a reviewer - especially when it comes to style and substance - your job is to help give the writer your impressions about what's on the page, as well as any areas that need to be fixed, cleaned up, or clarified. Your job is not to judge them against the standard of how you personally would write their story. If you do feel like the suggestions you can offer will help improve the piece, try to present them respectfully as options for the author to consider, rather than blanket statements of fact that sound like they must be adhered to.

As writers, we're all entitled to write our stories the way we want to write them. While feedback from others should ultimately be a process that improves our writing, it's also important to remember that you don't have to accept every note, and you should be particularly skeptical of notes that would fundamentally change what you've written. If you write sparse, fast-paced fantasy and science fiction, you're not going to benefit from a reader's note who thinks your work should be a 120,000-word epic. And if you've written a short story that you feel works really well as a quick, one-off piece, you're under no obligation to turn it into a longer work or series just because one reader thinks it should be.

When writing, give some thought to the style and substance of your piece. Understand what you're going for in terms of those facets of the writing so that you can properly evaluate feedback and determine whether each note is relevant to what you're trying to do or attempting to turn the work into something you didn't intend for (or want) it to be. And when reviewing, make sure you're not holding one author's sense of style or substance against them just because it's not your preference for how the story should be told. Make sure you're evaluating what's on the page rather than trying to write the pages yourself. *Smile*

Until next time,

Jeff Author IconMail Icon
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If you're interested in checking out my work:
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Community Activities




Editor's Picks


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EXCERPT: “Momma! Can I go outside? Pleeaasse?!” Melissa Winters grinned widely as she stretched up onto her toes and glanced out the kitchen window again. “Please Mom? Can I?” She tried hard to keep from jumping up and down with impatience. Momma didn’t like it anymore when she “acted up” although at six years old, Melissa wasn’t all that certain what “acting up” really meant. Still, she calmed herself and took a deep breath, looking pleadingly up at her mother. Geraldine Winters took a deep breath, forcing the tiredness from her voice and face then smiled and nodded at the blonde girl bouncing in front of her. She choked back a rush of tears and put a cheerful tone into her voice as she hugged her daughter tightly then shooed her out the kitchen door.



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EXCERPT: An exorbitant number of cars filled the grocery lot. With a huff, Andrea cranked the wheel at the last second to pull into a stall. As she stepped out of her late model Honda, she growled at the distance that separated her from the automatic doors. Andrea clutched her coat as she skirted the fringes of frozen ground along the way to the entrance.



 
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EXCERPT: "Can't we just get along?" I asked, waving my arms and eyeing the edge of the rooftop.

The wind whipped around me as I watched a small paper cup took flight over Jax as he knelt motionless off the twenty story office building. He appeared relaxed glaring through the high-powered binoculars but ignoring me, his focus centered on a particular room in the building across from us.



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by A Guest Visitor

EXCERPT: On a late summer's morning outside Orangeville, Ontario, the woods were still, like a magnificent painting drawn with nature's red and yellow brushstrokes, and unusually quiet. Except for Sam, the trumpeter swan. He floated through the mist across a glass-like pond, his two-note song piercing the air. Maybe the two fish that swam beneath made him sing; he was often hungry at dawn. Or perhaps he sensed that the first of two miracles was about to occur. After all, Sam had lived there many years and had witnessed many wonders.



 
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Ask & Answer



Feedback from my last newsletter about reading the hits and the classics of your chosen genre:


Lyn's a Witchy Woman Author Icon writes:" I loved this newsletter, your nudging of us to head in the right direction dear friend comes at an appropriate time for me as I am beginning my next book. Lyn"

Thank you so much for the kind words, friend! And good luck on your new book!



Quick-Quill Author Icon writes:"I hate to read YA books by adults who don't really read them only think of them as a honey pot. There is an art to writing genre. Read or leave it alone."

I totally agree. The world's bookshelves and Amazon pages are filled with way too many authors who are chasing a paycheck rather than the kinds of books they're really passionate about. It's even worse when they don't put in the effort to learn the genre, or think that it's "easy" to churn something out. *Think*



Cynaemon Author Icon writes:"An interesting topic. I spend a lot of time reading ion the genres in which I write. I love reading an re-reading all my old favorites in the children and YA arena, and my short stories about cats reflect this reading. I also write in the less well known sub-genre of slash fanfiction, and I read tons of it online. Great idea. Thanks for the suggestions. "

You're very welcome!



From a previous newsletter about writing with a day job:


iykmezu writes:"Thanks for the write-up, it sounds as if you are refering to me. I am not as vibrant as before in writing because I always use my 9-5 job as an excuse. I have learnt better now."

It's a lesson most of us have to learn sooner or later. Hopefully you're doing better now!



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