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Just dabbling in writing, not any good, self-effacing.
Need to hear positive reinforcement and praise over and over again.
Do not call self a poet or serious writer, actually a defensive posture...
If they call themselves a serious writer, then their stuff can be critiqued. If they are just messin' around, though, why would
anybody take the time to seriously read and comment on their work? Writing as a light hobby keeps
the writer protected, innocent. Writer does not have to work that hard, either.. Why take classes if
this writing thing is just tinkering around?
No training in terms of classes or seminars.
No knowledge of traditional poetry forms or techniques in writing prose/fiction.
No deliberate use of technique, e.g., change of first person to third, development of metaphor,
scanning of lines to understand meter.
No reliance on tools of the writing trade in doing the act of writing, e.g., dictionary, thesaurus,
rhyming dictionary.
No research into topics choosing to write about, relying only on personal experience or popular media,
tend to write abstractly, e.g., writing about the flowers as opposed to the dahlias or oleanders.
Consider most writing to be good writing, even Hallmark cards; give weak critiques of others: "this is
really good" is the extent of it; they themselves do not want constructive criticism of their own work,
they cannot imagine giving it to someone else (they want to be protected, so they think everyone
wants to be protected).
Heavy introductions to their work, attempt to control reader's reactions.
Resistance to critique, defensive explanations, etc.
Impatient at hearing other people see things or interpret things in their writing other than what they
intended.
Controlled writing, e.g. "I am going to sit down now and write a poem"; little experimentation, no
free-flowing writing or stream of consciousness; writing process tends to be one of fitting feelings
into a poem or story, tightly and controlled.
Heavy use of cliché, stemming from lack of experimentation. Haven't found their own "voice" yet in
their writing.
No reading of published works, classics, contemporary, etc. because that would show world beyond
tinkering and they do not want to think about world beyond tinkering.. do they think they will never
get there?
Hesitant to read in public, read with little intonation or voice projection; do not look up. |
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