I need some help on this question. I've just received a critique - a grid marking system with a short overview - from a short story competition entry. The story gained 80 marks out of a possible 100, and I read the comments with interest, hoping to learn why it didn't make the shortlist. The reviewer's main criticism seemed to centre on one unanswered question in the story, a question that with a little thought could well have been answered satisfactorily, yet it was impossible to answer in the text as the narrator doesn't know it. The reviewer also made an assumption that shouldn't have been made. The question is, how seriously should I take this? Should I rewrite the story based on this reviewer's opinion? Personally I like some mystery - a story is too pat if all the threads tie in perfectly at at the end - and I guess that this is just one person's opinion. The story has to stand alone without explanation, but nevertheless...

I'm thinking now of the crits I get on WW, and it does happen that some comments do appear to indicate that I can be obscure at times. It just seems to depend who's reading - I guess that some are on the same wavelength, others not.

So, more transparency in my writing/plotting or not? What do you think?

Thanks, Nell.

I think you should stick to your guns. Critting is very subjective as is writing. However, maybe you should post the story here and see what reactions you get. I usuallly react if several people make the same observation.

Elspeth

Personally speaking I agree with you, Nell, that you need to keep a bit of mystery in the story. The best books/stories I've read are the ones that don't quite tie everything up but leave the reader thinking. Giving readers the option to figure things out for themselves makes for a more interesting and more powerful story.
Sue

Hi Nell, I believe that we should write the books that we would like to read, and if you like reading unanswered questions then why not write them? My only caveat would be if you are deliberately writing for a particular market, then you should tailor your writing to those readers. For example, if the competition you were entering was for a literary fiction magazine, then a little obscurity in your writing is no bad thing, but if you were writing for a mass market newspaper, then more clarity would be desirable.

My favourite books are ones that are literary in the sense of being well written, dealing with ideas and possibly having intertextual references, but which still have the emotional power to speak to the person who reads only one book a year. I'm not keen on deliberately hermetic prose. But, like that of your reviewer, this is just a reflection of one individual's personal taste.

Adele.

Nell

stick with your gut feeling after all it is one persons critque and how often has one person got it so terribly wrong,

the peole who turned down J K Rowling or the record companies that turned down The Beatles etc

I agree with other comments why spoon feed the reader most people want some mystery and the option to work things out for themselves,

take care

david xx

Nell

It's been said already but I have been told that it does depend on your market. If it's a mass circulation job the readers probably want to have everything tied up in neat bundles. I was advised that a piece I wrote would net get published because it did not have a happy ending and that's what the typical reader wanted. I have now decided to stick with my preferred style and let the reader have a choice.

All the best

Jim

Thanks for all your thoughts, I'll probably post the piece soon and see what reactions I get.

<Added>

No Man

Look forward to reading it, Nell.



<Added>

No Woman

Len, I don't know quite how to take that...

The title refers to the saying, 'No man is an island...' (John Donne). The story was originally called The Island, then I changed it, it seemed the obvious thing to do.

<Added>

I'm sure there was no 'Owner Edit' on that last post, and now there is...

Len, I've been thinking about your addition (for the best part of last night). It would seem to be a comment on either the title or the piece itself. I can only apologise if I've offended you in any way, and I've added a content warning to the summary to avoid offending others. No apologies for the work itself.

Nell.

Nell, I've read the story you're discussing, and I know what the reviewer is referring to. But I agree with the others who have said you should go with your own needs and instincts as a writer.
I have been oblique in my writing sometimes, and so has Matheson, I think we discussed it sometime back. See how people take to 'No Man', what they say about the mystery of it.
Becca.

Dear, sweet Nell. MY apologies if this has troubled you in any way. Just put it down to my bent sense of humour, ignorance or my not having taken the green tablets recently.

Len

<Added>

On a more sensible note what do you think of the 'grid system' when critting?
Len

I can't help thinking that a 'grid system' for analysing a work and measuring it's merits sounds very synthetic to me. It suggests a formula (as well as lasiness on the part of the reviewer) - and formula suggests something that could be used to create a story. It's one more step towards computers trying to create original works of fiction. Pah!

(oh God, I bet I get quoted one hundred years from now. Just like when my great grandad said that TV would never catch on)

I agree with the others. Stick to what you believe is right for you.

Colin M.

Len,

We'll blame it on the pixels, and I daresay if there wasn't anything to worry about I'd invent something.

Re. the grid system, it ought to work well in theory, but seems to have basic faults. For example, when awarding marks for dialogue it must be difficult to set a mark if there's little or no dialogue in the piece, and with 'believability of characters' how can you apply that criteria to aliens and fantasy? I was pleased with the 80% mark though, I think that was fair, just perturbed that the story was less clear than I'd intended. Judging by the comments I've received it seems that each reader brings his/her perceptions to bear, so when submitting work to competitions it just depends on who the judge is as to whether one gets anywhere or not. I wonder if I'd made the whole thing clearer another judge could have thought it too transparent?

<Added>

Colin, thanks for your thoughts.