Writing Gooder

On the Young Writers Society, there is much focus on the length of the review rather than inherent quality.  I’m not talking about new members who write long reviews in the hope of getting more points.  Rather, I’m talking about old members who go on and on in their review.

What is the goal of reviewing?  It is not to prop yourself up on a higher pedestal than the writer, much as some seem to believe.  It is also not about tearing apart people.  When you tear someone apart, you are not helping them whatsoever.

The goal of reviewing is to help.  At the Young Writers Society, I don’t know of any active member who has a published book to their name.  So in that regard, everyone on YWS is an amateur.  As amateurs, our aim should be to help.

In pursuit of that goal, long reviews are not helpful.  If your review is longer than the short story, something is wrong.  With poetry, it’s different.  Yet I routinely see reviews that are five times longer than the poem, which is ridiculous.

Keep your reviews concise. They don’t need to be necessarily short, but make sure you’re not droning on.  Your review should concentrate on whether you liked the piece, and if you didn’t, why not.  Critiquing the grammar isn’t really helpful (especially since I routinely see reviewers get grammar corrections wrong).

Lastly, keep in mind that the end goal is to encourage people to keep writing.  No matter how good your review is, it’s not going to help the writer much.  Rather, what helps the writer is simply “practice, practice, practice.”  So if your review discourages the writer, then you have failed.

It’s an absurdity you’d expect Douglas Adams to mention as a quick aside in one of his books.  That is, a First Grader from Newark, Delaware had to go before a character witness hearing last week at his school.  Why?  Because he brought an eating utensil that serves as a fork, spoon, and knife to lunch.

Unfortunately, I don’t think events like this one are isolated.  After all, students regularly get suspended for offering classmates Tylenol.  But, the Supreme Court long ago decided that the rights granted to all American citizens, regardless of age, don’t apply within the boundaries of a school, even though a school is government property.  So while normally you’re innocent unless proven guilty, that axiom does not apply if you’re a student.

In any case, read more about the first grader in the New York Times.

This is a Guest Post from Juniper

If you’re looking to get your poem published, this sounds interesting:

The Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize is a valuable opportunity for high school sophomores and juniors; the winning poem and runners-up will be chosen by KR’s Poetry Editor, David Baker and will be published in The Kenyon Review. Additionally, the winner is offered a full scholarship to the 2010 Young Writers Workshop at Kenyon College, a residential two-week summer program for aspiring writers.

Submissions will be accepted between November 1-30, 2009. Applicants should submit one poem through the online submissions program (link will be live November 1st and can be found at www.kenyonreview.org). Until then, please join us on at our Facebook group: Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize 2010.

You’ll find a .pdf poster advertising the contest at this link: http://www.kenyonreview.org/grodd-email-2009/Grodd.pdf.