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Anonymous
Crit Threads Are Gay: 2017-05-15 02:24:02 Post No. 9508140
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Crit Threads Are Gay: 2017-05-15 02:24:02 Post No. 9508140
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My theory on crit threads, as a person who used to post his work and receive a generally positive but admittedly uneven response, is that it's impossible to post something actually impressive or solid to one. Note that i didn't say 'write'.
Let me explain.
Since most of us are writers desperate for an objective appraisal and the rest of us are aware that most of us are, we're all familiar with posting something previously published to a crit thread to feel out the reactions, to see if the people of /lit/ will actually laud a legitimate work of fiction or poetry, or treat it with the same unintelligent and vulgar criticism it gives most things posted. In my own experience, these works have overwhelmingly been given the latter.
I suspect that this isn't because /lit/ has bad taste, and not just because most published works are actually mediocre, but because seeing anything in this context--that is, on a 4chan thread--automatically cripples the work's reception. This affects even the best of us. It's either because this board is so bitter and pessimistic that anything genuine that is offered is subconsciously seen as bad, amateur, meh, or because reading anything in any place that isnt a legitimate journal or trustworthy environment affects how the work is perceived. Both might be the case. And either way, this may also show that the context in which a work of fiction is seen may affect what we think of it more than we think---we often see things we think are mediocre in the New York Times but still trust the publishers, don't we?
I don't write this as a bad writer looking for excuses (though im sure someone will attack the writing in this post, and i have no choice but to be alright with that), and i dont write this hoping to end crit threads. This is just some thought-food, and hopefully a catalyst for some rare civil discussion.
Thanks, /lit/.
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>>9508140
Also: This criticism isn't geared towards the obviously bad poems, fragments, which sound like 16 year olds writing for their english teachers, but the debatable ones, the ones that receive tepid but earnest feeback in the mix of desu's and strings of slurs. About 60% of all crit threads make me horrified that i write way worse than i think i do regardless of my idea's validity.
And expanding on my idea of our bitterness crippling an anon's post: all memes considered and ignored, we do not appreciate sincerity and honesty, and thrive off of anonymous hate and humor. Creative shit is the epitome of personal, confessional, unmasked, so of course we have a reason to hate on sight.
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>>9508140
i just wished critique threads offered actual critique
>this is shit
>this is good
>buzzwords buzzwords buzzwords
legitimately no help at all
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>>9508738
I posted once and received harsh but much needed feedback on my story. I was going to submit it to a contest but now I feel shitty about something that I felt okay about before. Can't say that's lit's fault (you guys helped me make some changes and see some things I couldn't before) but I will probably bring it to someone in person so that if I feel they are directly insulting me I can just hit them in the face.
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I don't post my short stories in the crit threads any more because literary journals are sticklers about your work appearing anywhere online before they get it.
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I don't really have any ambitions of getting published anytime, but it's nice to know someone at there read what i wrote. i agree with most of your points tho
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Sounds like you're just boo-boo because you posted something near and dear to your heart in the crit thread and it was torn apart due to it's inherent shitty quality.
You say you're not 'a bad writer looking for excuses'- but I think that's EXACTLY what you are. If you were a good writer, you would be able to tell good critique from bad critique, and wouldn't have to make this while thread to cover your ass.
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>>9508836
>boo-boo
That was meant to be 'booty-blasted'
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>>9508838
Can't take you seriously.
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>>9508836
You do realize you just did exactly the thing OP posited was limiting the functions of crit threads, right? The assumption that anything posted here must, because of its origins, be lacking in sincerity or value is EXACTLY what OP was talking about.
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The other thing, and I speak from my own experience, is I assume a lot of good pieces anons have written are not posted here because nobody wants what they will later try and get published to be archived on 4chan, to be stolen or traced to the source.
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