Oh, maybe, we have let's say a few writers who are non-native speakers. It is hard to focus on the content of their writing, so it is difficult to critique. Should we focus on fixing the English first? Or is that inseparable from the expression?
Writers that can't spell, or string a sentence together at all? If it's just a couple of questions, I'm not worried, but ESL is a completely different skill set than just writing better.
Maybe it's just me, but I get the feeling we are seeing an increasing number of English language learner questions.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but is it what we really want? Aren't we going to scare away (or just plain bore) the experts?
Related question, (to which the accepted answer ...
@KitFox - It's a combination of conversational idiom, like, the way someone just talks. But there's some business-speak tossed in, like "as per habit".
But the writing gets more consistent as it goes along, more unified and coherent. Maybe it just needs another draft.
@KitFox - Short of doing a full line edit on the piece, all you can do is point out a few examples of the type of thing you find to be a problem and indicate that there are many others like this. Someone who has any writing ability at all and, critically, someone who wants to improve, will be able to make the connection.
I think I might have to rename one or more characters... too many M names
My group of high-school friends was almost all M-names, for some reason. Mike, Mary, Matt, Mark, Martin, Megan, another Mike, plus some people had M last names instead of M first names...
> There I am, a largemouth bass, relaxing in a clear pond minding my own business, when suddenly I sees a squirming minnow, just floating there looking delicious.
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 This suggests otherwise.
I could not read it but with a sexual overtone.
Because it couldn't have been her attractiveness as a writer.
I read it as he is meant to find the bait attractive because she is a writer and thus they can talk as writers. However he is not actually attracted to the bait because he sees through her ploy.
@NeilFein Yes, I agree. It is exactly what I always think when I have correct or comment on someone's writing. You need to find some kind of standard or purpose as a starting point.
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 But the "delicious" minnow is called that after she tells him that she writes fan fiction.
She pushed herself up in her seat. “Don’t laugh, but I write fanfic. Have you seen Vampire Diaries?”
“Heard of it.”
“Well, yeah, so I just write stories about those characters.”
There I am, a largemouth bass, relaxing in a clear pond minding my own business, when suddenly I sees a squirming minnow, just floating there looking delicious.
I think it's meant to be a metaphor for what just happened. He was minding his own business when a minnow came along (a writer) only he saw the hook (a fanfic writer) but he was too polite not to bite
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 it's not a criticism as such, but the piece is very dialogue centric. So much so that it felt weird when you dropped out of it to describe the emptiness of No.8
Well, I could make the character say that stuff, but it's too much exposition... a husband and wife don't need to reiterate so much
What if I put all of Martin's dialogue together and the narrator at the end of that paragraph?
“You’ve been shut up in your workshop for a while, did you notice our new neighbours have finally moved in? I saw them unloading the truck, went over to introduce myself.” The house at Number 8 Kingston Crescent had stood empty for weeks and all the gossip on the street was speculation about who would be moving in, and when.
The Overlook Hotel
The Overlook Hotel