I recently turned my pages for The Price Of Jade over to a friend for review and she loves giving my pages the red pen treatment. In fact, she gets so giddy about the red pen treatment of my stories that I often refer to her as my abuser. Believe me, what she does for me is far from abuse, in fact she is more of a life saver.
~Danielle G.
Many people become fearful when they get a paper back with red marks, because we are taught to fear the critical review of teachers from a young age, but as a writer, I love to see red. For a person doing academic work, the presence of red pen or computer editing highlights usually signal reasons for a lower grade; however, it also serves to alert a student where their weaknesses are in putting together a good argument or informative paper. When a Writer chooses to tell a story, red marks can serve to tell where they fall short of being believable, compelling, or where the previous facts or established plot points are not supported or in conflict. Editing is essential to a good tale, and taking it easy on an author can be detrimental to story and character presentation.
Seeing red excites me because I can see all of the things that I am blind to as a an author. Once I know where I am lacking, I can bolster my story and improve the narrative for the audience who will eventually receive the finished product. I can't always see where I am going wrong, as I am obviously biased when it comes to evaluating my own work. For some, criticism is intimidating, but for me, it is a necessary tool for improvement. Of course someone welcoming criticism expects it to be constructive, so a person who is doing a proper critical analysis must also recognize and comment on what a Writer is doing right in order for it to be constructive. My best teachers always included remarks either in the margins, or at the end of the papers I wrote to let me know where i was on the right track, or where I was off; it was never just about marking things wrong like punctuation with no feedback. I also saw passages underlined with the word "good" to show what impressed them.
The red pen is a lifeline for those who require guidance, so be a guide instead of an executioner. When a person puts their blood on paper, they deserve honesty in return; but you need not be cruel. Blood is also a sign of life and it is red. What would you like to see more/less of? What grabs you or makes you snore? Is the character compelling, and if not, what would make them so? Do you need more background or more explanation of a scene? Go ahead, leave your mark for the better. Let the ink flow!
Seeing red excites me because I can see all of the things that I am blind to as a an author. Once I know where I am lacking, I can bolster my story and improve the narrative for the audience who will eventually receive the finished product. I can't always see where I am going wrong, as I am obviously biased when it comes to evaluating my own work. For some, criticism is intimidating, but for me, it is a necessary tool for improvement. Of course someone welcoming criticism expects it to be constructive, so a person who is doing a proper critical analysis must also recognize and comment on what a Writer is doing right in order for it to be constructive. My best teachers always included remarks either in the margins, or at the end of the papers I wrote to let me know where i was on the right track, or where I was off; it was never just about marking things wrong like punctuation with no feedback. I also saw passages underlined with the word "good" to show what impressed them.
The red pen is a lifeline for those who require guidance, so be a guide instead of an executioner. When a person puts their blood on paper, they deserve honesty in return; but you need not be cruel. Blood is also a sign of life and it is red. What would you like to see more/less of? What grabs you or makes you snore? Is the character compelling, and if not, what would make them so? Do you need more background or more explanation of a scene? Go ahead, leave your mark for the better. Let the ink flow!
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