lostladyknight
Pathologist
I actually found a way to finish my critique.... aren’t you proud of me guys?
My critique of week 9's pair by Bauerfreak:
TQ: I honestly try to write the same story from several different perspectives every time I write one. Even if it’s not actually on paper I look at every event or chapter and try to decide how each character would feel about that particular happening. I think it makes for a story where characters are all much more in character. I was taught in my experience with theatre that you can never go wrong by exploring the reactions of more characters than the one/ones involved. So... I guess that’s just the way I do things. Now, just because I write from all of the perspectives doesn’t mean that anyone is ever going to see any but the one I decide makes the best read... it’s my prerogative to show the readers whatever I want.
On the other hand I rarely even know what to expect when reading a story that offers more than one perspective. I mean if it’s not done in just such a manner I am frequently worried that I won’t like the story as much as I could have. I think that’s the whole problem because too frequently writers who tell the same story from two perspectives forget that they are the same story. Both perspectives make up all one story and they treat them as two separate stories. This can cause some very vast problems in the story, things can stop flowing or meshing in the way that they need to. Unfortunately, also, there can be problems with making the two sides too similar. Someone without a good grasp on characterization might make Nick and Warrick see the same situation in the exact same way... and that’s not very likely at ALL. You need to have a good counter balance of keeping the facts exactly the same and the perspectives as unalike as the characters themselves. So I guess it’s a much tougher feat than one would think to write more than one perspective, properly.
Critique: I’ve read these two stories before several months ago, I’d say probably when they were first published but I don’t really remember what I thought of them. So reading them again gave me the opportunity to reevaluate my perception. It’s not something we get the chance to do often or even take the time to do when we do have the chance. In the modern age our time is so frequently filled with other activities we don’t give any form of literature the time it deserves. So the opportunity to offer critique of these two stories is a rare and welcomed treat.
The first thing I noticed that I did like goes way back to the TQ. I loved that it was a two part story that showed the same general idea from to completely separate perspectives. It was just a lot of fun to watch the assent to being in love from both sides. Even in every day life we hardly ever understand courtship from the perspective of both persons involved. Not unless you’re a third party that’s close enough with both people to have those ever fun heart to hearts with both of them on a daily basis. So that made the reading experience all the more exciting.
I’ll note, just as everyone else did, that the only thing that really go to me was the characterization of Sara. I remember noticing that she just seemed to be a little too giggly to be in character. Then again, everyone else who has written a critique before me has said the same thing so there’s really not much use in me delving into that again. So... we’ll just go with the suggestion that you try to think about how a 30 something year old like Sara or like Nick would do things. Just ask yourself if the things they are saying are in character or... a little deviant.
The characterization didn’t take away from the story though. Not so much that I couldn’t really enjoy it. I must say that both parts were very funny, Sara’s a bit more so than Nick’s I think... but both were great. A lot of what made me laugh were the way the second part referenced back to the first part a lot. The bit with Nicky’s ugly shirt.... I laughed a little the first time through and a whole hell of a lot the second time. You do have a really great grasp of humor and that’s very hard to do with CSI fanficton.
Overall I think the two stories were great. Just paying a little more attention to characterization could all but fix any problems you had. It was a pleasure to read both stories again and I look forward to getting the chance to read more like them.
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CSI Critique Fanfiction #10: CSI: NY, Danny/OC, "Finding Time" by: Zelda49
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TQ: As a fanfiction reader how do you go about deciding which stories to read and which ones to ignore? Once you've finished reading how do you go about deciding which ones to review/favorite/alert or any combination there of?
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Isn’t this the longest post you’ve ever seen? But at least I’ve done the critiquing I have to. I won’t be a failure at life anymore. I’ve just been so busy... it’s insane.
Please keep in mind that critiques for this week's featured fic are due by Saturday. The new featured fic will be posted on Sunday, December 30th, 2007
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Critique for week 10:
TQ: The process of selecting a new fanfiction to read is inherently different from the process which I follow in deciding which new story ideas I should write. When deciding what to write I rely completely on myself and what stories I think just HAVE to be told. Reading is very different. Sometimes I want to read between a couple of characters in particular, like Warrick and Catherine, sometimes I’m looking for a really long, really complete story. Other times I might want to read a oneshot or two. And sometimes I realize that there isn’t much I have going on that I’m reading at the moment and I’d really like to get into a new story. That just narrows down the search criteria, but then there are a lot of other factors that come into play.
Good use of grammar/spelling in the summary and title of the story are a must. If the person can’t even take the time to see to it that the parts that publically advirtise the story are grammatically sound I can’t imagine what kinds of flaws they will have not-so-hidden away in their story. Summaries play another big role, if the story says something like “I know this sucks” or “this isn’t very good” I’m not going to bother with it. Why should I read a story that the author him or herself doesn’t even like?
Another thing that can make or break the story for me, before I even really start reading, can be the author’s notes. Long or short doesn’t bother me.... but if the author threatens to hold their story hostage until they get a certain number of reviews there’s no chance that I’m going to continue on with my reading. I have better things to do than read a story put out by some ass.
Lastly it’s all in the story itself. I really don’t enjoy reading stories where the writer obviously didn’t even take the time to run a spell checker over it. The better the grammar the easier it will be to keep me interested. Characterization is also a must. If the characters aren’t being like themselves you sure as hell better have me laughing or I’m probably going to walk away from your story and never come back. I’m a busy woman and I don’t have time for crummy stories.
Deciding which stories go on my favorites and alerts is another thing altogether. I’ll alert a story that I only kinda like if I’m curious to see how it ends. Favoriting however is only awarded to the stories that really blow me away, the ones that make me laugh and cry and smile. There are several that I’m reading right now that I enjoy but just aren’t good enough for the favorites list. As for reviews, I try to review every single chapter of every single story that I like. The ones I don’t like so much, however, tend to get skipped when the LLK review fairy comes to town.
Critique: This was the first CSI NY fanfiction I’ve ever read and thus I really didn’t know what to expect. It’s really great though and you’ve made me become a lot more interested in reading CSI NY fanfiction. I’ll probably spend a lot more time reading that genre now. So I guess that means you get credit for getting my interest.
I think what I liked most about this story was that it involved an OC. I’m just now experimenting with NY and am slowly deciding that I want to focus on the D/L relationship... but this gave me the idea that Danny could be with someone else. It kinda makes him more three dimensional to me. I mean most people have relationships, plural, as opposed to a single relationship. So even though Danny is the complete and only reason I enjoy NY I know I still have a lot to learn about him. I like that this story gave me the chance to think of him with more complexity than otherwise. Even though you invented Maddie she provided me, personally, with the opportunity to see him as more than just Danny from NY who’s in a relationship with that blonde girl.
I guess you could say that’s the only thing I really didn’t like, too. Maddie. I have a hard time accepting relationship between any characters in fanfiction if one or more of them have an ongoing canon relationship that doesn’t involve both parties. I’m completely anti-GSR and I still tend to write them because they are indeed canon. You can’t just ignore facts like that. But as I mentioned earlier that was also my favorite part about this story, it explores the world of what “might have been.” That’s a great thing sometimes. Besides I’m still a pretty new NY fan and this story was lower on your list of fics, perhaps you wrote this before they went canon? That would make it completely okay... either way, the story was great. Deviation from canon sometimes just... irks me.
The last episode of NY I watched was the new one when Danny’s little friend Julian died. It did something to me to make me have an even deeper bond with Danny and to care even more for him. That being said, it deeply wounded me. The episode as a whole, I mean. I was even more attracted to the “loves kids” side that we saw of Danny, but at the same time I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with this deep saddens. It was the brilliant performance by Carmine, I’m sure. But that leads directly into why I loved this story so much. It was absolutely uplifting to see a piece of fluffiness in Danny’s life. It reminded me that things are going to get better, in its therapeutic way. Again I understand that this story was written far before that episode aired... but it’s nice to read back over the “good” in a character’s life when we walk such a dark path with them.
Overall you made my first CSI NY fic reading experience a success. I guess I’ve read one once before, but that was as a beta and it’s two completely different things. When I’m critiquing I first read the story just to understand it, then go back over to find the points I like and dislike. This one, the first time through, was really fun. I don’t think there’s a better way to describe the experience. Thanks for writing it and for offering me my pick of stories to feature. I’ll admit that I didn’t read all you have to offer but I don’t think I could have found something I’d enjoy working with as much as this. Overall, awesome job.
My critique of week 9's pair by Bauerfreak:
TQ: I honestly try to write the same story from several different perspectives every time I write one. Even if it’s not actually on paper I look at every event or chapter and try to decide how each character would feel about that particular happening. I think it makes for a story where characters are all much more in character. I was taught in my experience with theatre that you can never go wrong by exploring the reactions of more characters than the one/ones involved. So... I guess that’s just the way I do things. Now, just because I write from all of the perspectives doesn’t mean that anyone is ever going to see any but the one I decide makes the best read... it’s my prerogative to show the readers whatever I want.
On the other hand I rarely even know what to expect when reading a story that offers more than one perspective. I mean if it’s not done in just such a manner I am frequently worried that I won’t like the story as much as I could have. I think that’s the whole problem because too frequently writers who tell the same story from two perspectives forget that they are the same story. Both perspectives make up all one story and they treat them as two separate stories. This can cause some very vast problems in the story, things can stop flowing or meshing in the way that they need to. Unfortunately, also, there can be problems with making the two sides too similar. Someone without a good grasp on characterization might make Nick and Warrick see the same situation in the exact same way... and that’s not very likely at ALL. You need to have a good counter balance of keeping the facts exactly the same and the perspectives as unalike as the characters themselves. So I guess it’s a much tougher feat than one would think to write more than one perspective, properly.
Critique: I’ve read these two stories before several months ago, I’d say probably when they were first published but I don’t really remember what I thought of them. So reading them again gave me the opportunity to reevaluate my perception. It’s not something we get the chance to do often or even take the time to do when we do have the chance. In the modern age our time is so frequently filled with other activities we don’t give any form of literature the time it deserves. So the opportunity to offer critique of these two stories is a rare and welcomed treat.
The first thing I noticed that I did like goes way back to the TQ. I loved that it was a two part story that showed the same general idea from to completely separate perspectives. It was just a lot of fun to watch the assent to being in love from both sides. Even in every day life we hardly ever understand courtship from the perspective of both persons involved. Not unless you’re a third party that’s close enough with both people to have those ever fun heart to hearts with both of them on a daily basis. So that made the reading experience all the more exciting.
I’ll note, just as everyone else did, that the only thing that really go to me was the characterization of Sara. I remember noticing that she just seemed to be a little too giggly to be in character. Then again, everyone else who has written a critique before me has said the same thing so there’s really not much use in me delving into that again. So... we’ll just go with the suggestion that you try to think about how a 30 something year old like Sara or like Nick would do things. Just ask yourself if the things they are saying are in character or... a little deviant.
The characterization didn’t take away from the story though. Not so much that I couldn’t really enjoy it. I must say that both parts were very funny, Sara’s a bit more so than Nick’s I think... but both were great. A lot of what made me laugh were the way the second part referenced back to the first part a lot. The bit with Nicky’s ugly shirt.... I laughed a little the first time through and a whole hell of a lot the second time. You do have a really great grasp of humor and that’s very hard to do with CSI fanficton.
Overall I think the two stories were great. Just paying a little more attention to characterization could all but fix any problems you had. It was a pleasure to read both stories again and I look forward to getting the chance to read more like them.
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
CSI Critique Fanfiction #10: CSI: NY, Danny/OC, "Finding Time" by: Zelda49
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
TQ: As a fanfiction reader how do you go about deciding which stories to read and which ones to ignore? Once you've finished reading how do you go about deciding which ones to review/favorite/alert or any combination there of?
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Isn’t this the longest post you’ve ever seen? But at least I’ve done the critiquing I have to. I won’t be a failure at life anymore. I’ve just been so busy... it’s insane.
Please keep in mind that critiques for this week's featured fic are due by Saturday. The new featured fic will be posted on Sunday, December 30th, 2007
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Critique for week 10:
TQ: The process of selecting a new fanfiction to read is inherently different from the process which I follow in deciding which new story ideas I should write. When deciding what to write I rely completely on myself and what stories I think just HAVE to be told. Reading is very different. Sometimes I want to read between a couple of characters in particular, like Warrick and Catherine, sometimes I’m looking for a really long, really complete story. Other times I might want to read a oneshot or two. And sometimes I realize that there isn’t much I have going on that I’m reading at the moment and I’d really like to get into a new story. That just narrows down the search criteria, but then there are a lot of other factors that come into play.
Good use of grammar/spelling in the summary and title of the story are a must. If the person can’t even take the time to see to it that the parts that publically advirtise the story are grammatically sound I can’t imagine what kinds of flaws they will have not-so-hidden away in their story. Summaries play another big role, if the story says something like “I know this sucks” or “this isn’t very good” I’m not going to bother with it. Why should I read a story that the author him or herself doesn’t even like?
Another thing that can make or break the story for me, before I even really start reading, can be the author’s notes. Long or short doesn’t bother me.... but if the author threatens to hold their story hostage until they get a certain number of reviews there’s no chance that I’m going to continue on with my reading. I have better things to do than read a story put out by some ass.
Lastly it’s all in the story itself. I really don’t enjoy reading stories where the writer obviously didn’t even take the time to run a spell checker over it. The better the grammar the easier it will be to keep me interested. Characterization is also a must. If the characters aren’t being like themselves you sure as hell better have me laughing or I’m probably going to walk away from your story and never come back. I’m a busy woman and I don’t have time for crummy stories.
Deciding which stories go on my favorites and alerts is another thing altogether. I’ll alert a story that I only kinda like if I’m curious to see how it ends. Favoriting however is only awarded to the stories that really blow me away, the ones that make me laugh and cry and smile. There are several that I’m reading right now that I enjoy but just aren’t good enough for the favorites list. As for reviews, I try to review every single chapter of every single story that I like. The ones I don’t like so much, however, tend to get skipped when the LLK review fairy comes to town.
Critique: This was the first CSI NY fanfiction I’ve ever read and thus I really didn’t know what to expect. It’s really great though and you’ve made me become a lot more interested in reading CSI NY fanfiction. I’ll probably spend a lot more time reading that genre now. So I guess that means you get credit for getting my interest.
I think what I liked most about this story was that it involved an OC. I’m just now experimenting with NY and am slowly deciding that I want to focus on the D/L relationship... but this gave me the idea that Danny could be with someone else. It kinda makes him more three dimensional to me. I mean most people have relationships, plural, as opposed to a single relationship. So even though Danny is the complete and only reason I enjoy NY I know I still have a lot to learn about him. I like that this story gave me the chance to think of him with more complexity than otherwise. Even though you invented Maddie she provided me, personally, with the opportunity to see him as more than just Danny from NY who’s in a relationship with that blonde girl.
I guess you could say that’s the only thing I really didn’t like, too. Maddie. I have a hard time accepting relationship between any characters in fanfiction if one or more of them have an ongoing canon relationship that doesn’t involve both parties. I’m completely anti-GSR and I still tend to write them because they are indeed canon. You can’t just ignore facts like that. But as I mentioned earlier that was also my favorite part about this story, it explores the world of what “might have been.” That’s a great thing sometimes. Besides I’m still a pretty new NY fan and this story was lower on your list of fics, perhaps you wrote this before they went canon? That would make it completely okay... either way, the story was great. Deviation from canon sometimes just... irks me.
The last episode of NY I watched was the new one when Danny’s little friend Julian died. It did something to me to make me have an even deeper bond with Danny and to care even more for him. That being said, it deeply wounded me. The episode as a whole, I mean. I was even more attracted to the “loves kids” side that we saw of Danny, but at the same time I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with this deep saddens. It was the brilliant performance by Carmine, I’m sure. But that leads directly into why I loved this story so much. It was absolutely uplifting to see a piece of fluffiness in Danny’s life. It reminded me that things are going to get better, in its therapeutic way. Again I understand that this story was written far before that episode aired... but it’s nice to read back over the “good” in a character’s life when we walk such a dark path with them.
Overall you made my first CSI NY fic reading experience a success. I guess I’ve read one once before, but that was as a beta and it’s two completely different things. When I’m critiquing I first read the story just to understand it, then go back over to find the points I like and dislike. This one, the first time through, was really fun. I don’t think there’s a better way to describe the experience. Thanks for writing it and for offering me my pick of stories to feature. I’ll admit that I didn’t read all you have to offer but I don’t think I could have found something I’d enjoy working with as much as this. Overall, awesome job.
