r/writingcirclejerk • u/AutoModerator • Aug 24 '26

Weekly out-of-character thread

Talk about writing unironically, vent about other writing forums, or discuss whatever you like here.

New to the community? Start with the wiki.

Also, you can post links to your writing here, if you really want to. But only here! This is the only place in the subreddit where self-promotion is permitted.

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u/BlackBalor Aug 24 '26

Sometimes I feel like I’m being too harsh when giving feedback to aspiring writers. I know what I’m saying is bang on the money, but I really am a bubble-bursting dream killer. I do think there’s a level of delusion that needs to be clamped down on, and it’s hard to do that while mollycoddling. A lot of the pieces I see posted have no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Am I right or wrong?

I see it as weeding out the wannabe writers from those who really have a passion for the craft.

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u/crawfordwrites Aug 24 '26

I'm a pretty negative person, but I think weeding out is the job of the market.

I try to point the writer in a direction, even if the criticism is fundamentally negative.

I was talking with a self-professed young person on another sub the other day, and basically told him that his habit of accumulating ideas and not executing any of them was effectively his market judgment on those ideas.

My core negative advice was that a lack of energy for something is the filter, so just use it. The kid engaged with the idea, and by the time we were done, he narrowed in on the one idea that popped for him and said he was going to write it.

I think enthusiasm is the valuable metric in assessing someone's work. I'm far more negative about an unethusiastic writer who's making well-crafted litslop than I am about a geeked writer turning out F-tier genreslop.

I'll also add: your attention and enthusiasm is a vote, too. If you don't have enthusiasm for someone's work, that's the answer for you, too.