On Concrit

I’ve had a pretty average day so far. Not much happened. I got up ten minutes later than usual because I had a late start this morning. The first thing I did was grab my journal to write my one page every morning. I wrote some pretty funny typos, or rather ‘writos’. One of them went ‘I have thrown off the covers of speech’ when I meant ‘I have thrown off the covers of sleep.’ That in itself might not be that weird, but for someone who’s studying to become a speech and language pathologist, it’s ironic, in a way.

This morning, I became engrossed in leaving constructive criticism, or ‘concrit’ for not-so-good writers on Fanfiction.net. It’s become a hobby of mine lately, since I really have no life. My best friends have both gone to other cities, and one of them has now become a study freak, so she never really talks to me even when we’re both online. I feel that we’ve grown apart. Before they left, I made a joint blog for the three of us. Come to think of it, I haven’t visited that blog for a long long time. Not that there’s much to tell.

Last time we had a reunion, T (my hardworking friend) and I didn’t really have anything to talk about. We talked about our parents, the different activities that we’ve been doing, her break up with her boyfriend, but we didn’t really have any deep conversations like we used to when we’d been in high school together.

So far, I haven’t managed to meet people with whom I could have nice long philosophical discussions. It might be because I’m shy. I’m working on it; trying to speak up when there is a need to. I find writing so much easier, and my internet alter-ego seems so much more interesting than my timid real self. I’m trying to download the alter-ego off the net and into real life. It’s not easy, but I have to try and pretend I’m on the net and being witty when in real life situations. I’ve improved somewhat but there’s still a long way to go.

People have started to notice that I’m one of those people who have chronic-reviewing syndrome (i.e. I review almost everything that I can bear to read). Certainly my reviews have become longer. Some of  them sound quite bitchy mean, but I try my best to leave something which authors can work with and improve their stories. Mostly I point out plotholes and inconsistencies, and problems with characterization. It’s understandable that girls would want their main characters to be female, but sometimes, those characters are just too over the top. Perfect hair, eyes, fiery personality, perfect figure, always falls in love with the author’s favourite male character etc. And I don’t know what it is with teenage girls and romance. Guys don’t have these delusions (or do they?). My only romance stories which I haven’t absolutely hated are all written from the point of view of the guy.

Reviewing stuff is pretty fun, especially if there’s room to be sarcastic. I’m big on sarcasm. It’s one of the things I try to emphasize in my creative writing.