Comments on: what age would you think this writer is ?

By: ZEARUM PARTY!

ZEARUM PARTY! — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:09:29 +0000

12 year old girl. Forks, Washington? Come on, that’s where twilight takes place.

A few tips:

Don’t describe exactly how someone says something for every piece of dialogue. It distracts you from the story, I don’t know why teachers teach you to do that (its what they taught me) but it’s not good writing. For most cases you can tell from context how they said it and putting (insert character here) said will do (or just “quotations”).

Don’t overdescribe the scene or backstory (again, something teachers encourage for some odd reason). Too much description is as bad as too little. Only include details that are absolutely neccesary and relevant to the story. Honestly I only read a “paragraph” (really several, you need to change paragraphs when the subject changes) because it was too boring.
Ex: “Swiftly, I grabbed my green shoulder bag and dusty, old suitcase. I sprinted down the stairs and out the door.” Is it really relevant the color or age of the suitcases? Also, you can skip running down stairs and opening doors, readers can figure out the in between stuff.

Don’t copy from twilight, in order to write better you have to develop your own style, not someone elses. If you read a bunch of books you’ll find twilight really isn’t that good. Don’t just read what all the kids are reading, read classics, books you’ve heard of. They got that way because they are good.

Sorry if I sound really…negative. I mean you could be really good, if you just keep practicing, and find somewhere to write and be critiqued (it’s hard to judge your own writing, you’ll always think it’s good) and develop your own style. Yahoo Answers isn’t really designed for this kind of thing.

I write every day and online people assume I’m much older because I write so well, but really I’m only 15.

By: blackcat

blackcat — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:36:32 +0000

Uhg. The person who wrote this is obviously young. I couldn’t even get through it with the slaughter of punctuation. The transitioning was a mess; the first paragraph should be split into a few paragraphs because of the change of subject.

It mimics Twilight, so there’s no imagination. The thing I’ve noticed in regards to young writers is that they tend to mimic the style of their favorite books, in this case it’s Twilight, and by mimicking they include all the horrible things about it.

The fact that this person is writing Twilight fanfic indicates that this person is 1) young, and 2) a girl.

Adults would not make this many grammar and punctuation mistakes in their writing unless they: didn’t learn much in school; forgot what they learned in school because it’s been so long; or they didn’t proofread.

Since this could be much worse I would say this person is middle teens maybe 14-15. Someone who’s at least a junior in high school will write better than this if they’re being taught well.

Keep in mind that all of this is ignoring the lack of defined paragraphs breaks because I know you’re just trying to save space. (Hey, I’ve written very long posts, so I’m familiar with this tactic and it’s not held against you.) This is just my opinion.

By: SARA smiles.

SARA smiles. — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:50:32 +0000

12-15, maybe.

By: gigijeri

gigijeri — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:45:52 +0000

i would say 20 or so because of the circumstances and time frames of the situations in the story. who said this was a pro want to be writer?

By: Write_in_Ink

Write_in_Ink — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:11:38 +0000

I’m going to sound a little harsh, but honest. It sounds like it popped straight out of a Twilight book, without good grammar or spelling, or paragraphs. I don’t think you’re even in high school yet. Get a friend to edit your work, someone you trust with your stories. Honestly, I think you could do better than this, so try harder. Don’t take this in the wrong way, you have potential, but Twilight fan fictions, and Twilight copies have been overdone, come up with a plot yourself

By: mercvirgo

mercvirgo — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:58:55 +0000

High school, because of the self concerns, judgements, and exaggerations. Some adults are immature and have no writing skill, so there is no way of really knowing the writers age. If you are an adult then you nailed this as a young teenager. The grammer is terrible.
Check these sentences:
Then, too soon, there it was, the house. It hit my like a ton of bricks when I saw it, memories raged in my mind but still I was shocked because it was different it was painted black and white with bright flowers in the garden and even a new mailbox- shiny and red of course.
It became the words of a child with really bad grammar. Sorry.

By: humpty dumpty

humpty dumpty — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:27:07 +0000

I have read a LOT. I would say you are 13 or 14, but very talented. Let me give you just a tiny couple of constructive criticisms. Use paragraphs. Also watch out for using the same phrase too many times close together. Now please don’t be discouraged I am speaking to you as I would to an adult. You are talented, you can get your thoughts down and you can make a narrative. That is a lot going on for you. I didn’t pull punches is all because you do have ability. Constructive criticism is your best friend.

By: ì•Œí•„ìš”ì—†ì

ì•Œí•„ìš”ì—†ì — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:22:15 +0000

12~14 years old. if a 18+ years old did this it’s not perfect.

By: Arckaive

Arckaive — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:54:22 +0000

Oh, a teen probably. I couldn’t really see this being written by someone much past their early 20′s at the most. It’s rather purple writing, reminiscent of a certain trashy teen romance sensation that I don’t care to name, and the subject matter isn’t all that interesting to anyone not in a similar position. There aren’t any real undertones or implicit messages and there isn’t a hook or any point of interest to keep the reader interested. To be honest, I would get very bored and quit reading probably a paragraph into it if I weren’t doing it to judge something. Also, the aforementioned trashy teen romance sensation seems to have influenced everyone to believe the stereotype that Washington is always clouded and miserable, which annoys someone like myself who lives in a very similar climate on the water. And this is coming from someone who suffered through Anne Rice, truly.

Sorry to be harsh, but I find that honesty is a good policy on this site.

By: KK [just is]

KK [just is] — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:21:35 +0000

Lack of proper grammar, paragraphs, and style, well, I’d say this is a young writer with limited or no experience.

At the youngest, 13. Oldest, 15.