Are You a Writer Reader or a Reader Writer?
As writers – do we read things differently than most people? Or is it the other way around – as readers we write differently?
Today I read an article of my friend momofplenty. She wanted to know if we – the Triond writers community, will let someone know if he is writing junk. My answer is – of course! When I ran into an article of pure junk I do two things:
- I flag it (I want to improve Triond SEO).
- I PM the writer and tell him to at least try next time.
There are several occasions where I ran into articles with great potential, yet many mistakes. In this case I will only PM the writer about those mistakes, since I know he tried. And since I am not such a great writer myself (let’s be honest here) I am the last one to be able to judge.
On the other hand, if the mistakes are SEO mistakes, I will usually write them in a comment, since it is not embarrassing to do such mistakes and I would like to hope that others that read this comment will learn from it as well.
However, what bothers me most in momofplenty’s article was her claim that no one even informed her about mistakes she made. That made me wonder – why? If I noticed those mistakes why did I not tell her about them? The answer is – I did not notice!
I consider myself as a very critical reader. When I read my own work, I always have comments and things I am not happy with. The same goes when I read documentations and project papers at work, or helping someone writing a project / work for school / university. I can drive people to insanity with how critical I am. However, when I read things for fun or knowledge, like books or Triond articles – I am not looking at them the same. I just read, and enjoy the reading.
Therefore, I guess that I am both a writer and a reader. When it is a paper I write or a very important paper that I must give my opinion on – I am first a writer – I look at each small detail and try to make sure I catch every mistake. However, when the future of the paper is not in my hand, and I do not have to help people with its quality, I allow myself to just read and enjoy the content. And if the content is interesting enough and the mistakes are not too bad, I probably will not notice them.
About the second direction: I honestly believe that people who read a lot tend to write better and more interesting articles than people that do not read. As evidence I will state that most of the writers I admire (book writers, journalists, and even Online writers) keep mentioning how they enjoy reading.
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Tags: critical reading, reader, reader. writer, triond, writer, writer reading, you reader
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May 31st, 2012 at 4:18 pm
Wow, I love it when i am inspiring to others, if even for a moment. This is very good.
May 31st, 2012 at 4:20 pm
Great article and yes, Momofplenty certainly did start some new inspiration! : D
May 31st, 2012 at 4:47 pm
I love momofplenty articles! Great writing on this article, too!
May 31st, 2012 at 5:05 pm
I’ve always said or written that a writer has to be a better reader (see some of my articles in writing) If I read an article, which according to my knowledge isn’t well written, I will let the writer to know it, pondering my words, of course. But I’ll never flag any article considering it rubbish. Nobody is entitled to do this and it corresponds to Triond to decide which ones are to go and which ones are to stay. This is in my opinion taking on liberties on someone’s work. I hope I haven’t offended you, but this is the way I think and act. thanks for sharing!
May 31st, 2012 at 5:27 pm
Reading is what many people could not do anymore these days. What happens much of the time is just browsing or scanning over the articles. I try to read the articles here before I drop my comments. And yes, I agree that people who read more write better than those who don’t.
May 31st, 2012 at 7:18 pm
You have opened up a very good debate and I thank you for it. I do agree that when one reads a lot they do write better. I am the first person to admit my grammar is not the best it never has been. When I write I tend to write it as it comes out and that includes spelling mistakes, typos and every thing else. Once finished I will then go back over the article and correct where necessary. This does not always work and sometimes grammatical errors do slip through. One thing I do love though is good constructive criticism. Great article and look forward to the next one.
Best Wishes
stevetheblogger
May 31st, 2012 at 9:03 pm
Good points. I tend to be critical in my reading–it’s the English teacher in me. Also, I had great teachers who were critical enough to make me think about what I wrote.
May 31st, 2012 at 9:54 pm
Very well written. I am less critical, but I am trying to critic well
May 31st, 2012 at 10:51 pm
Good points and thanks for writing we have to be honest when we comments on others posts because we are here because of our readers we write for our readers so they have to be honest .
Thanks
June 1st, 2012 at 4:18 am
I like it good one
June 1st, 2012 at 6:28 am
Wow
June 1st, 2012 at 6:29 am
I like it great share
June 1st, 2012 at 7:45 am
I’ve never thought about this before, it really got me thinking. I suppose I’m a reader writer as reading was why I wanted to write. if that makes sense.
June 1st, 2012 at 8:01 am
Nice share…
June 1st, 2012 at 9:10 am
This a really important point you highlighted here.. thanks..
June 1st, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Indeed those who read a lot have a more ‘well trained’ imagination which is very crucial in writing. Well stated lxodoi ^_^
June 1st, 2012 at 8:19 pm
thanks for share…
June 3rd, 2012 at 11:18 pm
Nice one. I usually try to not notice mistakes.
June 4th, 2012 at 11:15 pm
I’m not a perfectionist so it’s ok. As an aspiring teacher, I know to myself that some of my students are more intelligent than I am and so I am always willing to learn new things. I have also read the article of momofplenty. Good thing she made that and you made this. Haha! thanks!
June 5th, 2012 at 9:28 am
great article… it was superb… awesome…
hope to read more articles from you in the future and hope you view my articles too and comment in it,
regards,
Mr Arrogant
You may also read my article :
Naked Zombie Attack in Miama High on Bath Salts – http://trifter.com/europe/united-kingdom/naked-zombie-attack-in-miama-high-on-bath-salts/
June 5th, 2012 at 10:00 am
writer-reader, reader-writer, I believe we can be only one thing at a time!
July 29th, 2012 at 4:45 pm
It is best to inform writer’s about their mistakes privately. We all make mistakes and need to be corrected.