Yes it's stuff like pacing which is a bit harder to judge and explain (as opposed to grammar etc) which I struggle with, looking out for my reactions to each bit is a good tip.
Doing the drabble challenge on the drarry discord has made me practice my cutting skills a bit - it's hard to hit a specific word count - but I really like the sound of your exercise. It sounds painful in a good way! I know I use 'just' and filler words like 'looked' and 'started to' too much so I'm going to make a note to do a read through where I just focus on finding those words.
I totally agree on reading being so important for writing well. I've been trying to do something similar to what you describe when reading some of my favourite fics, and I've taken away a few things which I'm already trying to put into practice. I'm definitely going to set aside some time to really deconstruct some of my favourite writing though now, and really think about how they make the story work - this will be so helpful when I start to write my longer, more plotty fic.
(Also I'm seeing a lot about Captive Prince everywhere, sounds like I might need to get myself a copy!)
I'm definitely seeing the value of a good beta - recently I've had a couple (including Chris, Grace and Marina) who have really helped a lot, their comments have been really insightful and definitely made the fic a lot better. I've also been trying to up my beta game too (in cases where it's appreciated) to offer concrit that goes beyond just spag, and it's helping me think about how I might approach editing my writing in the same way. The more you think about things like this the more you realise how valuable a really good writer-beta relationship is!
I think it was you actually who reblogged something a few days ago about your writing only being as good as your beta, and people only being able to beta as well as they write (or something along those lines, I can't remember the exact wording), and that is part of what made me start thinking about this, I thought it was a really insightful comment that echoed a lot of what I'd been experiencing but hadn't been able to put into words.
no subject
Doing the drabble challenge on the drarry discord has made me practice my cutting skills a bit - it's hard to hit a specific word count - but I really like the sound of your exercise. It sounds painful in a good way! I know I use 'just' and filler words like 'looked' and 'started to' too much so I'm going to make a note to do a read through where I just focus on finding those words.
I totally agree on reading being so important for writing well. I've been trying to do something similar to what you describe when reading some of my favourite fics, and I've taken away a few things which I'm already trying to put into practice. I'm definitely going to set aside some time to really deconstruct some of my favourite writing though now, and really think about how they make the story work - this will be so helpful when I start to write my longer, more plotty fic.
(Also I'm seeing a lot about Captive Prince everywhere, sounds like I might need to get myself a copy!)
I'm definitely seeing the value of a good beta - recently I've had a couple (including Chris, Grace and Marina) who have really helped a lot, their comments have been really insightful and definitely made the fic a lot better. I've also been trying to up my beta game too (in cases where it's appreciated) to offer concrit that goes beyond just spag, and it's helping me think about how I might approach editing my writing in the same way. The more you think about things like this the more you realise how valuable a really good writer-beta relationship is!
I think it was you actually who reblogged something a few days ago about your writing only being as good as your beta, and people only being able to beta as well as they write (or something along those lines, I can't remember the exact wording), and that is part of what made me start thinking about this, I thought it was a really insightful comment that echoed a lot of what I'd been experiencing but hadn't been able to put into words.