How to properly Evaluate a story.
Dec 3, 2022 18:10:49 GMT -5
Post by Radrook Admin on Dec 3, 2022 18:10:49 GMT -5
How to properly Evaluate a story
The proper evaluation of a story isn't just dependent on arbitrary opinion or how we feel about the subject personally. The proper evaluation requires that we be objective and judge it by criteria that has absolutely nothing to do with how we personally feel.
For example, I might not like a story because it doesn't have a happy ending. But classifying it as mediocre or poor based on that alone, is unjustifiable. Instead, each story must be judged by many factors unrelated to our personal preferences, such as its purpose, its imagery, its descriptive accuracy of realities, its grammar, its sentence variety, its choice of words. etc.
For example, I might not like a story because it doesn't have a happy ending. But classifying it as mediocre or poor based on that alone, is unjustifiable. Instead, each story must be judged by many factors unrelated to our personal preferences, such as its purpose, its imagery, its descriptive accuracy of realities, its grammar, its sentence variety, its choice of words. etc.
Its Purpose
Each story has a purpose or goal and that's why we categorize them under different genres such as comedy, horror, Sci fi, fantasy, Romance. Here are a few examples and how we can use the category to evaluate a story.
Comedy
Was the story intended to be comical? Did it use proper methods that make most people laugh? Or did it employ certain attempts at eliciting laughter that are generally considered inappropriate and provoke horror instead? If indeed it provoked other emotions other than humor, then it obviously failed in its effort.
Adventure
The same principle applies to adventure. If the story is intended to exhilarate the reader by providing adventure, and only manages to present people engaged in boring conversations, for most of the time, then once again how can it be classified as a good story since it failed in its prime objective? Because it has a happy ending?
Horror
Was the story under the strict horror category but made you laugh instead? Is the story trying to elicit anger, admiration, yearning, determination to reach a social goal, to encourage these emotions but doesn't.
Once again if it does not, then it has failed.
Grammar and Punctuation
Then there is grammar and punctuation. Yes, grammar does count because without it, what the writer saying might become extremely difficult to understand. Ever read a story that has run-on sentences without periods or any other capitalization, and absolutely no paragraphing? Just one big undifferentiated mass of text, perhaps several thousand words long, staring back at you?
Should we as readers be expected to go through the arduous task of trying to figure out what the hell the author is talking about? Does such story legitimately deserve the "Awesome" five-star, or the "Great" four-star vote?
Sure, we might admire what the author is trying to convey. But does the author really deserve to be commended with the "Job well done!" or be encouraged after presenting such a visual disaster? Are we not doing him more harm than good by encouraging him to continue along those lines only to have his manuscripts tossed immediately in the rejection-bin after just one glance from a publishing-house editor?
Should we as readers be expected to go through the arduous task of trying to figure out what the hell the author is talking about? Does such story legitimately deserve the "Awesome" five-star, or the "Great" four-star vote?
Sure, we might admire what the author is trying to convey. But does the author really deserve to be commended with the "Job well done!" or be encouraged after presenting such a visual disaster? Are we not doing him more harm than good by encouraging him to continue along those lines only to have his manuscripts tossed immediately in the rejection-bin after just one glance from a publishing-house editor?
Lack of Imagery
Imagery is the written description of taste, odor, color, sound, form and texture and its deficiency is yet another serious flaw that should disqualify a story from being considered great or awesome. You see, readers are blind to what writers are visualizing as they write.. So they depend on the writers to lead them the by the hand via providing the essential details necessary for visualization.
For example, consider the word "dog". What kind of a dog should the reader see? A Pitt Bull? A Chihuahua? Or the word "girl":: What kind of girl? Blonde? Brunette? Chubby? What specific age? House? What kind of house? A row- house? A mansion? Man? What kind of man? Old? Bearded? Swarthy? White? Round- faced? Chiseled features? European features? Speaks how? With a deep voice? High pitched voice? Eyes? Brooding? Threatening? Friendly? Green? Brown? Blue?
For example, consider the word "dog". What kind of a dog should the reader see? A Pitt Bull? A Chihuahua? Or the word "girl":: What kind of girl? Blonde? Brunette? Chubby? What specific age? House? What kind of house? A row- house? A mansion? Man? What kind of man? Old? Bearded? Swarthy? White? Round- faced? Chiseled features? European features? Speaks how? With a deep voice? High pitched voice? Eyes? Brooding? Threatening? Friendly? Green? Brown? Blue?
Yet, despite the obvious importance of describing things for readers, we have short stories which provide no imagery at all. Instead, the writer casually refers to people by first names, such as Joe, Bill, Harry, Susan, which convey NOTHING, and so the reader sees nothing.
Please note that a Bill or Harry can be a child, an adult, an old man. They can be of any race, black, white, East Asian. etc. They can be fat, slim, skinny, tall, short. Their hair might be red, black, brown straight, curly, kinky, wavy. As readers we simply do not know. Neither do we appreciate such essential details being revealed suddenly almost at the end of a story. It comes as a sudden. jolting shock which mercilessly forces a readers to discard their own ideas of what the boy or group of boys, the house, the geographical or the locations specifically looked like. So these details are best revealed at the outset.
In short, leaving details up to each reader is not characteristic of Awesome or Great writing regardless of whether the story-endings might be a happy ones.
Please note that a Bill or Harry can be a child, an adult, an old man. They can be of any race, black, white, East Asian. etc. They can be fat, slim, skinny, tall, short. Their hair might be red, black, brown straight, curly, kinky, wavy. As readers we simply do not know. Neither do we appreciate such essential details being revealed suddenly almost at the end of a story. It comes as a sudden. jolting shock which mercilessly forces a readers to discard their own ideas of what the boy or group of boys, the house, the geographical or the locations specifically looked like. So these details are best revealed at the outset.
In short, leaving details up to each reader is not characteristic of Awesome or Great writing regardless of whether the story-endings might be a happy ones.