I started at the top, with "Before Midnight" - a portion of which you can see here. It's five pages of exposition. Five and a half, really. Five pages of talking.
I was laughing, imagining what would happen if a forum member at Done Deal, or probably any forum, posted five pages of exposition in the Script Pages forum and how completely the default cadre of forum *experts* would eviscerate them.
Not as fast as I would, but, in fact, unless told beforehand someone nominated this for an Oscar, who wouldn't think it was crap if it came from an unknown?
The Value of Stranger Criticism
So is it worth anything to post pages for people to read? I think it is. But only if you can discern what is valuable and what is agenda. Only of you know the posters well enough to realize:
- Severus never encourages anyone because he's bitter about his own lack of success and if anyone shows a bit of talent he will crush them like an empty soda can.
- Draco is all about how cleverly he can eviscerate the poster and impress his fellow posters with his edgy razor-sharp "wit."
- Hermione wants to pontificate from the forum lectern and gain respect for her knowledge of writing because it's easier for than actually getting respect for what has been written.
There are more standard-issue critics on forums, of course, and it's important to recognize them and also find the value in what they are saying. And separate that from the personal bullshit they will sling along with it.
To do this, you need ego. You need to have some faith in yourself and your work. You need to realize if someone has written 2500 posts in a year, that's an entire book or two screenplays they did not write.
And just because other posters say, "Always listen to Professor Lockhart," doesn't mean a thing because they have 2500 posts a year, themselves.
Anyone, from the greenest newbie to the oldest veteran can give you some great advice or a fine insight. And any of them can be full of bubotuber pus.
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