Writing Tips and Reviews

The Difference Between Beginners and Experienced Creators

There's a big difference between these two, from lack of skills and knowledge of how something works, to the execution of their work. While beginners makes many mistakes, there are some things we should and shouldn't criticize them on.

Mary Sue:

If you see a Mary Sue, criticize the hell out of it. There's no learning if they don't know what they're doing wrong. Experienced creators rarely make Mary Sues, and if they do, it's most likely to make fun of the character type. Beginners sometimes start with Mary Sues, it's easy to make, but not good. As you may know, I don't like Mary Sues and I don't like when beginners don't do anything to fix the Mary Sue. And I'm pretty sure no else likes Mary Sues except for Mary Sue creators.

It Looks Like Someone's Character/Story:

If you see this from a beginner, don't panic, unless you see they're stealing. Stealing and inspiration are much different and beginners may not know how to really twist an idea to make it their own. That's inspiration for you. But don't say they're stealing unless they actually are. A character whose design looks similar to another may change completely in the final. It's things like changing the color and calling it your own, or literally copying and pasting scenes from someone else's work then calling it your own, that is illegal.

As long as they're not selling their work and doing it for fun, changing colors, and heavy referencing may be okay. I'm not an art politics professional.

In stories, it'd be if you read two stories and the only difference is the names. That's illegal in every way, it's called plagiarism. Which I've seen before and it's not funny when it happens to you. Why do you think I have an entire journal on DA of proof I made my work? Cause of a little kid stealing my stuff.

You can't force someone to change it or guilt trip them. It happens naturally. Over time people become more accustomed to their own style. On the outside you would be able to tell what is inspired by, but when told, you can immediately point it out. Is this a bad thing? If you say yes, go sit in the corner. We live a world where nothing is "purely original", every creator learns from someone else then goes off and does their own thing.

Also art style theft doesn't exist.

Simple Story and Characters:

You need to back off if you have problems with a new creator doing this. They're new at this, they're not going to know the complicated system of a four page outline with little details in each section and a full character arc for the main characters. If it's not badly written let them pass, but if it's bad writing tell them how to fix it.

Criticism:

This is based on personality a bit more than it is experience. A new creator can take criticism while an experienced one can't, it's pretty random when it comes to people. But one thing is for sure, a new writer definitely needs it more than an experienced one. Mainly because NEW creators don't have EXPERIENCE. But it doesn't mean experienced creators are off the hook, they can still make mistakes and need help.

Take it from me, I still need help and I've been doing this for years.

If the creator makes any form of excuse or insults you when you criticize their work. They're not worth it.

Adding too much/not knowing what to do with it:

I've seen bad writing. For instance, an immortal and invincible character who can create anything to "kill everything", who constant brags about themselves, starts shit then plays pity party, says things like "my soul is shattered" and "my mind is broken" without a clue of what those mean, and lastly, adding things to make it "cool". New creators can do this, and it's bad. Call them out. Less is more. You know that saying? I would have just picked one or two of these and made them into a character, all at one is Mary Sue and really bad writing. I mean really bad. Never do those. Unless it's a joke to make fun of the trope then go for it.

"For some reason":

I hate this. When I reviewed a character a while ago, this was literally in the information. It was "and she was immortal and invincible for some reason". GREAT. Unless you're building up to something and will eventually give an answer, don't use this. Never giving an answer is cheep.

But what if they suck and they aren't new?

Well... then they just suck. There's nothing you can do about someone who's been writing for a long time who still sucks at writing. It means they haven't taken any criticism or tried to improve in the slightest. The best option is to say "screw this" and go read someone else's work. 

Conclusion:

There's a big difference, mainly in how a story is constructed. New creators don't know how to do it well so need help, and don't get on their ass if something resembles another too much. They'll fix it later. If an experienced, wait "experienced", creator did this, then we'd have a problem. Since they should have enough experience to be able to put their own twist on something enough to make it different.

I'd say experience comes with practice and the more you practice you have the better you get. So, don't judge just with years, because trust me, I know two people who have had at least two years in writing and still suck ass at it. Sure it's not much, but I should at least see some improvement. Like not making a Mary Sue who kills people but is the victim because reasons, or stealing someone else's work for attention.