Maybe it would help if you friended this account? It's not actually my dreamwidth account that I'm using here, it's a livejournal open id account that's linked to my DW account, so I don't think LJ knows anything about DW friending.
Oh, true, it's always up to the person who actually wrote the piece what they want to do. All someone giving critique has to offer is opinions...but I think I may be more sensitive about awkward, and especially the kind of awkward that might lead to misreading -- it's something I always try to pay attention to because I think I'm prone to making mistakes in that direction.
But I suppose there's often a tradeoff between accessible and...complicated? Between always being understood by anyone who might read it, and doing something that might not be quite as easy to understand on the first pass. Sometimes something's more geared toward being complicated for the fun of it, the fun of figuring it all out...like the kind of science fiction where they drop you head first into a complicated alien culture. I don't really understand how to write that kind of thing and get it just complicated enough, but I love reading complicated things sometimes.
Hmm, I'd probably accept the engine being a who due to the engine being completely anthromorphized anyway, and the man that married my daughter sounds okay to me, though I think I'd prefer who. I wonder if it's regional or something. The only thing like that that drives me nuts is when someone says something like "Microsoft are..." and my brain just screams even though I know it's proper usage in the UK and possibly other places as well.
And reading aloud seems like such an awkward idea to me, but maybe I would feel differently if it were not late at night and silence all around. I probably ought to try it all the same, because of the slowing down effect, and also because I've heard that actually saying things out loud sends them through a different part of the brain, and that makes it easier to catch things too.
no subject
Oh, true, it's always up to the person who actually wrote the piece what they want to do. All someone giving critique has to offer is opinions...but I think I may be more sensitive about awkward, and especially the kind of awkward that might lead to misreading -- it's something I always try to pay attention to because I think I'm prone to making mistakes in that direction.
But I suppose there's often a tradeoff between accessible and...complicated? Between always being understood by anyone who might read it, and doing something that might not be quite as easy to understand on the first pass. Sometimes something's more geared toward being complicated for the fun of it, the fun of figuring it all out...like the kind of science fiction where they drop you head first into a complicated alien culture. I don't really understand how to write that kind of thing and get it just complicated enough, but I love reading complicated things sometimes.
Hmm, I'd probably accept the engine being a who due to the engine being completely anthromorphized anyway, and the man that married my daughter sounds okay to me, though I think I'd prefer who. I wonder if it's regional or something. The only thing like that that drives me nuts is when someone says something like "Microsoft are..." and my brain just screams even though I know it's proper usage in the UK and possibly other places as well.
And reading aloud seems like such an awkward idea to me, but maybe I would feel differently if it were not late at night and silence all around. I probably ought to try it all the same, because of the slowing down effect, and also because I've heard that actually saying things out loud sends them through a different part of the brain, and that makes it easier to catch things too.