[ SECRET POST #2937 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2937 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.














Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 056 secrets from Secret Submission Post #420.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Some people like the idea that their work has undergone tough scrutiny by a beta, but in reality most people cannot take that level of concrit. It's a problem I've run into many times when people assure me that oh yes, they want me to run their fic through the gauntlet, no holding back! So I take their word for it and do a thorough job and they get all upset because deep down, they didn't expect me to find anything wrong.

It's a puzzling facet of human behavior, but it happens so often.

[(Anonymous)]

You can intellectually know there are going to be problems with your fic, yet emotionally not be ready to have them pointed out.

I think part of it is that it can take so goddamn long to write a fic. It becomes very personal. And the mistakes the beta highlights are never the ones you expected.

I have to struggle with my emotions every time I get a beta, but it's worth it in the long run.

I've never had anyone get aggressive with me after I betaed for them, thank goodness. But many fic authors have just politely disappeared and dropped their fics, even though I tried hard to say at least as many nice things in my betas as the mistakes I pointed out. Especially the ones I suspected were quite young. They get discouraged easily. The more experienced writers are better at saying to my face "I've decided not to get any betas any more, it spoils my fandom fun" which is fine.

But then, yeah. A couple of years later and their writing has sadly stagnated.

[(Anonymous)]

I have only beta'd twice.

The first time the person had so many factual things wrong that were easily googleable, plus a lot of grammar errors. I tried to be as nice as possible, but I don't think it helped as they weren't happy and when they published their story, they credited a different beta. I didn't actually end up reading the story as published, but I'm guessing they didn't bother to change any of the errors that were in there.

The second time the person had many errors as well and the ending was completely impossible. I suggested some ways to fix it to make it possible, but I don't think they cared for it, and I never saw it published.

And then I gave up. Because it was no fun doing all of the writing corrections and research for these stories only to have the people not want to hear it. Let them have their cheerleaders and I'll likely backspace out of their fics for being awful if I actually see them "published".

[(Anonymous)]

Not crediting you was rude. I always credit, even if I don't agree with a beta. I just don't work with that beta again.

Two bad experiences in a row is definitely no fun.

[(Anonymous)]

Ugh, that sounds like a nightmare, tbh. Some writers aren't really interested in realistic plots or accuracy and they get offended when other people notice the enormous plot holes. I have no idea why they bother writing in the first place. Even if you're just doing it for fun, asking for a beta and then going off in a huff when the beta does their job is ridiculous.

[(Anonymous)]

Recently, a friend of mine asked me to edit an original novel they were trying to get published. It was only a friendly "if you have the time" sort of agreement, but I realized pretty early on that there were a lot of issues that needed addressing in the book.

A lot of these issues were prevalent throughout the manuscript, so I thought at least if I pointed those things out early on, they could work on those problems while I went through and did a deeper edit.

A couple of months later I get told they've decided to publish it already, despite my only being about halfway through with the edits. I was a little surprised, but pleased for them, and figured that they must have submitted a version of the manuscript with the basic errors at least fixed up.

Turns out? No. All the problems I'd highlighted in the very first chapter were still there, despite a supposed "professional" edit (that's one publisher I won't be touching with a ten foot pole, let me tell you). One glaring factual error in the first chapter also remained. I didn't read much past that.

The worst part is that when I see this book getting reviews, readers are highly critical of the very things I'd told my friend to change, precisely because I KNEW readers would pick up on them and get irritated. I don't know whether to feel a very petty sense of satisfaction that I was right, or embarrassed and upset that something that had such potential is getting bad criticism now for things that I -and really, any half-decent beta would have- pointed out at the very beginning.

[(Anonymous)]

Professional editing is so often crazily expensive (I'm assuming your friend was vanity publishing). This story does not inspire confidence in any way. A lot of vanity press publishers insist you also take on their in-house editors. It sounds like a con, going by this story.

I wonder if the publishers were the ones who pushed your friend to publish quickly, just to get their hands on her money. And of course, she can always write another book and publish with them again, if she wasn't happy with the first...

Yes, ten foot pole.