[ SECRET POST #2420 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2420 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 064 secrets from Secret Submission Post #346.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

NS, NF, etc.

[ 1 - too big ]

[(Anonymous)]

Don't beta this one. It sounds like she wasn't even grateful, and you're not getting paid for this.

Ignoring most beta-reader input is probably the reason she can't find a consistent beta in the first place.

[punkpinkpower]

+1

You have better things to do with your time Anon.

[silverr]

MTE

Just say, "Sorry, I don't have the time," ... or "Sorry, but as you didn't use any of my input from last time clearly we're on different wavelengths. From now on it'd be better if you worked with a beta who's more in tune with you."

+1

[(Anonymous)]

"Sorry, but as you didn't use any of my input from last time clearly we're on different wavelengths. From now on it'd be better if you worked with a beta who's more in tune with you."

I think that's perfect.

[meredith44]

"Sorry, but as you didn't use any of my input from last time clearly we're on different wavelengths. From now on it'd be better if you worked with a beta who's more in tune with you."

I think that sounds good.

No matter what, though, OP, I totally wouldn't beta for her again. That sounds so frustrating!

[(Anonymous)]

Agreed. Why do all that work for her to just ignore it?

[(Anonymous)]

Ditto on this. I once had a friend who begged me to beta her (horrible, clichéd, self-insert mary sue) fic and then proceeded to either fight me or ignore me on almost every point. And I only touched the SPaG errors - I did nothing about the content itself.

Suffice to say, when she sent me the next chapter, I conveniently "forgot" about it.

I really don't know why people ask for betas if they think that they're right anyway. I have my partner beta my stuff because I know he knows more than I do, and he'll often catch stuff I don't. I wouldn't ask for a beta whose input I didn't respect :/

[(Anonymous)]

I had a friend like that, but I didn't limit it to SPaG errors. I was really gentle about everything but they were so butthurt that they wouldn't talk to me for a week. Every few months they ask me beta something for them and I always say no. The last time, they got really upset that I wouldn't and I finally told them that it's because they're searching for someone to tell them their writing is perfect and that's not what a beta reader is. I also told them that it's difficult for me to give concrit to someone who takes it personally, that I don't like hurting their feelings, but also that it's a lot of work for me and I won't do it anymore if they ignore absolutely everything I say and it also strains our friendship. Amazingly, they didn't go all passive-aggressive on me for that.

[(Anonymous)]

Ergh, yeah, I have a friend now who asked me and my partner to read over a story they'd written and give them honest concrit, and the concept of it was really interesting and fun, so we got really into wanting to help them fix it up, but apparently that just...depressed them ._. Like, there were three major points we focused on, two of which could be fixed with some editing, but the third was a semi-major plot point that they were proud of but we pointed out that came off somewhat problematic because it seemed to make light of a very serious disease. It really bummed them out and they haven't talked to us about it since, so I don't know if they dropped it or are just leaving us out of it now /shrug. We did try to explain that we got into the concrit because we loved it, but I don't think they're really the type of person to hear, "This should be fixed," without hearing, "You're stupid for doing this in the first place." So idk.

[sootyowl]

+10

There's no reason for you to put yourself through pain and suffering for something you're doinng for free. She doesn't deserve your talents, anon!

[(Anonymous)]

+1

I would go so far as to straight up tell her why, too.

[dharkapparition]

All of this! And there's also the problem with the author 'crediting' you as their beta without implementing your editing...

TB

[dreemyweird]

Man, altruism is altruism, but I cannot fathom how you can beta fic you aren't interested in. I gather that the first time you didn't know how bad things really were; now that you do, I see dumping this author as the only sensible option.

Really, 20k of text you don't like reading?..

Also, as an author, I'd hate to have a beta who dislikes my works.

[(Anonymous)]

For fuck's sake, just say no, anon. You have better things to do with your time. Put your foot down!

[tasogare_n_hime]

Just say no OP. She's wasting your time if she's not even going to listen to you. Don't put yourself through the frustration.

[tamabonotchi]

Tell her that if she didn't seem to take any advice you gave with the first one, you guys aren't going to work out and there's someone out there for them.

Also try some sort of anonymous discussion to see if this is the same reason she's gone through other betas, and possibly tell her if she keeps doing this, no one will beta her stuff.

[(Anonymous)]

Not only should you say "No" to any and all future projects of hers; if she put your name in her author's notes and thanked you as a beta or something, ask her to take out your name. You don't want your reputation to go down if people look at her fic and think this is the result of you beta-ing.

Transcript of Too Big

[transcriptanon]

[Picture is black and green text over a stylized letter "Beta" and the word "BETA" as a logo of sorts, in the color red.]

Old secret green text:

Right now, I'm beta-ing an A/B fic that's really bad. Not only is the grammar and the spelling horrid, but the characters are so fanon it hurts. Character A is made to be a woobie wearing leather pants. (Literally.) Character D who sometimes opposes them in canon is made to be a total Out of Character villain. And character B is randomly obsessed with Character A and develops a whole new personality for absolutely no reason. And it's twenty thousand words long. I wish I could send it back to her, but apparently the author never has any luck with a regular beta -- she always hangs around my fandom's beta forums. And that kind of makes me feel guilty.

New secret black text:

This was my secret. Anyway, I finished beta-ing the fic and I set it back to her. She posted it... and she implemented pretty much none of my suggestions. She didn't even fix the grammar and the formatting. It's pretty ridiculous how disappointed I am, but I worked really hard on beta-ing it. My notes were half as long as the entire fic. Recently she asked me to beta another fic for her, and I really want to say something snippy like how this won't be a productive author-beta relationship because she doesn't listen to me.

[darkmanifest]

This makes me so resentful. I'd love to have a beta who took serious time and effort to comb through my fics; the few times I was able to find a decent one, I used at least 90% of their suggestions and my stories were always better for it. I feel like authors like her are why good betas quit or decide not to start, making them even rarer, and then I want to stab inanimate objects in petulant rage.

Anyway, my advice would be to yell at her so ignore me and listen to the smart people up above.

[(Anonymous)]

I do not get it, if she's going to ignore the beta WHY HAVE ONE? Is it just so she can leave a note on the fic that it's beta'd and therefore she won't get the blame for the awfulness of her mistakes because it's the beta's fault for missing it?? Yeah get away she sounds like a problem.

[(Anonymous)]

T!B anon, just don't do it. It's not worth it.