Question

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

This is for anyone who writes fic - how do you feel about constructive criticism?  I mean anything from politely pointing out typos or grammar mistakes to more ambiguous stuff like Brit-picking (you might feel, for example, that a British character could plausibly use an American expression in the context you've used it in).  Or in the case of the particular instance I'm thinking of, where a character uses a French expression which, while perfectly correct, doesn't feel right to you because of your knowledge of the specific instances where French speakers use "tu" and "vous".

The reason I ask is because I really don't want to come across as patronising and I know my language abilities aren't unusual when measured against everyone else here.  So if there's anyone here whose response to this would be: "I don't need a beta, thanks" or "I already have one", it would be helpful to know just so I avoid putting my foot in it. :)

Comments

[derien.livejournal.com]

I love concrit when it's offered respectfully. I did have one person who volunteered as a beta, years back, berate me on at least ten different points in my story which she said were totally unlike the source material, and that character would never say that, when in fact I could find the pages in the source material where he did say exactly that phrase. And possibly that's why I haven't been writing as much, since then, not begging for concrit. ;) No, probably not. But I need all the help I can get, honestly, I can't turn it down.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

The thing about any beta or proofreader on something you're writing is knowing what to use and what you can ignore (unless the editor is in charge of the final draft to publication, in which case you don't have much choice - and hopefully they're good enough that it doesn't matter). You get to a point after long enough that you read a correction and either say "they're right" or "they're wrong; or I've already considered that and I'm leaving it as is." With fanfic online, you are almost always in control of the final publication, so that can be an advantage ... so long as you don't get your feelings hurt by suggestions you decided not to take.