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askye at 07:25pm on 10/10/2002
askye at 07:25pm on 10/10/2002Victoria, in the comments to the previous entry, reminded me that people claim that because fanfiction writing is a hobby that gives them some excuse to not bother to do things like: spell check, grammar check, make sure they are writing a coherent story, spell the characters' names right.
And claiming that writing is "just a hobby" so you don't need to do it well is---pathetic. And Lazy. The same way it's lazy not to run Spell check. Or find out that, you know, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer there is a character named Xander. "Zander" is on General Hospital and has probably never been to Sunnydale. On Angel, Lindsey was a character---he worked for Wolfram and Hart, he got an evil hand, he lusted after Angel. I don't know who "Lindsay" is; he's not on Angel the Series.
It's Jayne on Firefly, not Jane. And Zoe, not Zoey. And Lex's last name is LUTHOR. His father is LIONEL.
It's not that hard to figure these things out...there are official sites and there excellent fan sites to help people out with this.
And there are resources to find beta readers. Yes, I realize that some people don't like beta readers, they claim that beta readers demand that "I change my story and make it like they want". Or are out to steal story ideas.
If you don't want someone to look over your story for content at least get a second pair of eyes for typos.
Plus I don't know who these evil beta readers are, I haven't written much but I haven't dealt with anyone who's tried to "make" me change my stories. Yes, my beta readers have made suggestions and comments, but it's still my freaking story and if I don't want to change something then I won't.
If you don't mesh with a beta reader, then find another one, or use more than one. There are mailing lists dedicated to finding and using a beta reader, there are resource sites.
If you still don't want to use a beta reader, then don't. But for the love of god run your story through spell check and grammar check, look over it for typos that spell check wouldn't catch ("beast" for "breast" "how" for "now", that sort of thing) and at least make sure that your facts are straight.
Also, if you put out a story that hasn't been beta'd, hasn't been through spell check, and someone calls you on that, don't then say "well it's just a *hobby*". Because that's no excuse for being lazy.
Whether you like it or not your stories become a representation of you. And, frankly, who the hell wants to be the person that, when your stories are posted, people look at the name or the email address, roll their eyes, think "oh god, her" and then hits delete. Because I sure as hell don't want to be that person and I'm pretty damn sure no one else wants to be either.
And claiming that writing is "just a hobby" so you don't need to do it well is---pathetic. And Lazy. The same way it's lazy not to run Spell check. Or find out that, you know, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer there is a character named Xander. "Zander" is on General Hospital and has probably never been to Sunnydale. On Angel, Lindsey was a character---he worked for Wolfram and Hart, he got an evil hand, he lusted after Angel. I don't know who "Lindsay" is; he's not on Angel the Series.
It's Jayne on Firefly, not Jane. And Zoe, not Zoey. And Lex's last name is LUTHOR. His father is LIONEL.
It's not that hard to figure these things out...there are official sites and there excellent fan sites to help people out with this.
And there are resources to find beta readers. Yes, I realize that some people don't like beta readers, they claim that beta readers demand that "I change my story and make it like they want". Or are out to steal story ideas.
If you don't want someone to look over your story for content at least get a second pair of eyes for typos.
Plus I don't know who these evil beta readers are, I haven't written much but I haven't dealt with anyone who's tried to "make" me change my stories. Yes, my beta readers have made suggestions and comments, but it's still my freaking story and if I don't want to change something then I won't.
If you don't mesh with a beta reader, then find another one, or use more than one. There are mailing lists dedicated to finding and using a beta reader, there are resource sites.
If you still don't want to use a beta reader, then don't. But for the love of god run your story through spell check and grammar check, look over it for typos that spell check wouldn't catch ("beast" for "breast" "how" for "now", that sort of thing) and at least make sure that your facts are straight.
Also, if you put out a story that hasn't been beta'd, hasn't been through spell check, and someone calls you on that, don't then say "well it's just a *hobby*". Because that's no excuse for being lazy.
Whether you like it or not your stories become a representation of you. And, frankly, who the hell wants to be the person that, when your stories are posted, people look at the name or the email address, roll their eyes, think "oh god, her" and then hits delete. Because I sure as hell don't want to be that person and I'm pretty damn sure no one else wants to be either.
One more...
You mean I have to *spell check* it???
people claim that because fanfiction writing is a hobby that gives them some excuse to not bother to do things like: spell check, grammar check, make sure they are writing a coherent story, spell the characters' names right.
By that logic then, they should keep their hobby to themselves. If you're going to post it for the world to share, then make a little effort, huh? I know how very *taxing* grammar and spell check can be but jeez if you can take the time and effort to post it, get it beta'ed.