Is it considered bad form to point out errors |
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stephenmatlock
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 05 Sep 2013 Location: Seattle Status: Offline Points: 10422 |
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I agree with this. The forums can be a lively place, but sometimes we forget that at the other end of our keyboard is a living, breathing human being who is more than just what they type out as a story--and worth extraordinarily more than their creative attempt. Put people first. Reserve your stilettos and scalpels for your own work. When asked to beta something, and asked to give your all--go for it. But these are published-for-us to review and critique, not to destroy. They are fixed at this point in time because they're submitted. No need to pile on, and no need to say "this story stinks." It might be the Worst Story Ever. Then move on. I wrote this elsewhere, but I think it's useful here:
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Pithy sayings are for the apt. For a longer message, you need a condo.
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I like to give broad feedback about grammar issues if I see them coursing through the whole piece. Otherwise, I might point out something small and add, "This is really nitpicky, and the judges probably won't care," which I truly believe. But in the instance of one run-on sentence after another, or anything like that where it could improve the writing to be aware of a tendency to do something, I'd want to point it out for the other person's benefit. Like, "You have a tendency to repeat what was already said, and the story could be tighter if you trust the information to come across when it's originally given," or, "You tend to not use conjunctions, but fiction reads better when they're used more often than not," or, "I'd recommend reading some articles about proper comma use." I'd hope no one would be torn up over that, but we all want to get better here. My best friend, Sonya, is a brilliant beta reader, and she's taught me everything I know about how to beta read. She's also passed along a huge number of tips that I didn't know, like, put the dialogue in the same paragraph as the speaker's action. Like, Bob was jumping up and down. "Hey, what's up?" as a paragraph with Bob as the implied speaker. And I turn around and share her insights with the people here. I've learned so freakin' much since I started writing in October of 2013. A million little factoids about editing and writing that I never knew before, all stored in my massive cranium. We need to share all that info with each other!! Practice makes perfect. Another thing I've fully come to accept is that I can't write anything good without help from beta readers. My mind can only picture the story one way. I need feedback about how the story comes across, because with only my vantage point, I can't be certain that there aren't notable issues with the characters, plot, etc. That said, if someone wants specific feedback, why not say so? "I don't want to know about tiny errors at this point, so just tell me what you thought of the story," or whatever. I'd never want to give unwelcomed feedback, so I urge anyone and everyone to think about doing that. And in conclusion, it really has been my experience that the judges don't flip out over the occasional typo or mistake; they're seeing the big picture. So don't panic if someone finds a typo! We've all been there. Typos happen.
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