That is the point of being/having a beta. Tell her it sucks and how she can do better. If she is the good writer you claim she is then she'll understand and try to improve.
I agree with vorsatzpapier. That's your job, as a beta, to tell her it's bad. Don't say, "It sucks!" Tell her it needs a lot of improving, and... discuss it with her
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Yeah, I'm gonna send her an email about it. I've edited as best I can, and I think it's reasonable now. I might well step down as beta, like you say.
You aren't being bitchy (or at least, I don't think so), you're just giving your opinion, which I respect :) Since making this secret, I have actually changed a lot of the chapter she sent me, and have sorted out most of the problems I'd had with it - the only thing I hadn't done was say that I thought the author hadn't done the best of jobs. I may well do so now.
Wow, you're welcome. I know how you feel, kind of. I don't beta very often (I'm not very good at it, and I'm trying to improve!) but I am asked to read 'fics by people, even when the pairing/characters are people I could care less about, or the writing is less-than-stellar. I have a hard time stopping and just saying, "You could do better." Or, "You're better than this
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No story was so bad it burns. They're simply written unskillfully. Stop being such a whiner. But your secret was so bad it reminded me why I loathe internet writers.
I've been there, too. Only that friend of mine kept crediting me even after I explained to her that we better not work together. It was EMBARASSING. I don't think it's your fault. You can correct grammar mistakes, you can advise her on the characters and plot, you can make a bad fic decent, but you can't make it good. imo.
I had this same problem years ago, when I was in a tiny fandom and with another lj account. She was a good friend and I offered to beta her stuff because it actually embarrassed me when she posted stuff...I managed to beta about 3-4 fics of hers, fixing up the grammar and pounding into her head that YES you do need to use some adjectives or adverbs otherwise it is very, very dry. But it took so much energy I just told her I was too busy with school to go on. :/
Oh, God, I hate when that happens! I have a friend like that--I'm not her beta, but her fic (or "novel," as she calls it) is really really awkward and kinda bad and Sue-ish, and she's always asking for really specific comments and I'm running out of ways to say "unique" and "striking" and shit like that. D: D:
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Tell her it sucks and how she can do better. If she is the good writer you claim she is then she'll understand and try to improve.
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You aren't being bitchy (or at least, I don't think so), you're just giving your opinion, which I respect :) Since making this secret, I have actually changed a lot of the chapter she sent me, and have sorted out most of the problems I'd had with it - the only thing I hadn't done was say that I thought the author hadn't done the best of jobs. I may well do so now.
Thanks :D
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I don't think it's your fault. You can correct grammar mistakes, you can advise her on the characters and plot, you can make a bad fic decent, but you can't make it good. imo.
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