Edit Wank
There is edit wank over at fandomsecrets where one anonymous poster submitted the following secret (No. 149):
resulting in this. Replies fall into three groups: (a) Oh hai yes, I feel that way about my work too; (b) STFU you wanker, you're insulting your talent/fandom/flist by not editing and you're just fishing for compliments now; and (c) Edit and become a better writer.
The OP (if it was the OP, as both the secret and many of the replies were posted anonymously) responded to the armflail by pointing out that while the OP appreciates the positive reviews, fanart and comments, the OP is frustrated because the OP doesn't see what the readers see and is worried that the readers only read the work for the smut and not the work itself.
I understand and sympathize with the first part of the secret: authors will always think that their work needs improvement. One's standards will always be at a different bar than others, and there will always be an element of self-doubt that never goes away, even though the work has been published, feted, and fandomed. I think this is a good thing, because it is this hunger for improvement that fuels creativity and results in future works.
I agree with
velvet_mace that negative unproductive self-criticism will not result in self-improvement. The hardest part of writing is always the revising. Cutting out the ick can only be done if the author has sufficiently distanced himself/herself from the text to see with a cold dispassionate eye how it can be improved. Although too much self-crit can be bad too, as it result in paralysis. Sometimes, it's better to be simply done with a work and move on to the next story. The blank page can be both an invitation and an absolution.
However, the second part of the secret makes me feel really pissy against the OP. There is a difference between feeling dissatisfied with one's work and willfully refusing to go back to the text and try to see how to make it better. I agree with many of the posters that this is just insulting behavior. It's like sneezing and putting the soiled tissue out there for applause.
If the author feels that the work needs improvement, then he/she might want to think about withholding publication until he/she is satisfied that that is the best work that he/she could have possibly done under the circumstances.
That's why there are drafts! Before the internet, these drafts were used to light fires! No need to hit the Post button as a reflex.
This is not to say that all texts should be perfect before release, only that at the time of writing and publication, the author should be satisfied that the text meets a certain standard of quality. This standard is elastic, depending on the author, the work, the time and milieu, the intended audience, and oh so many other circumstances. But there should be a standard. No sneezing on the readership!
Just because it's fanfic and free doesn't mean that there shouldn't be minimum effort to correct the spelling and copyedit the text, to see that there aren't major plot howlers, to ensure that the characters are true to their core, and to not plagiarize scenes. Then there's all those other things like setting and mood and plot and dialogue and literary devices like imagery and metaphor and motifs and expressive ambiguities and allegory that make writing so hard and make it so much easier to just crawl under a rock until the desire to create goes away.
After all, the time that readers put in fanfic has value, and authors should at the very least respect that. Of all the material that the internet burps up on a daily basis, the readers chose to read that text. It's time that was taken away from work, school, real life relationships and other fandoms. There should be respect.
resulting in this. Replies fall into three groups: (a) Oh hai yes, I feel that way about my work too; (b) STFU you wanker, you're insulting your talent/fandom/flist by not editing and you're just fishing for compliments now; and (c) Edit and become a better writer.
The OP (if it was the OP, as both the secret and many of the replies were posted anonymously) responded to the armflail by pointing out that while the OP appreciates the positive reviews, fanart and comments, the OP is frustrated because the OP doesn't see what the readers see and is worried that the readers only read the work for the smut and not the work itself.
I understand and sympathize with the first part of the secret: authors will always think that their work needs improvement. One's standards will always be at a different bar than others, and there will always be an element of self-doubt that never goes away, even though the work has been published, feted, and fandomed. I think this is a good thing, because it is this hunger for improvement that fuels creativity and results in future works.
I agree with
velvet_mace that negative unproductive self-criticism will not result in self-improvement. The hardest part of writing is always the revising. Cutting out the ick can only be done if the author has sufficiently distanced himself/herself from the text to see with a cold dispassionate eye how it can be improved. Although too much self-crit can be bad too, as it result in paralysis. Sometimes, it's better to be simply done with a work and move on to the next story. The blank page can be both an invitation and an absolution.
However, the second part of the secret makes me feel really pissy against the OP. There is a difference between feeling dissatisfied with one's work and willfully refusing to go back to the text and try to see how to make it better. I agree with many of the posters that this is just insulting behavior. It's like sneezing and putting the soiled tissue out there for applause.
If the author feels that the work needs improvement, then he/she might want to think about withholding publication until he/she is satisfied that that is the best work that he/she could have possibly done under the circumstances.
That's why there are drafts! Before the internet, these drafts were used to light fires! No need to hit the Post button as a reflex.
This is not to say that all texts should be perfect before release, only that at the time of writing and publication, the author should be satisfied that the text meets a certain standard of quality. This standard is elastic, depending on the author, the work, the time and milieu, the intended audience, and oh so many other circumstances. But there should be a standard. No sneezing on the readership!
Just because it's fanfic and free doesn't mean that there shouldn't be minimum effort to correct the spelling and copyedit the text, to see that there aren't major plot howlers, to ensure that the characters are true to their core, and to not plagiarize scenes. Then there's all those other things like setting and mood and plot and dialogue and literary devices like imagery and metaphor and motifs and expressive ambiguities and allegory that make writing so hard and make it so much easier to just crawl under a rock until the desire to create goes away.
After all, the time that readers put in fanfic has value, and authors should at the very least respect that. Of all the material that the internet burps up on a daily basis, the readers chose to read that text. It's time that was taken away from work, school, real life relationships and other fandoms. There should be respect.