(Untitled)

[emmuzka]

Okey, it looks like it's a big, stinking NO for my application for becoming a member in aific. I can live with that. Some of the "no" comments went over the requirement of polite concrit, though, judging the fic for its pairing and not for its quality. Most of them just commented on the "oddness" of the writing, asking if the fics were betaed (yes, they

Comments

[emmuzka]

write that Danny/Cheeks story my brain keeps threatening to write up just to see if I can accomplish the same thing.

dooo iiiiit! Although I think that the fic ridicule has pretty much calmed down in ontd_ai, maybe they reached the saturation point or something.

And yes, Kradam is the one pairing/fandom with the largest portion of non-quality fic for a long time. I think that only Backtreet Boys fic reached the same hight. And kradam_ai's message of "if you have nothing nice to say don't say nothing" really doesn't help.

[sua_lay]

I'm still confused about the purpose of this place. Is it like a project for good fic? A private club? Whatnot?

Also, I do have to agree on the beta issue. I can read through, point the obvious and nag at the storyline, but a native speaker am not. :) Though I think if you ever write a Star Wars fic from Yoda's POV, I'm your girl...

[emmuzka]

I don't think that they are yet sure themselves? It just a bunch of people who announced this thing in ontd_ai. So far it has been running incredibly smoothly, actually, given that there has been no actual instructions how to proceed. Like, they asked us to vote yes or no, but they never posted guidelines on what they were looking for, and the point is that the voting is anonymous, but the candidates themselves aren't...

[naotalba]

I don't read aific, so I can't comment on that, but I've read a lot of your bandom fic. Before I found out you aren't a native speaker, I thought that you were very young and probably didn't have a beta, because sometimes your syntax and word choice is jarring. Knowing that you aren't a native speaker, I expect that going in and it isn't a big deal, but I can usually tell which anon_lovefest stories are yours.

My point is that I wouldn't take it as a criticism of your writing. I think it's a pretty amazing accomplishment to be able to write creatively in a foreign language.

Also, like I say, I don't follow ai, so I can't do beta for content, but I am always happy to do grammar/word choice type betaing in any fandom. If you ever want a native-speaker to run through something you've written, and you don't mind concrit, just send it to me. naotoalbah@gmail.com (note the extra h)

[emmuzka]

Oh, thanks for the offer, I will take you up for it ;) I have a few things in the the works, and I will ask an oddity-check when they are ready.

For the foreign thing, it's pretty frustrating that "good for a foreign" doesn't really cut it. I would never mention it in my author notes, for example, because that would be like I would be asking for going easy on me, or saying that the story sucks. It's actually pretty interesting that you could pick my stuff out in anon_lovefest; I'm totally blind for those nuances, obviously.

[naotalba]

Author's notes that say, "non-native speaker" are a complete turn-off for me, too. You don't want to be "good for a foreigner" -- you just want to be good, period. I think your writing is very strong content-wise, but like you say, you are blind to some grammar and syntax issues. The only way you could totally avoid that would be to live here for a decade or two.

It can be fixed with an extra beta run-through, though, as long as you can recognize that there is an issue. For instance, I would disagree with the phrasing of "I have no problem with your gay." Either "I have no problem with your being gay," "I have no problem with your gaying it up," or "I have no problem with gays," would all be more common phraseology.

[emmuzka]

Yeah, the "I have no problem with your gay"- thing, which was seen so incomprehensible that it ended up as the "gay issue" -tag in ontd_ai; The person saying that is a devoted christian that believes that being gay is a choice. So I meant him saying it the same way that one would say "I have no problem with your STD" or "I have no problem with your HIV." I don't know it if it works that way, but that was what I meant.