Commas. Good God, commas. The bane of my betareading existence. (Yes, I know that's a sentence fragment, but it's for emphasis.) No, seriously, commas are one of the things that drive me the most nuts about fic, but which people seem to screw up terribly, terribly badly. I also hate passive voice, too many adverbs, subject-verb agreement, consistent tenses, redundant description, and overused ellipses. (In fact, if the ellipsis were banned from fanfic, I think I might throw a party.)
Commas and passive voice also seem to be the things that people just don't learn how to fix. I've given up on fixing them for people, because who has that kind of time? I can't tell you, though, how many times I've betaread for someone, sent them a general description of comma use, fixed the first two or three (or half dozen) errors, and then linked them to a university's writing guides on grammar, only to get their next story with just as many errors as their last. (If you're reading this and I've done this to you, which is entirely possible, I'm sure you've already accepted that I'm a very particular person and have moved on to other betareaders. I'm fine with that.)
Just Be Nice kerfuffles can kiss my ass. I wish I were kidding, because I really do love being nice to people, but I also interpret "just be nice" a little differently. It is nice to tell me when I have made a mistake, thereby giving me the opportunity to fix it. It is nice to let me know what I have done wrong, so I don't find a typo five years later and become convinced that all of fandom has spent the last five years sniggering at my inability to type "the" instead of "teh" five percent of the time. Also, it is nice to want to help someone to become a better writer, and, frankly, it's about time we started divorcing the idea of constructive criticism from bitchy posts railing against bad fic. They are two different things, and bitchy posts don't suddenly make concrit not okay.
I don't have the time to beta and concrit as much as I would like, but I miss it. I come from a time and place in fandom where betareading involved long hours of line-by-line work. It wasn't just copyediting, but it was also a back and forth dialogue with the person you were betareading for about the meaning of the story, the motivations of the characters, the details of who is reading what, or listening to what, or the implications of your plot on the characters' lives three years past the end of your story. I miss that kind of in-depth work. It was more like editing than anything.
The problem with that kind of in-depth beta is that it's hard, lately, to find people even willing to take the time to read a fic and chat a little about it. I have friends I've given up on, because every time I ask them to read a story and give me general plot feedback, they "accidentally" get kicked from gchat. (The first few times I believe it, but after that, I don't happen to be that gullible.) I want back and forth, and friends who will give me that kind of critique in exchange for my in depth critique.
I'd come up with kind of a summation, but I have to run off and pick up the kidlet from day care. I'm sure I've soapboxed enough, though.
Re: Grammar, Critique, Betas
Commas and passive voice also seem to be the things that people just don't learn how to fix. I've given up on fixing them for people, because who has that kind of time? I can't tell you, though, how many times I've betaread for someone, sent them a general description of comma use, fixed the first two or three (or half dozen) errors, and then linked them to a university's writing guides on grammar, only to get their next story with just as many errors as their last. (If you're reading this and I've done this to you, which is entirely possible, I'm sure you've already accepted that I'm a very particular person and have moved on to other betareaders. I'm fine with that.)
Just Be Nice kerfuffles can kiss my ass. I wish I were kidding, because I really do love being nice to people, but I also interpret "just be nice" a little differently. It is nice to tell me when I have made a mistake, thereby giving me the opportunity to fix it. It is nice to let me know what I have done wrong, so I don't find a typo five years later and become convinced that all of fandom has spent the last five years sniggering at my inability to type "the" instead of "teh" five percent of the time. Also, it is nice to want to help someone to become a better writer, and, frankly, it's about time we started divorcing the idea of constructive criticism from bitchy posts railing against bad fic. They are two different things, and bitchy posts don't suddenly make concrit not okay.
I don't have the time to beta and concrit as much as I would like, but I miss it. I come from a time and place in fandom where betareading involved long hours of line-by-line work. It wasn't just copyediting, but it was also a back and forth dialogue with the person you were betareading for about the meaning of the story, the motivations of the characters, the details of who is reading what, or listening to what, or the implications of your plot on the characters' lives three years past the end of your story. I miss that kind of in-depth work. It was more like editing than anything.
The problem with that kind of in-depth beta is that it's hard, lately, to find people even willing to take the time to read a fic and chat a little about it. I have friends I've given up on, because every time I ask them to read a story and give me general plot feedback, they "accidentally" get kicked from gchat. (The first few times I believe it, but after that, I don't happen to be that gullible.) I want back and forth, and friends who will give me that kind of critique in exchange for my in depth critique.
I'd come up with kind of a summation, but I have to run off and pick up the kidlet from day care. I'm sure I've soapboxed enough, though.