On the subject of revisions...

[Deleted]

I think it is a good idea. Jane and I have been working together (which has been great), but I'd really like some additional direction/feedback.

[Ximena]

I know Jane and I work together as well from time to time. Although my soap is pretty off-the cuff, that's kind of the point. However, I'm always happy to help anyone who wants to throw ideas around or have me read over or help proof their stuff. Always happy to help.

[ej]

I think it's a great idea! Even though I'm not writing regularly right now (mainly because of school, hah), like the others, I know Jane has helped me a lot--especially with PLD. Eleanore, you've also helped a lot too!

And like Ximena, I'm always happy to help in any way possible as well

[janewheeler]

I think Eleanore/Ximena/EJ and I have worked well together because we have pretty similar standards. That was apparent very early on, but I didn't approach Eleanore until she'd posted more than one installment.

The difficulty for a lot of people is in that beginning-writer stage. One writer in particular has posted and doesn't even seem to get how offensive certain attitudes might sound for devs, and (in a separate issue) doesn't take instruction at all from mods/others, stating things like, "Oh, I know, I'm just so awful at this, lol." I'd asked Lee if we had a sort of gatekeeper or beta reader stage, and he said we always did. Which... I didn't exactly see, here!

I'm always willing to help, but it's difficult to catch people at the right point.

[Deleted]

I agree that is hard to catch some people and for them to be open to suggestion. I know that I offered assistance to one writer who had formatting issues (this from the girl who's story doesn't show up in IE right now...) and after the initial "Thanks that was great" never got back in touch and the suggestions didn't stick.

I know that I appreciated being able to immediately post my first installment on a whim, but I even asked if there was a greater approval process before I could post - just to make sure it was post-worthy. Is that something we should consider now that there is such a large number of writers and readers? I don't know if that means and "editing squad" or just a kind suggestion that first time writers send their stories off for a beta read before they go on the blog. Once the stories are posted it feels really permanent - even if you want to make changes that will improve the story.

[Lee]

Jane: Would you email me or PM me the name of the author that you feel is being offensive to devs? (and why?)

Just to give you a little history here...

I have never, ever rejected a story based on quality. In the olden days, when there were very few submissions, I would actually go through every submission myself and fix the grammar. I hated it, but I did it to make the stories more enjoyable for everyone.

Frankly, I got a lot of submissions that were total sh*t, and eventually, as I got busier, I stopped bothering to fix them. The stories I thought were horribly written still got tons and tons of positive comments, so I figured the standards were not very high. It's actually a relief that people are posting on their own now, so I don't have to feel responsible for posting stuff that's poorly written.

Now that we have more submissions, there is a temptation to reject things that are not high quality. But I know there are still people out there who enjoy these stories, and I don't want to be a grammar nazi. And I'm already acting like an asshole trying to get people to post correctly.

Maybe we can have a list of authors who can make themselves available to new writers to help them make their writing more readable. Anyone like to volunteer?

[Ximena]

Sept 19, 2012 9:12:50 GMT -5 Lee said:

Maybe we can have a list of authors who can make themselves available to new writers to help them make their writing more readable. Anyone like to volunteer?

I think that's a great idea, Lee, and I'm always happy to help.

[Deleted]

I think that is a great idea too.
What about something on the side bard near the top:
"Interested in posting a story, but not quite ready yet. Try contacting a beta reader for feedback and assistance posting your story."
Then it could link to a page with a list of contacts that would be willing to be readers.

I'm happy to be a beta reader too.

- Lee, I don't envy you your job at all. But you do a nice job walking that line between keeping things in order and being too controlling.
THANKS

[Lee]

We need to organize the beta readers, otherwise the first email address on the list is likely to get all the emails.

One idea is that you could split it up by "interests"... for example, if Ximena wanted to do stories about paras and Eleanore stories about legbraces.

Alternately, you can create a single email address that you can "share" and claim stories that interest you.

I'll let you guys hash out how you want to do it.

[Deleted]

What about making a gmail account. Something like "[e-mail]" and have it accessible to all the beta readers.

[Deleted]

I'd love to be a beta reader if you require more names, i would love the experience and have done it a couple of times for authors on here. I have studied scriptwriting at uni. Even if someone wanted to mentor me for a couple of stories to make sure i am on the right track.

[Lee]

I'll let Eleanore or Ximena take the lead on this. You can decide who you want to be an editor and create the email.

[Deleted]

That is a great idea Lucreita, I wonder if we could do it using google groups? We can atleast group chat and use docs that way.

[Ximena]

Lucretia, I actually had thought about that myself. That wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea.

I can go ahead and create a gmail/google account, no problem. But how are we going to decide who will do what? I don't want some poor new author getting six editors all telling them what they need to fix on their story lol.

[Deleted]

I thinks it is a great idea too and would love to be involved in a workshop.