I'm Fuming!
Mar. 1st, 2014 02:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bk_forever
Okay, how long have I been posting stuff over on Teaspoon? 31 short fics, 293 drabbles, never had anything rejected.
Until yesterday.
Yesterday I decided it was about time I started putting the rest of the Nosy-Verse stories on the site - I'd only got around to putting the first couple and the more recent ones there, four of the earlier ones still hadn't been posted and I'd gained a new reader who was asking if there were more. Seemed like the right time so I posted 'How To Live With A Neurotic Alien'.
I know the rules there, they expect an acceptable standard of writing - spelling, grammar, punctuation, all up to a reasonable standard. Well, hope I don't sound boastful, but I always considered I was above average in that respect. Sure, I'm not always entirely spot-on when it comes to punctuation, not certain of the rules regarding colons and semi-colons, and I overuse commas at times, but hey, that's not too bad, right? And at least I know how to use apostrophes. Certainly, I think I meet the 'acceptable standard' criteria - they do say they don't expect perfection. After all, these are fanfics, not great works of literature.
But my fic got rejected by a mod who apparently isn't going to accept anything that isn't 100% correct, punctuation-wise. I got called on half a dozen minor errors. Okay, yes, I had a missing quotation mark, and two others that got accidentally left in during re-writes. At least I USE quotation marks, and it should be perfectly clear that I know where they belong, considering I use them correctly throughout the entire 4026 word story apart from those three instances. And yes, I wasn't completely clear on the rules of commas versus full stops when a speech by someone is broken into sections to include their actions. Big deal. How many people can quote chapter and verse on that rule anyway? How many people even know there IS a rule for that? It's nit-picking, tiny things that 99.9% or readers would either not notice, or not even realise were wrong. I spent an hour re-editing to fit this person's perfectionist standards before re-submitting it, and if it gets rejected again, I will NOT be happy. >=(
I feel sorry for everyone who tries to post there and is perhaps less familiar with the rules of punctuation and grammar, or isn't too good at spelling. If they get the same moderator I did, it could well put them off writing for life!
To this person, 'acceptable standards' apparently means every fic must meet their stringent personal standards and be perfect in all respects. I think they need to check their dictionary.
Rant over, feel free to ignore this post, I wrote it to make myself feel better, but it doesn't seem to have worked.
Until yesterday.
Yesterday I decided it was about time I started putting the rest of the Nosy-Verse stories on the site - I'd only got around to putting the first couple and the more recent ones there, four of the earlier ones still hadn't been posted and I'd gained a new reader who was asking if there were more. Seemed like the right time so I posted 'How To Live With A Neurotic Alien'.
I know the rules there, they expect an acceptable standard of writing - spelling, grammar, punctuation, all up to a reasonable standard. Well, hope I don't sound boastful, but I always considered I was above average in that respect. Sure, I'm not always entirely spot-on when it comes to punctuation, not certain of the rules regarding colons and semi-colons, and I overuse commas at times, but hey, that's not too bad, right? And at least I know how to use apostrophes. Certainly, I think I meet the 'acceptable standard' criteria - they do say they don't expect perfection. After all, these are fanfics, not great works of literature.
But my fic got rejected by a mod who apparently isn't going to accept anything that isn't 100% correct, punctuation-wise. I got called on half a dozen minor errors. Okay, yes, I had a missing quotation mark, and two others that got accidentally left in during re-writes. At least I USE quotation marks, and it should be perfectly clear that I know where they belong, considering I use them correctly throughout the entire 4026 word story apart from those three instances. And yes, I wasn't completely clear on the rules of commas versus full stops when a speech by someone is broken into sections to include their actions. Big deal. How many people can quote chapter and verse on that rule anyway? How many people even know there IS a rule for that? It's nit-picking, tiny things that 99.9% or readers would either not notice, or not even realise were wrong. I spent an hour re-editing to fit this person's perfectionist standards before re-submitting it, and if it gets rejected again, I will NOT be happy. >=(
I feel sorry for everyone who tries to post there and is perhaps less familiar with the rules of punctuation and grammar, or isn't too good at spelling. If they get the same moderator I did, it could well put them off writing for life!
To this person, 'acceptable standards' apparently means every fic must meet their stringent personal standards and be perfect in all respects. I think they need to check their dictionary.
Rant over, feel free to ignore this post, I wrote it to make myself feel better, but it doesn't seem to have worked.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-01 05:01 pm (UTC)I've never had anything rejected before, in the 18 months or so since I became a member. Nor was I aware that they can change things in my fics without my express permission. They're mods, not beta readers. I'll be paying more attention to my messages from them in future, I haven't been reading them lately, just deleting them. Wonder how many times they've picked fault despite accepting my fics. They need to get over themselves, or start being more even-handed when it comes to accepting or rejecting stories based on what they see as errors.
Don't worry, I'm writing busily. One nit-picking mod won't derail me. I post to 5 sites and while I don't want to stop posting at Teaspoon, I have that option if they start overstepping and editing my stories without my permission. That's something I won't tolerate.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-15 12:32 pm (UTC)Glad to see that you got your story approved the second go-round. I need to go refresh myself on Whofic's guidelines - I joined years ago and can't recall a single thing about them. (and I do want to see if it's written they can "correct" things without the writer's permission - I'm still miffed about that).
Anyway, the whole notion of "quality" written work is so subjective (and inconsistently applied over at whofic). I would rather read a creative and entertaining story that's riddled with grammar and spelling mistakes than a dry, unimaginative but grammatically perfect story.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-15 01:20 pm (UTC)Yeah, sometimes even though there are a lot of mistakes, the story is worth reading for the ideas. it's a shame when great stories are let down by the execution, but I'll still read.
I must have read the guidelines myself, but such things never seem to stick in my brain. I've had no problems there since, so that's something. I'm still scratching my head over the whole thing though. Maybe they thought they were doing me a favour, didn't think my writing in that fic was up to my usual standards, lol. Who knows? Lord preserve us from people who think they're helping o_O
no subject
Date: 2014-03-18 04:06 pm (UTC)I did a look for Whofic's guidelines (granted it was a very slap dash search) and couldn't find anything. I think you just got a fusty mod. In all the years I've been posting there, I only had the one time where it wasn't considered up to standard (though not rejected). I've been trying to play catch up with your writing - in my opinion, your work is far above much of what is out there.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-18 06:25 pm (UTC)That should be an interesting fic if you get it written!