sherryillk | (no subject)

Is it wrong that I mentally correct the fanfics I read? Sometimes I see little mistakes in the text and since I tend to obsess and have that obsession ruin a story for me, I've lately taken to just mentally correcting the mistakes... It's usually little things like rewording or rearranging a sentence, replacing a word that they misused so I would get a better flow. Is that such a bad thing though? In a way, it makes the story seem better than it should be but in another, I'm still conscious of the fact that there are mistakes and that I have to go to such lengths to enjoy a story.

In the past, I've thought about saving stories on to my harddrive and going in and actually correcting every mistake that I saw before I started reading a story from the beginning with my corrections. And I'll admit it, I've actually done it once but I didn't actually correct the story. Rather, the story had some problematic formatting issues so I went and made it a lot easier to read. After that, I felt immensely guilty because it feels so very wrong to fix someone else's story without their permission, even if it's just a formatting issue.... So I never did it again. But damn, if I don't still have the urges to go to town on some stories....

I guess what I really, really want is for people to just go and get a beta reader already. Not even a great beta reader, just one to catch all the little typos, spelling mistakes, simple grammar problems... Is that really so much to ask? If you invest time in a story, you might as well invest a little more time to make it an awesome story.

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Clearly there's a difference between using someone elses work to revise and present as your own, and modifying someone elses work for your own enjoyment. The first is a big no-no, the second is fine (all imo, of course). In my copy of Harry Potter, Book 7, I crossed out part of the last page and wrote my own ending on that page. It was purely because it made the story more enjoyable for my own reading pleasure, and not, of course, for publication (duh, like I could or would do such a thing!).

P.S.
My version ended with the words '...the boy who lived.)

Well, I should hope the first is a big no-no since it's pretty much plagiarism (even though I think plagiarism is in fandom is a bit more acceptable than in real life)...

And lol with your HP changes. I generally just ignore the entire epilogue as I like to think of Harry and Draco living happily ever after with each other after the end of the war. But to be absolutely truthful, I stopped reading the HP books a long time ago so I have no idea how the last HP book really ended outside of what's been said in fanfics and discussions.

:P Whenever I see a typo or missing word, or like lately, I've been seeing people type the wrong character's name (like the sentence doesn't make sense unless it's a different character), and so I have to re-read it in my head with the correct word.

Authors should be able to edit these things, even without a beta, though I know that even though I self-beta my own stuff, sometimes I'll be re-betaing something months later and still find mistakes here and there. So I understand but... sometimes it seems like the author hasn't re-read her own work.

Yes, exactly! Even though I generally know what the author was trying for when I see an incorrect word used, I just have to fix it and re-read it fixed for me to continue on. I just can't continue without doing that because it would just be wrong.

And god only knows I'm intimately familiar with being blindsided when it comes to your own writing. There are times where I would write LJ entries and I would read it over to make sure I didn't leave words out (happens a lot with me) and I still end up having to go back and edit my posts over and over again. Sometimes you just can't see it when it's your own writing so an extra pair of eyes is always helpful since they don't know how it's supposed to be already and their minds won't mentally add in the words that aren't actually there.

I do this automatically, my brain just rearranges and sees what it likes to for some reason. Though, as someone who attempts writing, I have to say even I catch some things months later, beta, grammar checker and all. Or I read a sentence and think, "WTF were you trying to do here?" Probably not good signs in the grand scheme of things but I think you should go for it. If it makes it more enjoyable for you I'm all for it.

P.S.- I'm brand new to you so I wanted to extend a hello and yay for having another Derek/Addison shipper around. Denial is wonderful.

LOL, I just realized I hadn't actually reviewed your story, The Clockwise Witness the first time I read it so I did last night as I was going through FF.net for any and all fics Addek.

It was after reading that story the first time around that convinced me I had to friend you (thanks for the add back!) because most of the fics I've read thus far go way too fast into reconciliation and tend to make me really have to suspend my disbelief to read them but that story really felt right. I really believed this could actually unfold in the universe as you've written it and your Derek is so believable that it took my breath away. I was just sooo happy to find one that seemed in character after reading so many that just didn't feel right.

It's still one of the nicest things anyone has ever said, you make me blush a little.

As for the crazy rush in of their relationship, I've done it, or rather glossed over the difficult times and moved on, but I really like them this way. It's not that easy in real life and what it would take to put them back together is almost unfathomable.

Thank you again. :)