Warning: Rant ahead · 1:12am Oct 18th, 2015
Okay, this is something that's been bothering me for a long time and I really just need to write it out and get it off my chest so that I can get on with my life.
I think the way that places like Equestria Daily and certain groups here on fimfiction accept fics into their collection is absolute garbage.
I sat through at least one panel at Trotcon this year where several prominent writers and group founders from this website spoke about "how to write good fanfics" and it really boiled down to one thing: editing. Not creative story writing, not having good characters (beyond saying "oh hey have good characters, gais"), but EDITING, boys and girls!! Have your story edited 3-5 times by different editors until it reads like a thesis paper and you'll be golden!
Pardon me, but fuck that.
I'm so SICK and TIRED of people (particularly in the pony fandom but I'm certain it's not limited to just here) telling me that a certain story isn't good because the editing isn't up to their lofty fucking standards. I'm going to pick on EqD here, but the run-around I got from my pre-reader on their website was a gorramn joke. It's like these people decided to use editing as their yardstick for how good a fucking story is, and while editing does play a large part in saying what you want to say and doing so in a way that makes sense it does NOT GUARANTEE THAT A STORY IS GOOD!!!
I've read books, real published books from famous authors who would have had their stories sent back to them from fucking Equestria Daily because they used too many semicolons, or they used "telly language", or they didn't write sentences that tickled the pre-reader's ear in just the right spot. It's stupid, it's pretentious, and perhaps worst of all: it's LAZY.
To me, this screams of a system that doesn't actually care whether a story is good or not: this screams of a system that has decided to forego the reading of fan fiction in the way it was meant to be read in favor of a cut-and-dry way to either accept or deny things from a forum in a condensed, impersonal fashion that makes it easier on the people running these sites. I'm not going to say that there's not some streamlining that has to be done, since there ARE a lot of people trying to get their work up on to sites that will give them views and fans and whatnot... but when the system in place ignores creativity and instead focuses solely on something that can be empirically measured, the reason people write fan fiction is lost in a sea of editors amid the waves of participles, semicolons and "Purple Unicorn Syndrome".
I'm not angry that my stories haven't made it up places -- in fact, I honestly don't give a rat's ass. I'm angry because this system is in place and the sites that encourage this system (fimfiction included) seem to think that this is perfectly acceptable and have the potential to crush other authors (others who are much less jerk-ish than myself) under the feet of their own egos.
Now I'm not saying that editing isn't important because it IS. Bad spelling, grammar and punctuation can not only make a fic hard to understand but can make it downright awful and checking these things is a very important process that shouldn't be skipped... but don't tell me that good editing is what makes a good story. It's not, and anyone who says that should be ashamed of themselves.
/rant
~D4ft
(High five)
I have over thirty published works on this site and I've never once used an editor. And I infamously spit on EqD's fanfic policies after they rejected my most popular story.
You've also got a point about the groups here on fimfiction. After they rejected "Dear Sweetie Belle,' one of the Royal Canterlot Archive's main critiques was that it needed an editor.
Some folks these days need to remember a couple things. One, that the purpose of a story is that it's a story, and two, that a lot of authors need their works to be seen in order to be critiqued by the public. How else are they going to improve?
3479422
Exactly. I don't know if it's because people like to feel like they have power over others or what, but it's becoming painfully clear that the people they have doing the pre-reading and whatnot for these sites and groups are not necessarily people who enjoy reading. There's a big difference between someone who CAN read and someone who reads for fun and pleasure, and you need the latter when going through fanfics.
"Dear Sweetie Belle" was a great read and a wonderful story, and both EqD and the Canterlot Archives are lesser for having rejected it. That just furthers the point that these people aren't really looking at the meat and potatoes of the stories; they're just taking the weight of the suitcase without checking the contents. They're measuring the car without looking under the hood! THEY'RE JUDGING THE PIE BASED ON CRUST ALONE AND IGNORING THE FILLING!!!!
On the one hand, if a story reads poorly and gives you a headache trying to figure out what the author means, an edit is required.
But to judge a story entirely because no editor was attached to the project is absurd.
EQD is actually pretty lax about their standards. It depends on who's making the decision, but they definitely don't pay attention to or do anything if a story's quality--objective, not subjective--goes down the crapper, specifically grammatically. If someone thinks the early stuff is up to snuff, you could drop a turd in a book, continuing the story, slam it shut, and they'd keep updating it.
I will say this. I tried to get a story or two featured there, but I had no such luck. Some nonsense about stuff being too gritty or dadaistic. What's funny is I've seen scat, snuff, and other forms of pornography featured there.
Wev all sean a stori that needed a good edting.