Post-BronyCon 2019 part 2 · 1:33am Aug 6th, 2019
Just a quick-hit one today. I was having a discussion with someone. I think it was Sharp Spark, but it might have been Octavia Harmony. I did another blog post once about how to receive feedback from reviewers. At least I think I did. Now I can't find it.
Oh wait, it was a forum post here. Editors often get lost in saying what's wrong with a story and don't take the time to say what's right with it, but I try to tell authors to look at all the things I didn't have a problem with. That's all either okay, low-level things we can deal with later, or something I think you'll catch on your own once you learn to spot the things I did mark.
But I also wanted to say that editors often give the most feedback to better stories. Also to ones we enjoy the most, but that's for obvious reasons. Why would that be the case? If I'm reading something by a really good author, why am I going to leave lots of comments on it? Well, for a story that's in really rough shape, it doesn't do that much good to point at detailed things, since a lot of that is going to have to be changed anyway. If I point out a spelling mistake in a sentence that needs to be rewritten, the new version may have a different spelling mistake. You have to tackle it in phases.
For a really good story, long feedback results from several things. One, I'm dealing with more subtle issues that take longer to explain. Two, I'm invested in the story's success, so I want to do the best job I can. And three, since I'm not dealing with low-level things like basic editing, I can take the time to think hard about the story and find all the little tweaks that will tune it up. Folks like GaPJaxie, CoffeeMinion, Blazzing Inferno, Miller Minus, Chris, and Bachiavellian can attest to the walls of text I throw at them. And together, we've made some very special stories.
When someone gives you lots of feedback, you can look at it as all the work you might need to do. Or you can look at it as someone caring enough that it was worth it to them to invest that amount of time in you.
And Raugos brought some freeze-dried durian. In that form, it doesn't have much of a smell, thankfully. My coworker from Malaysia has discussed durian with me before, so I had a little foreknowledge, but I didn't know exactly what to expect. To me, it tasted like French onions. Raugos said nearly everyone who tasted it compared it to something different.
Freglz also had some Australian food he brought. I knew better than to eat any Vegemite, but the Tim Tams he had were delicious.
OleGrayMane was making recordings of well wishes to send to Meridian Prime, so in a way, I'll get to meet him for the first time, too.
I was able to snag the last TimTam. It was indeed fantastic.
Though to me, the durian tasted like car exhaust.
I have to say that durian is... an acquired taste. Then again, I'm German and probably have some strange acquired tastes of my own. It wasn't bad, though. And it was weird the way it shifted through about 4 flavors, 5 if you count what happened when I took a drink of Coke.
It doesn't like Coke.
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I hope this isn't anything like the Mentos reaction.
I learned that lesson about editing recently. I've found many resources to improve my writing, but few to improve my editing, so I've been learning the hard way.
I was pleasantly surprised by the durian! Pretty tasty IMO.
Oh yeah! This principle guides everything I do in proofreading, editing, hell in reviewing even. If something is good, I want it to be the best it can possibly be.
Also, seconded on the French onions. Once I got that image in my head, it was unmistakable.
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TimTams are great.
Marmite is better, vegemite does in a pinch.
I'm also partial to the "hard cunt" style. Bit of butter, thick glob of vegemite. I love the stuff.
Getting to speak with you was one of the highlights of the con for me. It felt good to finally get to thank you in person for your assistance and influence. I also very much appreciated your kind words about my work, which I see echoed in the sentiment of your post.
The name-brand Pascoite pascoite was also fantastic!
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Had a bit as well.
I couldn't even finish it.
~Skeeter The Lurker
I tried the Vegemite, actually. While it certainly wasn't "good", it also wasn't the horror I'd heard rumor of. I did take a Tim Tam just to get the taste out, though. I do so enjoy those. A shame I missed the durians.
I had a piece of durian hard candy once; it tasted like some kind of fruity cheese.