Friday Needs... A Poll

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Here we are again at week's end, and Friday seems like a day made for polling.  Let's examine... ourselves.
[Poll #2052208]

Comments

[rosiedlotrfan.livejournal.com]

I picked the warm fuzzies for the last question, but the actual answer for me is somewhere between that and the first option - I'm open to criticism, but please give me lots of warm fuzzies along with it because I'm easily discouraged.

[alynwa.livejournal.com]

Regarding the "Someone posts a story with elements from something you've written at an earlier date" choices: It depends. If I were to read a story that is about Leona Nicole or Ludwig Bowler/Wolf Schmidt that I didn't write, I would definitely PM the author to find out what the hell. If I read a story that said Napoleon's middle name is Reilly or that a THRUSH defected and ultimately befriended the boys, well, I don't own those concepts.

[sidhe-uaine42.livejournal.com]

I have some pet peeves about "borrowed" content when misused for instance, E. L. James and her "fanfic" that was nothing more than a poorly written "bodice ripper" imho or if there's blatant "I haven't read/watched the source material, but nobody minds. Tee hee tee hee." If it's done so poorly that I would throw the pages across the room if is was a printout, I would stop reading anything by that particular author. Otherwise, I'll ignore the theft to a point.

Ditto if there are too many misspellings. I'll pause if there's confusion between homonyms or if there's a possible slip of a finger on the keyboard before continuing, especially if the poster is what is sometimes referred to as ESL I'll give them more leeway or the poster has a legitimate LD/their spellchecker misspells the word in autocorrect had that happen to me with autocorrect a few times myself.

It would be easier to answer your survey if you posted "Other, will explain in comments" in each question, since not every situation is the same or has a pat answer like the ones listed. I apologize for being a tad long-winded.

[yumyumpm.livejournal.com]

Some of the questions didn't have an answer I was comfortable with. If I read a story with misspellings I correct it in my head and continue reading. Frankly I pretty much read everything and haven't really found anything terribly godawful.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

I look at the stacks and shelves of books I've bought have yet to read, and the books I have yet to write, and think, "Life is too short to read bad writing."

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I'm interested to see most don't use a beta. I wonder if all of us who feel we don't need one are right or wrong - but I guess that's in the eye of the beholder. :-)

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

That was a fun poll, although I wasn't sure whether to take it while thinking of U.N.C.L.E. fics in specific or all fics. I think I took it more for the latter, although I suppose the only real difference between the two is that for U.N.C.L.E. I mostly read. What I put down was "Both."

I think I picked the final answer for the "what do I mean when I ask for comments", but every one of them could actually fit what's going through my mind. LOL. I want to hear actual problems, but I don't want it said in a nasty way that will hurt feelings, and I don't want a huge wall of text of blathering on and on about every nitpicky little problem someone has. And another option that wasn't there would be "Tell me what's wrong, but also tell me what's right." I hate it when someone comments only to tell me what's wrong and doesn't say one nice thing.

Related would be my answer to the final question, as I chose the last one. I think some reviewers take fanfic way too seriously and forget it's supposed to be fun. But at the same time, I do honestly want to improve where I can (while still writing with the elements and angles I like best).

Very interesting quiz!