Using concrit to improve your future writing = very good point that I had not considered. I do feel, however, that if you don't apply the concrit to the fic in question, you aren't getting the most out of it (this feeling is based on the concrit Ai gave me which I still haven't done anything about...). It's one thing to read concrit, and sort of nod and go "uh huh, that's true, I'll keep that in mind for the future"...and it's quite another thing to get down and dirty with the fic and try to fix it. Some fics will probably not be worth fixing, truth be told. But the ones that are worth fixing...how often do people fix them? Internet fandom is very different from academic process. If something's not new, people tend not to read it. And if no one's reading it anymore, a lot of authors tend not to care as much.
I don't know. Internet "publishing" (god, why do I have to put it in quotation marks) gives us so much control over our writing--we can revise it forever and ever and ever. But because it's so easy, and there's so much of it, people are only interested (or able to keep up with) the new stuff. It really is a different environment. And I think that's part of the reason serious concrit doesn't come along too often. Fics are easy come, easy go. The amount of care and work that goes into a book can't compare. (Yes, there are tons of books being published nowadays, and the standards of editing and reviewing are way down, but at least they have those things)
Basically, I think what I'm saying is that increasing the amount of beta-ing seems more realistic than getting more people to give concrit. And--this is going to sound kind of snotty--if the majority of people don't have their work beta-ed (including me!), why should they get the benefit of concrit? It's a LOT of work to give concrit. Beta-ing is a ton of work too, but at least you know that the person receiving it will actually do something with it.
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timeasmymeasure
Long rambly comments for the win!
Date: 2008-10-17 11:39 pm (UTC)I don't know. Internet "publishing" (god, why do I have to put it in quotation marks) gives us so much control over our writing--we can revise it forever and ever and ever. But because it's so easy, and there's so much of it, people are only interested (or able to keep up with) the new stuff. It really is a different environment. And I think that's part of the reason serious concrit doesn't come along too often. Fics are easy come, easy go. The amount of care and work that goes into a book can't compare. (Yes, there are tons of books being published nowadays, and the standards of editing and reviewing are way down, but at least they have those things)
Basically, I think what I'm saying is that increasing the amount of beta-ing seems more realistic than getting more people to give concrit. And--this is going to sound kind of snotty--if the majority of people don't have their work beta-ed (including me!), why should they get the benefit of concrit? It's a LOT of work to give concrit. Beta-ing is a ton of work too, but at least you know that the person receiving it will actually do something with it.