BRAW

[kelly_chambliss]

I'm hereby declaring October 9-15 to be Beta Reader Appreciation WEEK, so that I don't have to be late in posting.  (Of course, this change gives us a rather odd acronym, but it can't be helped.)

Anyway, my partner is my usual beta reader, and I appreciate her in many ways, not all of which need to be described in LJ.

But I would also like to express my appreciation for several fanficcers who are not my beta readers, but whose support and friendship sustain me as a writer and as a person.  They are. . .

Seema

Rocky

Alex Voy

Julie Russo

Abbey

august (from whom I haven't heard in a while, but who was one of the first people in Trek fandom to encourage me and who did me the inestimable service of offering to host my stories on her webpage, the incomparable "Archipelago of Angst."  By great good luck, that site was among the Trekfic sites I came across.  I've been aspiring to its high writing standards ever since.)

monkee (Mary Wiecek)

 

Thank you all!! 

Comments

[rocky-t.livejournal.com]

Right back at you!

[seemag.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[alex-voy.livejournal.com]

I can envy you the beta-reading partner. For most of us, writing is a solitary business which family and friends just don't understand. While they may not actively discourage it, I'm not sure whether lack of interest and discussion or uncritical praise is the most disheartening (I'm talking about all writing here, not just fanfic). That's why I value my on-line friendships with other writers so much.

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

It's interesting, isn't it, just how depressing uncritical praise can be?

And the opposite can be equally unnerving. I once made the mistake of telling a straight friend of mine (who was always eager to read my nonfiction essays) about a story I'd published. When I told her about it, I didn't even think about the fact that it contained a lesbian sex scene (totally tasteful and full of redeeming social value, of course, but still.) Even if I had remembered the scene, I probably would have mentioned the story anyway, because my friend never seemed uncomfortable with my orientation. But wow. Was she offended by the story. She told me stiffly and coldly, in clipped tones and with no eye contact, that she was sorry, but she could say nothing whatever about the piece -- because she was not a fan of science fiction. Well, this last was an excuse, of course, since a) the story was only very vaguely SF, and b) one doesn't need to be a fan a particular genre in order to offer a comment about an example of it. And this woman is a literature professor; she obviously knows more than many people about the craft of writing, whatever the genre. But obviously, SF wasn't the point; she was upset by other things.

I realized then that it had been unfair of me to tell her about the story -- I was imposing on her. It was not the sort of thing she would have ever chosen to read on her own, and I unwittingly put her in a difficult position by making it virtually impossible for her *not* to read it. I learned my lesson, though -- just because someone knows me personally does not necessarily mean they are going to want to read what I write. So I don't tell people now. If they find my stuff on their own and choose to read it, it will be because they wanted to, not because I more or less made them.

[unwinding.livejournal.com]

ah, but you can hear from me now!! hello dear. please pass on my love to yourself & your loved one.

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

august! I'm so happy to see your charming red shoes (and to hear from you, of course.) My (and my loved one's) love back to you.

[projectjulie.livejournal.com]

OMG YOU'RE AUGUST!!! *has epiphany, expressed in the form of shoe icon love*

[unwinding.livejournal.com]

um... hi?

[projectjulie.livejournal.com]

ah, I had hoped you'd know me. *is tiny*

I'm friends with pene and mandysbitch and via the latter with epicanthus. and I write (http://babealicious.net/fanfic/janeway.html). and am a big fan of yours.

[unwinding.livejournal.com]

no, i do know you. well, "know". i recognise your name, from, yeah pene, mandysbitch, epicanthus etc. it's nice to finally "meet" you. x

[projectjulie.livejournal.com]

and "knowing" is one of those things that should perhaps always be in air quotes. but yes, hi :)

[unwinding.livejournal.com]

ps, lovely, lovely shoes.

[aabbey.livejournal.com]

First, I agree with Alex. It must be great to have someone close to you who appreciates writing and who gets fandom. I know it always killed me back home when family members looked down at or even actively discouraged my fannish writing. (You've heard about my embarrassing moment when Mom discovered my first J/Picard, right?) It aint much better currently, but an upperclassman in my creative writing forum is a boyslashing LOTR fangirl. When she found out I slash, albeit femmishly, it was a happy day indeed. We freak out the "normal" group writers with discussions about "Mary Sue" and "PWP."

Secondly, I appreciate very much that you consider my writings/Janeway ramblings worthy of mention. I feel like I've improved a lot recently, and I ascribe that to my beta and folks like you helping with the constructive crit.

I've got a Janeway piece in the works now that is sort of a "mythology" piece--lots of backstory, even addressing the whole oft-neglected Justin, early officership mess. It's been fun to get out some of my current frustrations on it, but it lacks focus. I'll be posting it up when it's done, though, which shouldn't be too long.

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

I'll look forward to the new piece, Abbey. Didn't you also post something relatively recently (last couple of months or so)? I remember making a note to myself to read it, but then never did. But I'll scroll back through the old posts to find it.

I'm so glad you found a fangirl classmate. There's just nothing like discussing fanfic with someone who totally gets it. As you learned with your family, an awful lot of people do NOT. I once had a student who wrote "Malcolm in the Middle" fic. I forget how it came up, but when she learned that I knew what fanfic was *and* even liked it, she was thrilled. At Homecoming, she dragged her mother over to me, saying, "Mom -- here's my teacher who knows all about fanfic! See, I *told* you it wasn't weird." The look her mom gave me suggested she not only thought fanfic *was* weird, but she was pretty sure I was, too.

I keep the whole fannish thing a deep, dark secret from my family. Old as I am, I think my mom would react to my fanfic about the same way yours did.

[aabbey.livejournal.com]

I've been fairly active on the writing front. I wrote a fairly short J/T just before my summer, which was set between "Extreme Risk" and "Nothing Human." Don't know if you've seen that--Alex saw it and didn't like the more depressive aspects. *g* I consider it a good reflection of my mood at the time.

Then, during the second week of basic I had a foreign language briefing, during which I experienced a sudden (and unusual for me) J/7 craving, and drafted out a little something on my little issued memo pad while sitting in the auditorium while being subjected to bad Russian pop. I wrote it out on letterhead later, thus worrying the roomie. Now it's posted.

Everything is here: angelfire.com/trek/abbey

Have you ever taught a VOY fangirl? Because that would be so cool. I had a teacher who for creative writing let me do fic. It was pure heaven. And she didn't even get Star Trek.

[projectjulie.livejournal.com]

aw, you're sweet. I'm such a Kelly fangirl -- I still can't believe you'll deign to talk to me. I'll always be here for you (and Janeway) -- cue schmaltzy music, etc.