Was I right to say this?

[Dinsmore]

It is hard to say no...sometimes.

"On the other hand, there are those who've asked for help, and in the end I really had to wonder why they bothered, since they didn't want to pay attention."

I have on occasion received a story that had so many problems that I just couldn't---didn't want to---edit it.

I at least try to reply with some overall bullet points, e.g.,

Break up your paragraphs

One speaker per paragraph

Fix repetitive punctuation errors

More dialogue

Flesh out the characters

Run Spell-Check

What's the motivation for the sex?

Expand the visuals, i.e., paint a clearer picture

Consider a change of voice or tense.

Clean up the shifts in voice or tense.

Like anyone else I respond to a positive attitude. The, "I'm too lazy to organize my own thoughts, fix this for me you slave" approach probably wouldn't work well with me.

 

[snooper]

... provided I could prove I was "a real female." ...

That alone may not indicate homophobia. It might just have been a badly worded question. What most people forget is that we have no objective evidence of anything about anyone whom we only meet via the internet. My profile says I am a 66-y-o male living in Tirphil, but I could just as easily have written an 18-y-o female Inuit exiled to sub-Saharan Africa, and nobody could prove that wrong. Perhaps all (s)he wanted was to be sure that it was a female doing the editing. I have a female advisor on my work who comments only on whether the women's reactions are realistic in my stories.

Edited to add You may not be surprised to hear that you are not the first person to tell me that I am arrogant.

 

[Alex756]

That alone may not indicate homophobia. It might just have been a badly worded question. What most people forget is that we have no objective evidence of anything about anyone whom we only meet via the internet. [...] Perhaps all (s)he wanted was to be sure that it was a female doing the editing. I have a female advisor on my work who comments only on whether the women's reactions are realistic in my stories.

I have to agree on that point, when I look for someone to edit my stuff I always go with a male editor. Much for the same reasons Snooper listed with the gender reversal of course.

Although I woulda sugar-coated a turndown significantly more, I have turned down people (I am not a VE member last I checked and wasn't at the time for sure) but I got some things that ... I don't even know where I could start with them so I did some generic suggestions and kinda bowed out.

-Alex

 

[Slowlane]

I have been trying to turn part time writer for some time now. It’s been difficult to ask for any assistance because of that type of reply. A turn down is one thing, a put down is another. I have also managed to turn in stories to two Lit VEs who never returned them. I have one story accepted by Lit, non-erotic, that I didn’t have edited because of the off-the-wall writing stile I chose to use.

I came to Lit hoping to find some help with my writing. I’ve been very disappointed with the hands-on-help department. Fortunately, I have met so good people on Lit, on other boards and not writers, who have taken some time to help me improve my punctuation. Unfortunately, they are now gone.

I would never fault a volunteer for not wanting to do a project. They are, after all volunteers, but please keep your replies civil. Some of us new people are sensitive.

And yes, it was out of line to publicly print a private communication without permission.

From the looks of this thread, I’m not the only one who has had bad experiences here. Again I don’t fault the program or the editors, but maybe a rethink is in order – at least in manners.