In a message dated 10/18/99 5:20:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
sterman@uswest.net writes:
<< > Sometimes, prereaders don't respond at all.
Always a pain. But see below.
> Sometimes, they don't respond promptly.
This has to be tempered with the fact that pre-readers, too, have a real
life. They are under no obligation to respond promptly - we're not paying
them, after all. >>
I would add, that, from the perspective of a prereader, sometimes the
amount of work that needs doing can be overwhelming.
For example, one of the few fics that I had ever volunteered to preread
was long and there were errors in almost every sentence. I don't and didn't
blame the author for that; the author (who I won't name) was and still is, as
far as I know, not used to writing in English. I could spend very easily ten
hours going through the fic for errors, and I'd have to consult the author
often so I could figure out what would be the best 'fix' to suggest other
then throwing the sentence out entirely. This, however, was not really
possible, as the author wrote on a tight schedule and often I got the draft
only a few days before it was to be posted, and it wasn't possible to deal
with the author in anything close to real time.
I will admit, I sometimes don't give my prereaders much time myself, but
this is because I tend to polish up grammar and spelling as I go, using the
rule of 'If I can't figure out what I'm talking about in a glance, my readers
will have even more trouble.' It does work; I have minimal questions from my
prereaders, and rarely do I find a need to fix anything. This doesn't mean
that I don't need prereaders, however; I sometimes find the need of a saner
mind to throw ideas at, and they are useful for fine-tuning ideas for
subplots to include and the finer points of characterization. Having to
describe Ai's personality to one of my prereaders, for example, helped me get
a better idea of who Ai is.
Still, as a general rule, give your prereaders at *least* a week to look
a fic over, and be prepared to give them more time if needed.
Of course, another good rule is don't preread if you have yet to learn
the finer points of grammar and/or spelling -- and use them in your
commentary. For some strange reason, it helps to be able to understand what
your prereader is talking about, and it's *very* nice to know that your
prereader knows what they are talking about, too...
--Ryo Hoshi