Author:
... reflection on the year's events.
I realise with a shock that I have been "Julina"ing for well over a year, and I have been heavily involved in other aspects of Anmarian life. Sometimes I feel that I live on Anmar and not on Earth! I almost find myself using "I deem" in everyday language.
I must start with congratulating Erin and Co for all the work they put into this site - I have appreciated it fully. Some upgrades were a little more problematical than others, but I applaud them all for getting it done. I also applaud them for giving us a site that we all - or most of us anyway - enjoy so very much. I must thank you deeply.
I cannot think of this year on BCTS without thinking of Penny. I just want to publicly declare my thanks to you for such a great scenario. And also for your assistance to a nervous and retiring newbie - you have enabled me to fly!
I would like to pick out both Angharad and Cyclist for my next mentions. They too have kept me riveted to my screen as I devour their outpourings.
Others have also provided me with great pleasure, and I have been in touch with them via PMs to tell them so.
Some others, I find, I cannot enjoy their writings - but this is MY fault not necessarily theirs.
I don't know why, but I seem to have an eye for other writer's mistakes when I read and when these mistakes (the old 'lose and loose', or 'heel and heal' etc. discussion is what I am on about here) get too much, then I get turned off. I sometimes wish it didn't happen, but that's the way my cookie has crumbled.
It's the same with authors who write in what THEY think is French - unfortunately, my French is pretty good and I know very soon when they make mistakes and try to pass them off as authentic.
And the same for some of the German here. Most of it is frankly execrable, and it bothers me that some readers who do not know better would think that this is 'correct'. I have offered to proofread it but my offer has not even been acknowledged.
Yes, I know that some might be typos, but not all of them. And not repeated mistakes.
Just one silly example:
The German word for 'wine' is 'wein'.
The German word for 'religious ordinations or consecrations etc. etc.' is 'Weihen'
So Christmas in German has a specific meaning, and is in fact 'Weihnachten' - 'ordination, or consecration, nights'.
It is NOT 'Weinachten' which would mean 'Wine respects'.
So once without the 'h' would be OK, I could treat it as a typo - but more than five times is 'deliberate' ignorance. And I get frustrated. So I shall continue to ignore those stories as I know I shall just get upset.
As I said, I just hope that readers don't take this dreadful stuff as genuine.
However, I wish to register strongly now that this is all a minority. I really didn't want to spend so much of this tribute in negativity.
I congratulate our writers on their wide variety of thought, and their wide variety of plots and their wide variety of scenarios - settings, twists, cliff-hangers and all the other 'tools of the trade'.
This is a site worth preserving, so I beg of you all to do what you can.
Have an excellent 2015
Thank you all
Julia
Comments
RE: foreign languages and typos
I'm a compulsive editor. I can't read a piece without noticing typos and miss used word. Since I read very little online (I cut and paste to my word processor -- an old dial-up habit) I can't help but make corrections as I read. If it gets too bad, I just stop reading.
As for foreign languages... if the story makes too much use of another language, then that's just a turn off in and of itself. I find myself going to online translators to verify the words and if it proves to be incorrect beyond a typo excusable mistake it too grates me.
I'm not a prolific writer, nor a great writer, but I to have a decent command of the English (US) and have, by necessity have learned the UK version well enough to read it without wondering too much what the author is trying to say.
I know I'm guilty of flying without an editor, but if someone were to offer to proof read for me, I'd be glad to let them have a shot at it. To turn down such an offer is to declare that you are incapable of making mistakes, even typos or that you just plain don't care.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin ein femininer Mann
If You Have a Problem
.. with my use of a language - English included - I will gratefully receive your advice. Please tell me. I just caught a horrible error in my use of ménages à trois. I'm glad I caught it because it would have been very embarrassing.
Portia
It's a problem
The object is to enjoy hobby writing without holding it to a professional standard. I've been a professional proofreader, copy editor, editor and publisher. I've even been a typesetter. :) I speak three languages with varying degrees of success, I've studied five others and I can puzzle my way through another half dozen or so.
Relax, let it flow. If you are reading a post by an American, be content that at least they are aware of other languages. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Well it's the difference in splashing words on a page
... versus crafting it with care and a sense of pride. Good writing takes a good deal of time and effort. Once in a while I take a story I really like and edit a copy for myself but that is rare since it takes a lot of effort to refine grammar, pacing and story structure. I don't do any plot revisions as that is the authors' prerogative.
It is sad however, how many hours of editing I need to iron out all the wrinkles though.
Ich wünche ihnen
eine gesegnete Sonnenwende.
with love,
HER
Once in a while I bare my soul, more often my soles bear me.
Ab Sonntag, vergangen,
werden die Tage allmähig länger.
with love,
HER
Once in a while I bare my soul, more often my soles bear me.
Thank you!
I always appreciate a compliment. At the moment, the two works in progress here are being left to mature while I work on revising and proofing 'Sweat and Tears' for publication. I am taking legal advice on the very direct and critical references to a real person in that book, but as he is dead, I am assuming I am safe. Just want to be sure.