… is it standard to comment on a fic with charac

[dragonlady7]

via http://ift.tt/1WcOTTJ:
… is it standard to comment on a fic with characterization notes you didn’t like and close by saying, however nicely, that you hope the author can “edit to fix” the problems? 

Like, apart from whether you have any idea what my overarching plan for the fic was, or whether you have a point or whether I was going somewhere with the character notes I did hit, is it common that authors will go back and substantially change a posted work? 

I don’t. It’s spelling, grammar, maybe small continuity, but even if I change my mind about something, I really hesitate to alter a published work. 

I feel like that’s a really shocking thing to ask for, in a comment on a 65k WIP that the author has repeatedly assured in chapter notes is actually a completed work that’s just being finally-edited for posting.

Comments

[krait]

I was shocked, too, until you said that the work was explicitly said to be unedited/in the editing process.

If you post a fic before it's edited, and make a point of saying that an edited version is forthcoming, it seems pretty sensible that people will take that as "please let me know if you spot places in need of editing" (although I do still think that major characterisation revisions would be a bit rude to suggest).

[dragonlady7]

No no, what's posted is final.
I've completed it and am posting it as editing is complete.
I'm pretty up-front about that. It's been beta'd and is in its final form.

I have said that the fic is completed so that people don't run away from a WIP.

There is no ambiguity there.

[krait]

Ah, okay, that does make it more unusual! I took "it's being edited" as "the editing is currently happening (it is not complete)" and that was where my perspective came from.

[dragonlady7]

naw man. the rest is being edited.

as a contrast i immediately afterward got another comment that substantively said "oh my gosh this thing you wrote makes me so scared and nervous that this character will get hurt or wind up marginalized but i have such faith in you that i'm hanging on for a good resolution" and I'm like yes! exactly! oh good! yes, it's the low point of his arc, i absolutely am going to fix it, I'm glad you're nervous because you should be at this point, it means I've done my job!"

So I replied to the first person and was like well, what you want is so specific I'm afraid the only way to surely get it is to write a story yourself! I wrote this story to be a particular way, it turns out!

No, I would not post unfinished work in a finished format. I post rough drafts and deleted scenes in places, but I can't imagine the nightmare of posting an active large work under revision? How would that even work, logistically? I don't know. Not with something that long.