Thoughts while reading

[macklingirl]

Did you ever have the feeling of betrayal while reading a Pros-story? I mean the feeling you have when you realise that the summary of the very long story has unfortunately been the best part of the story.

The story has more than 43000 words and the summary says "A man from Bodie's past seeks revenge, he wants Bodie dead but first he wants him to suffer like he as. Can CI5 save him before John Morgan get his wish and kills him",  so I thought "Wonderful. That could be a good h/c Bodie story." And I wanted to know why this John Morgan wants to kill Bodie. So I started reading.

But after the second chapter I had to stop for a while. I couldn't find out if the author is a native speaker or not, but I really, really wish she would have had a beta reader for her story. It seems as if the whole story was translated via google translator. There are never-ending sentences without any comma, some seem like three sentences in one. And there are lots and lots of missing letters and sometimes, for me, the whole sentence doesn't make sense.

And then I've read the reviews and they all say "Wow, what a great story." or "Very well written" and so on. So I think, maybe it is only me who has the problems and maybe it is because I'm not a native speaker. Or am I too spoiled by our authors? I mean, we have really very good authors writing the Big Bang stories or stories for the DIALJ challenges.

I'm curious how the story will end (at the moment Bodie is alive and six feet under in a coffin), but I must admit I'm happy when I reach the end and can read something better written.

For all who are interested, the link is under the cut.


For all who are interested: R-for-Revenge

Comments

[macklingirl.livejournal.com]

Hello *waves back*.
Nice to see you around. It's like you said, the typos and spelling mistakes and the missing letters divert my attention too and that is something that I never would have thought. I mean, my English isn't the best ever and I think when I'm able to find such things others must have found them too.

Sometimes I ask myself if it could be that native speakers read more superficially. I have a good friend (she teaches histories at the university) who is able to finish a book in one hour when I need a day. But she doesn't find any typos or logical faults and she can't remember what she read when she reads for fun. But she will tell you the book was fine. *g*

And yes, sometimes you'll find a really talented author there.

[freetraveller15.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not English mother tongue either, though I've been working in English-speaking environments for nearly thirty years, and yet my command of English, especially in terms of idioms and vocabulary, could never be the same as a native speaker. I am relatively slow reader in English too, compared to most native speakers, but my reading speed may also depend on the type of text and whether I read 'for work' or for leisure. For sure, having a degree in Languages makes me — even against my better intentions 😉 — perhaps more attentive and careful than some native speakers. I think especially with fiction, if a story is very well written and has a riveting plot, I tend to be torn between the desire to read fast to see how the story unfolds and the opposite desire to read slowly to as to savour the good writing for longer... :)