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Note to future self:
Never send someone who doesn't read outside a very narrow section of SF (hard SF, mostly) your space opera novel to beta read. The resulting commentary full of insults that you don't know how to write and that stories that don't focus on the technology aren't "really SF" is not only not helpful but rage-making, and you will have to figure out the most polite way to say, "You have no idea what you're talking about" without coming across as That Writer saying "You just doooon't understaaaaaaand my viiiiiision."
picardrikerdoublefacepalm.jpg
Never send someone who doesn't read outside a very narrow section of SF (hard SF, mostly) your space opera novel to beta read. The resulting commentary full of insults that you don't know how to write and that stories that don't focus on the technology aren't "really SF" is not only not helpful but rage-making, and you will have to figure out the most polite way to say, "You have no idea what you're talking about" without coming across as That Writer saying "You just doooon't understaaaaaaand my viiiiiision."
picardrikerdoublefacepalm.jpg
no subject
Date: 2011-08-19 04:52 pm (UTC)From:Genre snobs make me crazy. The rest of the "mainstream" world already thinks we're not worth the paper we're printed on, we don't need our own being judgemental.
Also, just in general, being insulting is no way to beta/edit. Not even if what you're editing is crap (which yours is not). It's just not helpful, and reflects ill not on the work/writer but on the editor.
ANYWAY. I hope you're getting some useful comments out of your other beta-readers!
no subject
Date: 2011-08-19 08:34 pm (UTC)From:But starting out with "you don't know how to write, and you don't even know what science fiction is"? Well, kindly go fuck yourself, sir.
But lets be honest, this isn't really a science fiction story, it uses (very little) science fiction as a skin over a story that otherwise wants to fit into a different genre. Which doesn't make it bad - there are plenty of successful stories that use a sci fi skin (and even get called sci fi). Star Wars is a prominent example. Star Wars is a Western that uses a science fiction skin. But not only is your tech entirely in the background, it does nothing particularly exciting or novel. The closest you get is FTL, and your use of it is entirely mundane. Your story could be told on earth today, more or less, and might even be better if you chose to do so.