While things like this don't exactly help my faith in my writing skills, it does help me know what not to do when writing.

After all, that's how I improved - by reading OFUs and PPC missions. I reckon we could actually make some people care about improving their writing, but not everyone. Everyone but the people who think any sort of negative review is a flame, even concrit. There's not much that can be done in that situation.

I've noticed, when reading PPC missions, that sometimes the agents will just point out an error offhand, scribble it down on the charge list, and speak to each other in effective shorthand, which is fun and easy but won't really help confused and not-so-good-yet writers understand why. On the other hand, sometimes the writer of the mission swill make an effort to have the agents explain the problem/error as well as possible solutions (without being so obvious as to 'turn to the audience' and talk directly; it still has to be in character for the agents' dialogue), which can indeed be very helpful, and is far more direct, without being a preachy speech.

As for your first question - I'd say it depends entirely on who does the reading. I was already a nitpicky fanatic before I found the PPC, and I don't personally know anyone who's read it and then begun a crusade to save fanfic, but I don't see why it can't convince people to care, only that I haven't seen it myself.

I think that the PPC does serve a quite valuable purpose. It shows what's wrong with certain stories- SPAG issues, Mary Sues, etc- and then, most importantly, tells you how to fix it. I know I have a few badfics in my past (I started out doing HP fanfic, but have never returned to it, thank Glod), but a few things helped me get better at writing. One was taking a creative writing class Senior year of High School, but the other was finding people who consistently wrote goodfic (bitemetechie is a primary example of this; she's a genius at it). The PPC helps spread the fact that there are, in fact, goodfics out there, since the missions themselves are (hopefully) meant to be such things.

As for the second question, I think it's honestly how the person reading the missions takes the intent (having fun and spreading goodfic)and what they do with what they learn: Mary Sues are bad, good grammar is non-negotiable, etc.

I know I'm just rambling here. Take it as you will.

Pretzel

Or else, what's the point, really?

I for one, agree with the first bit. My writing has improved dramatically since I first joined this, and it's extremely noticeable. I look back at my earlier work and it seems like it's been written by an entirely different person.

Maybe it's because I started caring. I first started writing stories and the like simply because my overactive imagination demanded it, but now that I've begun to care, actually put effort into what I put down... Wanted what I put down in the words to be more vivid, more tangible...

Anyways. The people who don't want to change most likely won't. It's possible for someone who doesn't care about their writing to start caring, but don't expect it to happen to everyone, okay? I know for one that some people enjoy writing terribly, and others think that writing well isn't worth the effort. That's obviously wrong, because it's absolutely thrilling to see your work be appreciated when you actually put lots of effort into it.

As for your other question, I can see where you're coming from here. But sometimes, it's not worth cushioning the blows. If you try to soften your opinion on someone else's writing, it might lose the meaning you were trying to get across. Though it may seem harsh, it is sometimes necessary to tell the flat out truth as opposed to a sugar-coated lie.

...I smiled at the last sentence. XD

PPCing has made me very much aware of all the things to look out for to write goodfic. I haven't written much other than missions for a few years now, but that's because my main failing is a good plot. I never have enough ideas to get me past the first chapter.

Anyway, that's me. I've receive comments from people that my missions encourage them to go back to their own stories and fix that problem I had just made them aware of. The people that make these comments, I think, are already pretty aware of what makes goodfic. I take it as a compliment that they also learn from me.

I've heard from a few people whose fic I "targeted" that, in retrospect, they appreciate the comments I made.

I recently had a discussion with someone that does not think PPCing is the right way to get people to write beter stories. She suggested rather than publicly point out all the bad in a story, I should write in essay an PM the Suethor. I doubt that is going to make the Suethor any more likely to use my advice. Plus, it's less fun for me to write.

I don't think there is a way to maximize the chance that people will learn something from my writing. Or rather, I don't know if it is possible to improve that chance from what it is now.