Beta Bio: general description as a beta reader
I talk a lot, sorry. :P
Hi! I’m Mimi, and I’ve been doing this for a while so I’m pretty sure I’m good at what I do. In fact, I've beta read so many works that it’s hard for me to read novels without noticing an error or two here and there. Kind of annoying, to be honest, knowing I can’t do anything about those mistakes. I'm not saying I’m professional, definitely not, but I’ve got plenty of experience. If you want, you can determine whether I'm worthy by looking at the latest thing I've written.
If you think I can be of any help, don't hesitate to send me an email or PM. I would most likely respond within several hours, since I check my email literally thirty times a day. I’ll most likely accept your request, unless you caught me in the middle of exams week or something.
My beta reading style goes like this: I first go through the document quickly, scanning for general weaknesses. Then I’d go more slowly and bust out the colorful highlighters. Everything’s color-coded because it’s practical and pretty. :P I highlight problematic words and phrases to refer to them, with my comments in parentheses. I’ll highlight any changes I’ve made too, the exceptions being typos, spelling errors, punctuation, and anything else I’m completely sure about.
Your document might come back with way too much rainbow text because — and I warn you — I am extremely nit-picky. I will point out every little bit that bothers me. I could be wrong; I could be right. And that’s why it’s all up to you if you want to change anything. If it’s a recurring technical error, be prepared for some grammar/punctuation lessons, because I want you to improve in that area yourself, not just let me correct it for you.
If you ever feel the need to ignore something I corrected and truly, truly think that I'm wrong, by all means, keep it the way it was before I changed it. I'm not perfect. If you think it sounded correct before, change it back.
One important thing: I WORK ALONE. I don’t like to co-beta stories. At all. I admit that I am rather obsessive when it comes to beta reading, and I do not like knowing that there’s another person being your beta for that same story. Especially if you reject my judgment for theirs. It happened once, and I got irrationally angry that the author chose to listen to another beta on something technical when I was SURE I was right. I don't mind if you yourself change something I corrected, but it hurts if you ignore me for someone else. I work independently, and if you can't accept that I think it would be best if you look for someone else. |
My Strengths: beta, writing, or reading strengths
DIALOGUE. I took part in a month-long writing workshop once, and the teacher there praised how natural my dialogue sounds. I like to think I’m good at varying it.
MECHANICS AND FORMAT. The same writing workshop teacher was impressed by my technical skills, especially in punctuation. Many, many, many people (including distinguished writers on this site and even beta readers themselves) are not aware that their punctuation used in dialogue is incorrect. Even though it's a tiny detail, it bothers me so much because almost everyone gets it wrong. I actually spent a few hours writing a guide for this, which I titled “How to Use Correct Punctuation in Dialogue.” The link is in my profile, so give it a look if you’re a perfectionist.
SPELLING. I always aced my spelling tests back in elementary school. But since most of you use spellcheck anyway (hint: DO IT), I don't really have to do much. But I can easily spot typos and incorrectly used homophones and the like.
CATCHING THINGS THAT SOUND REPETITIVE. I have beta read for a client who had a habit of repeating words or phrases, which makes the sentences awkward-sounding, so I have a bit of experience with that.
MAKING THE STORY MORE BELIEVABLE. There's nothing I dislike more than a story where everything is so perfect, the events so ridiculous, or the OCs are such Mary-Sues/Gary-Lous. Even if it takes forever to get to the action, I need to give the story a realistic feel, although I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing.
FLOW. I suck so badly at this in my own writing—but I can easily detect areas in other people’s writing that lack flow. |
My Weaknesses: beta, writing, or reading weaknesses
Those dreadful COMMAS. xP I absolutely hate them. I have only a general knowledge of where to place them, so if you ever notice that I added/removed some of your commas, I can't guarantee that it would be accurate. Personally, I don’t use them enough.
DESCRIPTIONS. Describing a room, someone's feelings, a person's looks—I can't do it very well. If you've ever read any of my work, you can tell that it's difficult for me to describe things in a way that you can picture it in your mind. I won't be of much help if you shove a paragraph at me and ask if it’s descriptive enough.
Developing a stable ROMANCE. I love romance. But writing it? It's very difficult for me. The only relationship I can manage is a relationship where the two "lovers" despise each other's guts. And it's not a love-hate thing, just... hate. I always run into problems when I have to try and figure out how the heck the two are supposed to fall for each other, without making it overly sappy and unrealistic.
VOCABULARY. For my age, my vocabulary can be described as average, at best. Nothing spectacular. Can't you tell? I have what people would call a casual vocabulary. If you want me to help spice up your story, I'd probably make it worse, but I can try my best.
SPEED. I'm a /very/ slow person, probably because I'm lazy. When it comes to beta reading I’m pretty thorough, so if you prefer quality over speed, I’m your girl. :D We can negotiate how fast you want a chapter back, of course. |
Preferred: types of entries I prefer over others
I'd like at least a bit of romance (unless it’s a humor fic, in which case I can do without), but I’m pretty much okay with anything. I work best with serious fics, though, when it comes to plot. I’ll put my hardest effort into Cardcaptor Sakura fics, since I am extremely familiar with the plot and characters. That does not mean that I will do a sloppy job if you send me, say, a Kingdom Hearts fic. It only means I'll be able to give you more help with the canon stuff if it's CCS.
I am also a huge fan of (well-written) crack fics, just to let you know. Crack/odd pairings are acceptable too. I will never reject a fanfiction merely because I dislike the pairing. I'm open to all fics with any pairings, including same-sex ones. Boy love? Yes. :D
But sad or fluffy fics are great too! |
Would Rather Not: types of entries I do not want to beta for
Horror. -shudders- I’m a total wimp, so I would rather not beta read fics with descriptions of extremely gory scenes or scenes that would plant disturbing images in my head, causing me to wake up screaming at three in the morning, an hour before I wake up, when I am all alone and everything is far too quiet.
Anything that’s entirely in script form, especially if it's one of those author/characters Truth or Dare interaction things. Aren’t those not allowed anyway?
Stories with many OCs that play main roles and/or are described meticulously to the last, unnecessary detail. They just throw me off for some reason. A couple OCs are okay, but I'd prefer it if you not have the whole story be flooded with them.
If you honestly have no writing ability whatsoever, no grasp of the English language, I WILL reject your request. I am here to correct your technical errors, offer suggestions and commentary, lend a helping hand with plot holes, and occasionally boost your morale. I can’t do these things if you have a terrible plot or if I can’t tell if you’re writing in English or Russian. If you can’t write for your life, just practice. Writing is a skill that develops over years, not one that takes an hour to perfect.
Poorly formatted fics. This includes ones where spacings between the paragraphs are nonexistent. Do you know how difficult it is to try to read and edit a giant block of text? Without my contacts in, it looks like a black square.
Excessive fangirl Japanese. Made that mistake before as a novice writer, not making it again. Japanese with no English substitute is acceptable, like honorifics or food, but characters should never declare their love with “Aishiteru, Sakura!” |
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