My reasons for beta-reading are something of a double-edged sword, in that I hope to benefit others as well as myself. But consistantly, and thoroughly, checking work I will consequently notice these things within my own prose (and let's not forget you should learn something, too). Through this mutual gain, we should all come away happy.
I tend to do a 'shallow readng' first, noting physical errors such as grammar, spelling or punctuation. I then move onto a deeper interpretation which will allow me to note characterisation etc, or lack of - as the case may be.
I will not accept work with no sentence structure, paragraphing or punctuation. These things we learn in primary school; I am not babying people who should know better. I expect imperfect, but potentially good work, that just needs that added finesse. And there is no point giving me work if you do not like critques; you will get one, so stop dwelling in a delusion - no one is perfect.

My specialities lie in characterisation, plot development, and numerous techniques; symbolism, imagery, pathetic fallacy etc. My vocabulary is quite extensive, so word choice is extremely important in what I read and write. I like inventive writing; themes of beauty and cruelty, and a particular dark side of romance. As far as genre is concerned, my strengths are romance, thriller, horror and drama. Tragicomedy, I can do, but I'm not a big comical fan; my humour is hard to transmute to paper.

I may miss punctuation errors if I become too engrossed in the story (which may well happen!) but not on a usual basis. Writing wise, I often worry that I may evoke certain clichés unintentionally, even though it pains me to read them. I try to avoid that as much as possible.

Originality; if you have a story which bears little similarity to one you've read, I would be most intrigued to see it. It is true that people say each story is the same, just regurgitated. Well, I would like to read this story's most unique reincarnation. Fanfiction-wise (because that's what this site is, isn't it?) The things I write fics for are the ones I tend to like, though that is not exclusive, it is good to know.

I loathe Naruto, among some other particular anime/manga so I may reject your work right away. I'm sorry, but the content would kill me. I have no objection to sexually explicit work, or any non-straight pairings. In short, I will take ultra-violence, general gore, erotica of all sorts, drug-use etc with a smile on my face. I will not, however, tolerate anything unecessary to the effectiveness of the story (if your character swears for no reason, is racist for no reason, decides to rape someone for no reason - I WILL NOT be happy. You are not only acting a fool, you are insulting real writers on this site and worldwide.)

All Anime/Manga

All Books

All Games

General Romance Drama

Poetry Horror Parody

Angst Supernatural Fantasy

Tragedy Hurt/Comfort