A mini-resume here, perhaps? Maybe not, but I'll at least put some history of my writing here.

I've been playing RPGs since I was really young (five, maybe?), starting from some of the most popular ones (such as Chrono Trigger) to some of the not-so-popular ones (at least, I know Legend of Legaia and Alundra wasn't too popular). But hey, what does this RPG-gaming have to do with my writing skills, you ask? Well, RPGs have all kinds of storylines, so you could say it's a kind of training. I can help with the storyline flow (i.e. how well the story develops and grows).

My first completed novel was in year 2000... of course, it was nowhere near perfect. It was riddled with such horrible narration that I feel ashamed just reading it... but it had the foundations of a good story, however badly written it was, and it clearly followed the introduction-development-climax-conclusion phases. Though I have to admit, the grammar was good for that time... even if it had bad narration.

Since then, I've been writing and ditching many stories, some with promising storyline but had never seen completion. They're all mostly fantasy-type stories; your typical good-guy-versus-bad-guy sorcery-filled adventures, with mythical creatures such as (yes, you've guessed it) Dragons. I've been writing for years, stopping for two years (2005 - 2006) due to personal reasons, but I guess I'm good enough to not be counted as a horrible writer... at least, I hope so.

So if you've read my stories and like it, and have a story that you want beta-read, you could send it in. Though if I don't respond immediately / overnight, it usually means I'm busy. No worries though; I usually update my story(ies) on Saturday, so you can usually expect a response over the weekend. Of course, I can't help it if my Internet decides to be funny and die on me during then, or if I'm out of town. I'll eventually get back to you in due time.

However, there are two condition to this beta-reading process; for the purpose of keeping myself not pressed for time (hey, I need time for gaming too!), I'll only accept a maximum of 3 stories for me to beta-read.

The other condition is... well, the aim for having a beta-reader to read your work is to provide an opinion on how the story can be improved, but not take part in the writing itself; therefore I won't directly involve myself in the writing of your story. It means I'll not touch a single character in the document, if you send me one, and I won't be sending the edited version of the document back to you; therefore, the final draft of your story won't look like my mine. I'll instead be offering constructive criticisms that may help you improve your writing. This is because I don't want my writing style to affect yours; every author will have a writing style of his / her own, including you, and if I were to fix the document myself, it'll look like my style and not yours; this, hopefully, will help you improve on your own and develop your own writing style.

With that said, if you do choose to have me become a beta-reader to your story, I'll do my best to improve your story as much as possible, to the extent of my skills.

-Grammar. While my grammar isn't perfect (I still make mistakes and blunders here and there), I feel that it's pretty strong.

-Storyline flow. Of course, I don't parade myself as the best story writer out there, but at least I can help some with the storyline flow, i.e. how well your story develops and grows. I'll be using the introduction-development-climax-conclusion flowchart as my reference.

-Dramatic scenes. Good for short stories and novel scenes that warrant such drama (not drama as in TV dramas... well, you know). An example of this? You could read my one-shot, Breath of Fire III: Protector; that's as much drama I can muster in a story.

-Point-of-view description. Narration is important to show and tell readers things, and if done properly, it will make your story a more emotive piece of writing. I'm not perfect, certainly, but I can help you to describe the scene in your chosen character's point-of-view.

-Vocabulary. Yes, sadly, while it seems good enough, my vocabulary isn't as extensive as the dictionary, plus I often can't remember synonyms off my head, so can't help much there. That's why I rely a lot on Dictionary (dot) com and Thesaurus (dot) com.

-Constructive criticisms. What does it mean? I'm not too good at telling people what's good about their writing, only what can be improved in your writing. Even then, only up to a certain extent; if you find I don't have much to say about your writing, it means it's good enough and you don't need my help with it.

-Battle tactics. Battle scenes are important, of course, but my skill is limited; while I can describe a battle well enough, describe one movement at a time, I can't help much with battle tactics. War-like stories, like in the Suikoden series, or stories with a character (or characters) who can device various battle strategies, are my downfall. I can't help you much with battle tactics.

-Humour. Sadly, this is another one of my downfall; while I do have a sense of humour, it's rather... mild. So don't expect me to help you with humourous scenes, I ask my brothers for help with that.

-Non-modern English. Yes, I've tried to make Garr's style of speech in my Breath of Fire III: Of Gods and Dragons as close to Elizabethan English as possible, but as you can see, it gradually became modern English. Bleh.

I tend to prefer fantasy-genre stories compared to other types such as mystery, horror and supernatural... not only that, I don't really like fantasy stories that take place in modern / real-life world. Of course, there might be fantasy stories that have really great technology to the point it becomes partially sci-fi, but the moment the place looks, sounds, and feels like our own modern world in the 21st century... well, I tend to shy away.

Partial sci-fi is okay, and so are other genres such as romance and friendship, as long as the main genre is fantasy. Though that's usually the case with RPGs, isn't it?

Short chapters. As I normally write chapters around the 7,000 - 8,000 words range, I find anything less than 2,000 words too short, so please have a chapter/short story that has at least 5 pages (Times New Roman 12pt, extra line between paragraphs) or 2,000 words, give or take some number of words. Not that I won't read it if you give me... but I won't feel as enthusiastic with short chapters.

Also, if you portray Dragons as a completely evil race... well, it's not my cup of tea. Chances are this won't happen, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Game » Breath of Fire

Game » Legend of Legaia

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Angst Fantasy Tragedy

Family Hurt/Comfort Friendship