I am willing to beta-read for Tolkien authors. My focus is The Silmarillion, though I will (and do) occasionally beta LotR stories. I am a published author both creatively and academically and have worked as an editor in the past. I am happy to assist authors of Tolkien-based fiction who wish to improve their work.



I generally provide two types of betas:



Copyedit. For authors who want or need a fresh pair of eyes to look for mechanical and grammatical errors in their writing, I am happy to help. I enjoy working also with ESL authors looking to improve their written English abilities.



Full Beta. A full critique of your story, including style, characterization, plot, imagery/metaphor, and point of view. I am happy to work with young authors, new writers, and ESL writers.



Please contact me by PM or email with a description of your story, a rough estimation of the story's length, and what you're looking for from a beta. We can start talking from there about whether we'd be a good beta-author match.

I am good a word-smithing, at tightening up stories that need some work on the sentence-level. As a writer, readers most often point out my writing style and characterization as what they like the most about my stories, so authors who would like feedback in this area are encouraged to contact me.



I am very well-versed in J.R.R. Tolkien's canon of the First Age and earlier. Please feel free to contact me for research help with this material. However, please be forewarned that I take a rather non-conventional approach to Tolkien's canon. Those who want right-or-wrong answers in terms of canon are likely to find me frustrating rather than helpful.

As mentioned in the profile, I publish my own fiction as well as writing Tolkien-based fanfic. I run the only Silmarillion fiction archive on the web. I am a teacher of special-needs students and have an active (if unusual) social life. Therefore, time is always short for me.



Authors who need an immediate response on their stories probably should not contact me for help. I can generally return a chapter in one to two weeks. For authors I've worked with before, I can offer a faster turn-around in emergencies.



I am not a plot-based writer. As such, while I'm happy to critique plot, I usually do not have much to offer in this area. I prefer to help authors who wish to tighten their characterization or the writing itself.

I prefer Silmarillion stories.

I will not read fanfic that is not Tolkien-based, sorry. I absolutely will not read-or lend support-to stories designed to mock or put down other authors. For that, I will not apologize.

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