I've had experience with beta-reading in that I currently am for somebody in the Outsiders fandom. I also read over rough drafts of school assignments for friends (they know who to go to, lol), and I beta for my friend Amy who posts her Four Brothers fic here. She is my "official" beta in return.

As an efficient beta reader, I will not write your story or correct your mistakes for you -- that's your job. I will highlight what you did wrong and what you can do to fix the problem, for now and for the future, but you will be expected to go back and correct it yourself. I'm not going to come up with your plot for you. In fact, if you want me to beta for you, you should already have some semblance of a plot in mind. I will, at times, throw out ideas if you are especially stuck -- nothing concrete, because it's your story, not mine, but nothing you can't build around, either.

I will be honest with you regarding mistakes and corrections, etc. I won't tell you what you want to hear or colorfully paint your story with praise; I think that's a mistake a lot of betas make. If your story truly *is* great, that's fine -- you can be sure, then, that I'll tell you so. If it's not so great, don't expect that I'll lie and tell you how wonderful it is; that's not how beta-ing or reviewing works. I'll be firm where I have to be, but I'm never mean or unnecessarily harsh, and I don't "flame." (Oh, and don't take what I said previously the wrong way -- I *will* point out things about your story that I liked or that stuck out to me, I just won't praise you for something more than is necessary, or go over-the-top with it.)

I'll look for what I would normally look for when I edit my own stories: spelling and grammar, punctuation, formatting, awkward wording and sentence structure, tense shifting, general flow, anachronisms, plot holes, good characterization, etc. I will be sure to catch and highlight your mistakes but, as I've said, I will not physically fix them for you. My goal as a beta is not only to help you become a better writer but to help you learn -- if I fix all your mistakes myself, you aren't learning anything.

Also, research -- I'll help you out with that and give you links to where you can look things up and clarify, but that's another thing you've got to do yourself. Research is very, very important -- don't assume you know everything, and don't assume you don't have to do it.

If you are someone who can't deal with constructive criticism and advice and take it to heart, if not use it, then I would suggest finding somebody else to help you.

*Spelling and grammar. Spelling is possibly my greatest strength, and I'm terrific about catching any and all mistakes in this area. You should be using spell check already (just so mistakes don't become excessive and overwhelm me ... plus spell check is your friend), but you won't have to worry too much about it. I'm good with grammar, as well, especially those things that Microsoft Word often fails to catch -- for example "there," "their," and "they're."

*Anachronisms. Somebody whipping out a pink RAZR cell phone in 1968? A human contracting AIDS in 1975? A song playing on the radio that in actuality didn't come out for another three years? If there is something unfitting for a certain time period, I'll catch it and you'll hear about it.

*Awkward wording and sentence structure. I'm good about catching words and phrasing that seems wrong or out of place, and I'll offer an alternate word or sentence as an example that you may think about using or modeling after instead.

*The Sixties and the Vietnam War. I know far more about them than somebody my age should, so you'll never have to worry about this with me.

*Formatting. I'm good about catching lines of dialogue that are somewhere they shouldn't be, unnecessary block paragraphs, etc.

*Punctuation.

*Cliched plots. I'm not too seasoned to not notice these, lol.

*Detail and description. I love detail and use it often in my own writing, so I'd be very helpful there. I can also tell you when descriptions are getting too flowery or purple prose-y.

*Tense shifting. It's difficult -- sometimes, it slips right by me and I just don't notice it. Which is why I would strongly suggest reading your story over yourself before sending it to me and after receiving it back, as you might be able to catch something I missed or something that you overlooked that can be easily remedied.

*Characterization. Unfortunately, when it comes to fanfiction, characterization is my biggest downfall. I have a hard enough time keeping characters in-character when I write, and sometimes I just don't catch bad characterization when I'm reading, either, unless it's completely blatant and wrong. This doesn't mean I never catch characterization mistakes, it just means I don't always pick up on them.

*Procrastination. I admit that I'm lazy and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. I can work around a time limit if you need your story back by or before a certain time, but otherwise, don't expect it back right away. And don't send me hate mail. I'll get to it, I promise, but I have a life too.

*Feedback. Just as if I were reviewing, sometimes I get stuck with knowing what to say and there will be times where there is very little of my opinion on the overall story. Expect that, but please don't take it personally. It doesn't by any means indicate that I don't like what you've written (nor does it always mean you've left me speechless, so don't let it go to your head), it just means I couldn't formulate the words to give you a decent critique.

Since I've branched into the Four Brothers fandom, I would for the time being prefer beta-ing stories for that section only. I'm still writing for The Outsiders, but that's just not what I'm focusing on right now.

I'm a hopeless romantic, so I don't mind romances. In fact, I love them. However, they have to be good, concrete romances with a plot, not just self-serving fluff with flat characters. If you think the romance in your story might be too cheesy or too flowery, then you might want to rethink sending it to me.

I'm pretty much open to any other genre, but romance, drama, and comedy would probably be my best.

I like Jack-centric stories. Would it be too cliche of me to say that he is my favorite character? LOL. It's true. I will beta stories involving any of them, because I love them all, but as a reader I'd probably be more inclined to read something that involved him the most.

I love original ideas (original for a fanfic fandom, that is), so don't be afraid to share them with me. If I'm already beta-ing a story for you and you have an idea for something new, I'd love to hear about it and I'd be happy to help you with planning and all that good stuff.

*Incest and slash. I'm not a homophobic and I have no problem at all with homosexuality; I just don't like slash, and I don't read it. Incest, on the other hand, is absolutely wrong and disgusting and you should know better than to be writing it in the first place.

*MPreg. It just makes no sense to me, it's disgusting, and I won't read it.

*Porn. A little sexuality is okay, but I'm old-fashioned and can only take so much of it. I won't read it if it starts getting too descriptive (descriptive/excessive porn really isn't allowed on FF.net, anyway).

*Stories written in other languages. Sorry, but I'm limited in French and the only language I'm fluent in is, obviously, English.

*Stories involving lots of blood and gore. I'm terribly squeamish, even just reading about it, so I probably wouldn't be the right beta for you if your story gets heavy with the blood and violence. That's also why I won't do horror stories, either.

*Songfics. As much as I love music, I just can't deal with them.

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