Beta Bio: general description as a beta reader
UPDATE: Okay, apparrently I haven't made myself clear enough about expectations. Or rather, what you as a writer should expect from me. I AM anally retentive when it comes to grammatical errors. I will NOT sit back and say that your sentence structure is fantastic when it's all written in chat speak, and your characterization is wonderful when Bella and Edward are grinding up against each other in a nightclub. I WILL point these things out to you. I'm not going to sit there and gush to you if your story is riddled with mistakes and your plotlines are ridiculous.
Don't get me wrong, I give credit and praise where credit and praise are due - in my notes to authors, I start out with what I thought they did well, but then I'm also going to tell you what I thought you didn't do so well, and how to improve on it. Understand this: beta's are certainly NOT reviewers. We are there to tear your stories to shreds and HELP you put them back together in some kind of coherent, readable form. We're the non-biased voice you need in order to get a decent idea of how your story will be received by your readers. If you want to hear that everything's gr8&koolandomg!!1Ilovurstorie!!!! then go and call your friends, not me. Cause I sure won't be doing that. Do NOT send me something that you know is well below minimal legibility requirements for the English language and then complain and abuse me when I send it back to you covered in red, because all I will say is that you should have seen it coming.
I tend to take a while to beta-read someones work, and that's because I like to make sure I've picked up as many errors - grammatical or otherwise - as I possibly can. That, and my life does get in the way sometimes - I AM a full-time university student with a part-time job, so please be patient. I won't make you wait three months to get your work back, but you won't be getting it in two hours either. I usually do most of my "free time computing" late in the afternoon and at night, when I'm a little tired. Wait about a week, THEN you have my full permission to send me a kick via PM or email.
I read through each piece several times, both to myself and out a loud just to make sure it sounds right. My expectations from you as a writer are that as beta reader, that's ALL I am. I have been sent stories before that were so bad grammatical wise, that I was re-writing entire paragraphs. I don't want to do that, because then it's not my work anymore. I refuse to be a "ghost writer". I will only read through people's stories in order to fix minor grammatical errors and offer constructive criticism on the structure, story line and characterization. If it's AU, you should specify that in your summary, because otherwise I'll knit-pick like crazy. Even if you don't want me to beta your story as such, feel free to send it to me if you want advice on the story itself. I will NOT "help" people with their story by writing entire chapters for them. |
My Strengths: beta, writing, or reading strengths
I'm just generally good at writing professionally. Grammar and sentence structure are definitely strengths of mine. I enjoy being of help to other people when they need a non-biased opinion on their work, and I'm happy to help out by checking for any mistakes they may have missed. |
My Weaknesses: beta, writing, or reading weaknesses
I do sometimes miss the occasional mispelled word. I also tend to do all of my beta-ing after work and in the afternoons, when I'm tired. I can easily miss little errors like that. I'm far from full-proof, so have quick read through your story first before you send it to me to fix up any obvious mistakes. |
Preferred: types of entries I prefer over others
I would prefer to beta stories from sections of the site that I am associated with. For example, that would be anything from Final Fantasy VII - XII, Elfen Lied, Chobits, Moon Phase, Twilight, The Host, Gossip Girl, Maximum Ride, etc. There are plenty of other anime/books/games I've seen, played and read - check out the extensive list at the bottom of this page. |
Would Rather Not: types of entries I do not want to beta for
Things that are usually not my cup of tea include anything that's slash/yaoi/yuri/ etc. Basically, anything that's not cannon. I have nothing against lemons, as long as they're tastefully done. I'm also not a huge fan of AU atories. Slight deviations in the world of the story are fine, but I'm not big on vampires being preganant or human, and best friends being rapists (if you've read Twilight, you'll know what I mean.) |
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