Beta Bio: general description as a beta reader
I'm the kind of beta you can trust to be thorough. I'll check out the grammar and spelling of your fics and I'll make suggestions about what you can do to improve sentences, paragraphs or general ideas of the story. I'll be happy to help you work out your plot, or if you're having trouble with dialogue in a certain section. You need but ask.
Like a good little beta reader, I will not tell you your story is good if it isn't. I might just not say anything. I'll be honest with you all the time, or try my best to be. I don't want to be overbearing, so I probably won't give you suggestions about the plot or events unless you ask me for it. I will make alternate suggestions about sentences or words that I don't think fit or that I think can be improved.
I like beta-ing. It's what I plan to do, on a larger scale, when I'm older. The only thing is that I can't be overwhelmed at this time of my life. Don't take it as rejection if I decide not to beta read your story. I might just have too many things to do. If I'm not accepting requests, I'll let you know why in the hiatus message.
My experience so far with beta reading has been provincial. Online, I've beta read four or five fan fictions of the Harry Potter variety. I've edited plenty of classmates' essays and reports, as well as a couple short stories my friends have written. |
My Strengths: beta, writing, or reading strengths
Grammar. I'm fairly good at it anyway, and even if I don't know the answer to something I will look it up for you.
Wording and sentence structure. If you have some awkward phrases or words that don't fit the meaning you want to give, I'm great at making different suggestions for that.
Punctuation. There's really nothing to say about this except that I'm good at correcting it.
Characterization. If I know the genre, I will know the characters in and out. You can trust that. If you need help with characterization, tell me and I'll make suggestions for improvement.
Sentence cliché. I can spot one of these a mile away. I don't like them. If you want to know why it's because people won't think you can actually come up with anything deep in your own words. If you have any, I'll probably ask you to take them out unless you really want them there. One cliché isn't bad, but two in one chapter is just awful.
Dialogue. I rock out the dialog, so if you're having trouble coming up with something to say, let me know. If I find some dialogue in your fic that is messy, wordy or awkward, I'll fix it. I'm pretty good with accents, too.
Fantasy settings. I like working with fantasy-type fics almost as much as I like modern.
Description. If you're having trouble figuring out how to describe a setting, scene, time, expression, appearance or feeling, I'd be happy to help you out.
Feedback. You can count on some before you even post your fic. Just trust that I'll be completely honest. |
My Weaknesses: beta, writing, or reading weaknesses
Spelling. But honestly, anyone who doesn't have Word spell check nowadays is just out of touch. If you don't have it, don't worry because I'd be happy to click the spell check button for you.
Right time, right place. I don't have the best memory so history comes up as a blank. I can look if up for you, but if nothing seems like it's in the wrong time or place, I won't realize that something is not where it should be on the time line or in the right country.
Time. I'm short on it, so I'll probably only take it one fic at a time. If I don't read your fic, don't take it personally. There are only so many hours in a day.
Hyphenation. I don't get it. Sometimes I'll tell you to take one off of something that was fine. I'll try to refrain from confusing you, I promise.
Chocolate. My attempts at humor are stupid and short-lived. |
Preferred: types of entries I prefer over others
I like to see a variation, but up to this point I've only beta read Harry Potter fan fiction. The genres I've written for are the ones I know best. It would be to your benefit for me to beta read these kinds of stories instead of something I'm not familiar with.
When it comes to...
Lord of the Rings. Drama or comedy. The more it's centered around Aragorn or Merry and Pippin, the better.
Harry Potter. Marauder Era and/or OC fics take first priority.
Four Brothers. Heck, I'll beta anything.
Angel. I love Angel/Cordy, as well as Doyle/Cordy and Angel/Darla. If you have Cangle, though, send it my way. Action/suspense and romance are what I like best.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I like Spuffy and Bangel. Wil/Oz is my OTP, so if you have a romance story about them then I'll more than likely beta. As with Angel fics, I prefer action and romance.
I have to tell you right now that if I get something from a genre I don't know anything about, I won't beta it. It wouldn't be fair to you and it wouldn't be fair to me. The things that don't bother me: violence, strong language, sexual content or descriptive blood and gore. Not a lot bothers me. I like original character a lot more than most people, but no Mary-Sues. |
Would Rather Not: types of entries I do not want to beta for
Incest. One word: icky. If there are some innuendos, I don't mind. If it's teasing, whatever. But I won't read actual incest.
MPreg. First of all, it's not logical. Second of all, who thinks of that?
Foreign tongues. I'm a mono-lingual girl, and that language is English. Sorry.
Slash. There are only two kinds of slash fictions I will beta - Sirius/Remus and Angel/Spike. Hand me anything else and it's rejected. That goes for femmeslash, too.
Songfics. I just don't like them.
Other than that, I'm pretty lenient. |
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