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inkvoices
inkvoices
[be_compromised]
15 October 2012 @ 04:17 pm
Creative Support Group - The Beta Edition  
I’ve been on both sides of the writer-beta relationship and both come with lots of questions. I thought maybe we could have some discussion :)

> Finding a beta: always awkward. Do you leave a message on your own journal or on a community and hope that someone’s interested? Is it too cheeky to send someone a private message asking them? Is there beta etiquette?

(I noticed that a fair amount of people said on the Secret Santa post that they would be happy to beta. If there are people on the comm who beta, what would you think about maybe setting up a kind of beta directory for writers looking for betas?)

> Being a beta: has it’s own worries. How harsh do writers want you to be? How thorough? What kind of help are they looking for? What kind of help do betas offer?

> Keeping a beta: is there an etiquette on how many times you can ask someone to look over the same fic? Is there etiquette for how long a beta can take to look it over? Can you have more than one beta at a time? If one beta says one thing and the other something different what do you do? Do you introduce them to each other? If you need a beta again in the future do you have to start all over again or can you email the same beta and ask, ‘um, remember me?’

I’m guessing a lot of this is personal and that there are a lot of different views, and that I’ve missed a lot of questions, so bring on the discussion! And if you’re looking for a beta this could be a good place to start :)
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[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_samalander/ on October 16th, 2012 12:48 am (UTC)
I really want a beta who will engage with my work. Someone who reads not only for grammar and spelling and the like, but pacing and characterization, and call me out if they think I'm doing something that could be improved. I love people who leave notes in the text as they go, to let me know what's up.

I always feel guilty asking someone to beta, especially a second time, because it does take time, and I don't want to put them in the position of saying no.

Edited 2012-10-16 12:48 am (UTC)
[identity profile] hiddencait.livejournal.com on October 16th, 2012 01:41 am (UTC)
Yes to this!! I got lucky and my best friend and I BOTH like the same kind of betaing. We'll be rough on each other, but we're looking for these kinds of things so we'll have critique mixed in with flail which really is a blast. It makes us want to read their edits lol.
[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_samalander/ on October 16th, 2012 02:25 am (UTC)
I had some really excellent betas in my last fandom who did this for me, and they're both into Avengers, but one is really anti-Blackhawk, and the other one only wants to read stuff with Sif in it, so they don't really work for the pairings I write now, and I've found some people who are willing to help around here, but not to the same extent and I miss it.
http://lar_laughs.livejournal.com/: Eva Green - observant[identity profile] lar_laughs.livejournal.com on October 16th, 2012 03:48 am (UTC)
This is the first fandom I've been in where betas give notes as they go along. It's a new and surprisingly nice way to get what can be uncomfortable news because it never fails to make me smile. I'm still learning how to do it, myself. It's nice to know when things work and when they might be muddled.
inkvoices[personal profile] inkvoices on October 16th, 2012 08:17 pm (UTC)
Really? I always use the comment function in Word to add notes as I go along and mini-explainations of minor changes, then at the end I'll write summaries of what I meant or tie together a bunch of comments, things like that. I'd get too overwhelmed with all the things in the fic to point them all out at the end :)
http://lar_laughs.livejournal.com/: Alice[identity profile] lar_laughs.livejournal.com on October 16th, 2012 08:33 pm (UTC)
They would mention things like "this sentence doesn't work" but they never gushed in the main body. Or, really, at all. It was like I'd given my story to an automaton. They might say they liked it in the note section at the end but nothing like the gushing I've got from this fandom! I guess I never realized you could be a fan at the same time as being a beta.
inkvoices: heart repairs[personal profile] inkvoices on October 16th, 2012 08:53 pm (UTC)
I guess I never realized you could be a fan at the same time as being a beta. You can be a writer and a beta and a fan and all the things <3 I'm glad you get some gushing now!