We previously had a beta reader directory on the comm. This is the new and improved creative support directory - an up to date collection of beta readers and more!

1. How this works:

> Each creative support person will comment with a bunch of information that you can use to find someone/multiple someones that you think will work best for you. They're here because they like to help. In return please do check the information they provide and play nice. This is a ‘no offence given, no offence taken’ zone :) If at any point either of you feel your partnership isn't working out then that’s okay and feel free to say so. Let’s keep this in the spirit of The Best Bar.

> This is a directory for creative support in Marvel with a focus on the characters of Clint Barton and/or Natasha Romanoff. People may be willing to help with other characters and fandoms - please check their entry and feel free to ask, but be aware the answer might be no.

> Please don’t reply to the comments in this post, that way people can edit their information as and when they need to. Instead please contact creative support people by their preferred method.


2. Here’s an explanation of the information you can find on each beta for writers, and some hints for beta readers on how to comment (with a helpful form for betas to copy and paste into a comment at the end):

Username: Who you are! Especially if you have other online handles outside DW.

Contact: Your preferred method of first contact. This might be Private Message (PM), email, twitter, anything.

What kind of creative support you can offer: for example beta reading, cheerleading, dicussing ideas, Brit-picking or checking Americanisms, translations / beta reading in languages other than English, cheking particular types of scenes for realism ie. fight scenes or sex scenes, areas of knowledge that may be useful ie. medical or technical or historical, beta-ing fanart or fan vids or podcasts, basically anything way you can / like to help and encourage others in being creative!

Style: Do you prefer to IM in real time, discuss by email, talk on a particular platform? Do you check things once and that's it, or do you like to debate changes or do second checks, or...?

Speed: What kind of return/speed can a writer expect from you? Does it depend, such as on when the deadline is or fic length?

Flexibility: What kind of creative works are you happy to help with? Particular characters and fandoms? What are you not comfortable helping with? Treat this like a 'squees and squicks' section.

<b>Username:</b> <b>Contact:</b> <b>What kind of creative support you can offer:</b> <b>Style:</b> <b>Speed:</b> <b>Flexibility:</b>


3. And some things you might want to tell your creative support helper when you first contact them:

- how long your creative work is
- if it's completed, a work in progress, intended to posted all at once or if you want a chapter beta read at a time
- if it’s for something, like an exchange, and when the deadline is
- the rating and warnings/triggers that your work may have
- a brief summary
- what you’re stuck on, if there’s something specific

You can also feel free to post to the whole community asking for creative support help :)

Happy creating!

EDIT: Please note that this is an old post that is now out of date. See instead our new Creative Support Directory!


If you have any questions on finding a beta, beta readers, beta reading, the relationship between writers and beta readers, and all that jazz we’ve been having a fantastic discussion HERE. One of the things that has come out of it is the idea of having a beta directory, to make finding a beta in this fandom easier and to help match writers and beta readers.

How this will hopefully work:

> Each beta will comment with a bunch of information that you can use to find someone/multiple someones that you think will work best for you. These betas are here because they like beta reading. They promise to help the best that they can. In return please do check the information they provide and play nice. This is intended to be a ‘no offence given, no offence taken’ zone :) If at any point either of you feel that it’s not working out then that’s okay and feel free to say so. Let’s keep this in the spirit of The Best Bar.

> This is a directory for beta readers in The Avengers Marvel Movie ‘Verse with a focus on Clint, Natasha, Clint and Natasha, and Clint/Natasha. Some of these beta readers may be willing to read Avengers stories with content from the Comics ‘Verse and/or without the focus being on these specific characters – please check each beta reader’s entry for this before contacting them.

> Please don’t reply to the comment with the beta’s information, that way they can edit their information as and when they need to. Instead please contact them according to their preferred method.

> If you have any questions, comments, ideas on how to improve this directory, etc. then please do share - there’s a thread at the start for that :) If you’d like to chat about beta reading in general please go to the creative support group post on betas.


Here’s an explanation of the information you can find on each beta for writers, and some hints for beta readers on how to comment (with a helpful form for betas to copy and paste into a comment at the end):

( Explanation behind the cut )

( And some things that writers might want to tell beta readers when they first contact them )

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 :)