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Date Posted: 10:25:27 06/18/02 Tue
Author: Nestra
Subject: You find a good one by asking people. (r)
In reply to: Indri 's message, "Beta readers (aka fanfic 101)" on 20:45:57 06/17/02 Mon

You can ask your friends. You can ask authors whose style you admire. You can post a request on lists that allow such things. As for your beta being good, it's kind of trial-and-error, I'm afraid. You have to find someone whose style fits yours and someone who offers valuable input.

I don't think everyone's "expected" to have one, but it's my personal experience that good beta readers can immensely improve fic. They catch typos and plot holes. They ask questions that force you to defend your characterizations. They often save you from making really stupid mistakes.

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Replies:

[> Re: Beta readers (aka fanfic 101) -- joan the english chick, 10:40:29 06/18/02 Tue

>As someone new to writing fanfic, can someone tell me
>about beta readers?
>
>I gather they're like informal editors, proofreading
>and offering comments to improve your fic before it's
>published to the wider world.

Yes, this is a pretty good summary. A good beta reader not only fixes your typos and grammatical errors and huge gaping plot holes, but also says stuff like, "Would Spike really say that?" or "Why does Willow go there instead of here at this point?" A good beta reader, in other words, understands the characters and understands the story you're trying to write, and points out places where you're not making sense or not writing consistent characterization. And, of course, places where the story just doesn't "work" in some hard-to-define way.

>But how do you find a good one? And is everyone
>expected to have one?

It can be hard to find a good one, but usually it doesn't hurt to ask people whose writing you admire, or people who you know have good language skills. Or friends -- but you want to make sure they're not going to be "too nice" because they're afraid to hurt your feelings.

As for expected to have one? There's really no such thing as "expected to" in the fanfic world; it's anarchy. Still, if you know that your spelling or grammar is bad, or that you tend to leave big plot holes, it's a good idea to get a beta-reader. I think you'll find, even though it can be frustrating and painful, that working with a good beta makes your stories better and makes you feel better about them. So it's not so much what people expect that should concern you -- if you're serious about being a good writer, you should have a beta reader because *you* expect it. Make sense?

-joan the english chick


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[> [> Re: Beta readers (aka fanfic 101) -- Indri, 19:45:03 06/18/02 Tue


Thanks all. Looks like I'm just going to have to be brave and email someone. I have one friend who's as obsessive as I am regarding BtVS, but she's of the "Is Spike naked? Why isn't he having sex yet?" school of fanfic reader, which isn't quite what I'm after.

>> And is everyone expected to have one?

I phrased myself badly here. I meant something more like "Is everyone expected to go looking for one? Is it poor etiquette to email someone out of the blue to ask them?" And I think you've answered these implicit questions as well.


Thanks,
Indri


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