I prefer, overall, to have a hard copy of the work I'm beta-ing and go over it in multicolored pens with the equivalent of a mental fine-toothed comb, seeking out the simple trip-ups like misplaced modifiers and awkward wording. With that said, if a hard copy is impossible to obtain, I'll read paragraphs and even individual sentences over and over again, sometimes out loud, anayzing it from any angle I can imagine to try and catch possible issues. I beta as I go, as opposed to reading the story and then analyzing it, although depending on the length and complexity of the piece I can go over it five or six times before I'm satisfied that I've caught everything I can.

That implies that it will take me some time to get each chapter/section finished, and that's relatively true, although I am a fast reader/editor. So, someone using me as their beta can expect an edited chapter within a week or two of sending it.

My skills as a beta definitely rest with grammar; for some reason, it's as if I'm part editor, and that side of me comes out when reading anything, even published works. I'm also fairly skilled at character development, analyzing how the characters act and react to see if it's congruent with how they've acted up to that point, or how they've developed.

Of all the things needed from a beta, that which I'm least skilled at is catching errors in facts (if the facts are indeed ones true today, in the real world) and errors in plots, although I'm getting better at catching those.

I would prefer to beta works that are more serious; I can do humor, but not very well. I'm also better when working with epic-style things as well, or works that are large (in concept, like space operas).

I prefer not to deal with things that are completely black-and-white; since I see the world in shades of grey, I tend to prefer reading/working with things that include shades of grey. I'm also not a fan of works that try to get across an idea, like promoting anti-Semitism or racism. I'm too open-minded and conscious of how such beliefs affect people to work with stories like that.

Fiction » Fantasy

Fiction » Sci-Fi

Sci-Fi

Fantasy