Beta Bio: general description as a beta reader
I love love love to write (my school planners are usually more full of snippets of stories than they are of what schoolwork I need to complete for the week) and have been doing it for a pretty long while. Whenever I'm bored, I don't have normal daydreams like normal people. Nope, I start thinking about my characters and working out scenes in my head. Or maybe mentally watching Buffy, but it's usually the former :)
As a beta-reader, I can help with editing spelling and grammar, working on the tone of a particular scene, and if needed, serve as a sound board for ideas. With respect to the editing process, I usually do an initial once-over of a piece of writing, editing anything that needs to be corrected, and writing comments about specific parts if I'm unsure about something or suggesting a change. I highlight all the changes I make, and after I send the first draft back, I do like to look over at least two other drafts - a second to see what changes have been made and to catch any typos or things of that sort, and a third just to make sure that everything's five by five.
I only really have one expectation, but it's kind of a big one in the sense that it's made of several smaller parts. I would like stories to be properly written. That means following, as best you can, the basic rules of writing, such as using quotation marks and other punctuation where appropriate, and using proper spacing (e.g. Every change in speaker is a on a new line.).
Above all, however, the stories I'd really like to get are the ones that are taken seriously by their authors. If I'm going to work with someone then I'd like to see the story out until the end. For one, I will be investing as much time as needed in this, which I don't want to go to waste because someone just got bored with their story. For another, it's just so sad to see a promising story just trailing off with no resolution. I don't mind at all if the story is going to stretch on for a while, as I know all too well that things come up and sometimes writing takes a back seat. But I would really like to know that you're committed to finishing the story at some point in time. |
My Strengths: beta, writing, or reading strengths
Stylistically, I'm pretty good with dialogue. Structurally, I'm good with grammar and spelling. With respect to tense and perspective, I'm best at past tense and first person, primarily because that's what I'm used to writing. However, if you're willing to give me a shot with a story that's of a different tense or perspective, then I will totally rise to that challenge. |
My Weaknesses: beta, writing, or reading weaknesses
With respect to perspective, I find I have more difficulties with a third-person, omniscient point of view. This is because when I can see the scene from every character's perspective, it becomes harder for me to separate point of views and find a specific focus. However, that's with my own writing; I feel that editing a third-person story written by someone else would be easier in terms of making things nice and concise, because you know where you want your story to go and what should happen. Together, the two of us should be able to find a clear focus. So while this isn't my strength, if you're willing to let me have a go, then I'll do my very best.
Also, like I previously mentioned, I'm pretty good with dialogue, but in that same vein, I'm not the best person when it comes to blocks of text that are just describing scenery or something like that. Part of it is because that, as a reader, that's never really much held my interest, and part of it is because as an author, I like to keep detailed descriptions to a minimum so that everyone can imagine a place or person the way they want to, so that the story becomes personal to the reader. This might work to your advantage, though, because I can start to point out at what point the description starts to run on, and together we can find a good balance. |
Preferred: types of entries I prefer over others
I'm pretty easygoing with respect to genres. Romance is my main thing, but I'll read pretty much everything with respect to a few things (see below). |
Would Rather Not: types of entries I do not want to beta for
I'm not particularly into Sci-Fi or Western stories (funny, since I did quite enjoy Firefly), so because of that, I don't think I'd be the best beta-reader for those types of stories. I support sex and violence in stories to a certain extent, and only if those scenes are integral to the storyline and are used to advance the plot. M-rated stories won't make me cringe or anything. That being said, I'm not into stories that have gratuitous sex and violence, or stories with excessive swearing for no particular reason. I'm quite willing to beta slash stories, but not ones that are basically just smut. That goes for any romance story, actually. I'm not into stories with topics such as incest, and with respect to sensitive topics like rape and death, if they are not handled appropriately then I am also not into reading stories of that ilk. |
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