1 A Day in the Life of a Beta Reader

Or

1.1 How to Constructively Tell Someone Their Story Sucked Eggs



Intro: So you want to be a beta reader.



Do you enjoy reading stories? Essays? Brochures? Warning labels? Cereal boxes?

Do you have strong grasp of sentence structure and punctuation? A firm grasp? A light grasp? Oil on your hands? Or perhaps you have such a death grip that even your English teacher finds you annoying?

Do you immediately pick up on character motives and plot? Quickly pick up on them? Pick up on them at the end of the story? Pick up on them only after being hit with the proverbial clue-by-four? Don't see them even then?



Well then! Beta reading is just the job for you!

What is beta reading you ask?



Beta reading a peer editing technique. A writer will hand his or her story over to another person (usually a friend who can be trusted to be impartial) and wait for his or her personal masterpiece to be torn to shreds, along with said person's fragile ego. The process, though often resulting in a permanently traumatized writer and occasional equally scarred beta reader, usually results in a much improved piece of literary art.

But the purpose of this essay is not to tell you what a beta reader is. Its sole purpose in existing is to teach you how to become a competent peer editor.

So let the tutorial begin!



A/n: If anyone can tell me why that stupid 1 and 1.1 show up next to the titles after I upload, can you please tell me?