(no subject)

[nny]

You know what would be really helpful? To see someone else's beta on something that wasn't my fic. That sounds weird, right? I just - when it's my fic I'm far too close to it to look at it objectively as a beta, so I can't learn as much from it. I mean, no one really gets taught to beta, and I feel like I need some kind of beta masterclass or something; while I can check grammar and spelling and line-edit like a mofo, my editing skills when it comes to fic as a whole leave rather a lot to be desired. Might be something to do with my tendency towards miniminifics myself, too.

I mean, what makes people good at it? Those of you on the flist who consider yourselves to be good betas, what is it about you that makes it so? Have you had official training in English Literature? Are you good at holding large amounts of information in place in your heads?

Seriously, anything you can tell me about the process would genuinely be fascinating. I totally want discussion, here.

*pokes*

:D?

Comments

[villainny.livejournal.com]

The other important thing, to me, is to be able to spot all of the themes of the piece and to know when one or more of them isn't being written correctly - to be able to say, the thing with Teyla doesn't come across quite right, and needs an extra scene where X happens. Knowing where there are scenes missing and where scenes are superfluous, or where the order of events needs to be rearranged, comes I think out of an ability to take in everything the story is trying to do and know where it falls short.

This, I think, is where my beta reading skills fall down. I haven't done English lit since I was about 16, and as a result... well I've picked up things here and there, and my understanding is decent, but it's not particularly scholarly. I did a degree in English language studies, and as a result I can absolutely fix grammar, and I have a talent for picking out the word with precisely the right shade of meaning for the situation. When it comes to themes, though, I always feel like I shouldn't comment too much in case I'm misreading authorial intent and projecting too much on the story. Which is kinda ridiculous because all I need to do in that situation is ask questions.

*laughs*

It's probably all a confidence thing again. I don't want to make a nuisance of myself.

Anyway, yes, that was seriously helpful, thank you.

Do you look for the same kind of thing when people beta for you?

[thingswithwings.livejournal.com]

there you go - ask questions! actually, that's a crucial beta service; I love betas who push me by just asking difficult questions and forcing me to think things through. So it'd probably be good on both sides. Not a nuisance at all.

I do look for the same kind of thing when people beta for me, broadly. "does the story do what it's trying to do" is the big question that I always want a second opinion on. But I've had different betas, and they had different ways of getting there. And I'll often also go to them with a problem - I think the resolution is too boring, I think so and so is out of character, I can't figure out how to go from A to B, etc., and ask them to help solve it.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

And when I beta, that kind of thing is awesome. It's nice to know what you ought to be looking out for, since the writer is the one who knows the story best, while simultaneously providing an outsider's view and pointing out what the writer is too wrapped up in the story to realise hasn't actually been explained fully. Because often you have all the details in your head but adding them all into the story would make it tedious, and sometimes that can be cut too ruthlessly.