WIP Challenge Day 5, Thursday

[jagnikjen]

Hello everyone--hope you're having a good day so far.

Please share with the group how your writing has gone since yesterday's post.

~ Awesome
~ Good
~ Okay
~ So-so
~ Terrible
~ It didn't.

And thanks to everyone who shared self-editing suggestions yesterday. :)

Discussion topic . . . if you utilize beta readers, how did you find them? If you are a beta reader, how do you make yourself available?

Comments

[jagnikjen]

Yesterday was just okay for me. I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted, but I have some RL events I have to prep for atm. But I did take some time to open my fic and dabble with it.

I do utilize beta readers. Usually I just ask people whose work I enjoy and who put out a decent product. Obviously, I'm not going to ask someone whose fic is full of misspelling to be my beta reader, unless I know for certain he/she has some other super skill I need. (But one would hope he/she would utilize betas, no??)

As for beta'ing for others, I usually just offer. If I see a story I like but that could use a second pair of eyes, I might PM that person and say that (for example) I noticed quite a few missing words and I'd enjoy being a beta reader if that person was interested.

I did that one time and instead of responding to me, even 'thanks, but no thanks,' the author pulled her whole story from ffn and did it herself. It was eventually republished, all the original chapters in much better shape, but then as she went along she fell into the same issue. *shrugs*

[sharpiefan]

OKish. I added a paragraph and a bit to one of my many fics. :D

I don't have my work beta'd, but if I did I'd ask a writer friend in the same fandom.

I have offered my services as a beta, and the writer concerned emailed me her fic, which I read through and corrected in a different colour before saving and emailing back. (I added comments as to why I'd change something, rather than just put in a blanket 'this and this are wrong'.)

[jagnikjen]

A bit is better than none. :)

[ishie]

Last night was good for me! Didn't manage many words but worked out a plot tangle and now have notes to carry me through the end of the story.

I usually ask my fandom BFF to beta for me - she's a fantastic writer and shares a lot of my fandoms. When she's not available or not interested, or when the fic is a gift for someone and I feel like another pair of eyes is needed, I generally put a call out on Twitter. Or I'll check the beta post from Yuletide to see if anyone there is willing to do an off-season beta.

Most fandoms I'm in have beta posts too, which is generally how I offer as well. It never seems to go well if I approach someone directly.

[jagnikjen]

Glad to hear you worked out a plot tangle. I hope the writing flows smoothly to the end. :)

[jagnikjen]

I had one person contact me through ffn's beta service thing and so I beta'd her story and learned a valuable lesson.

She was completely pissed that I'd marked all over her document with my comments and suggestions--

The lesson was to always ask how they want to receive your feedback--on the document itself or separately in another document or an e-mail or whatever.

I don't know if she thought she didn't have the copy of her fic still on her computer, or if she expected me to just fix everything for her and send it back. But she was quite irate.

[littlebutfierce]

OK-ish writing today. I'm just too tired to really focus much at the moment (1 week back at work after the holidays & already back into bad sleep habits...). So I just did 900 words of ridiculous angsty OT3 stuff, which I already know is not usable, except maybe if I boil it down into a drabble. But hey, they're words. I might try a bit of editing, but that's always harder when I'm not well-rested.

I use betas all the time! I'd use them more if I wasn't worried about imposing too much on the few I have. ^^;;; I found them mostly by somehow (w/o really trying to) getting some of my friends into my fandoms. :D I think it can be really hard to find betas otherwise, particularly for small fandoms (which all of mine are). Which is a shame -- they're really really useful.

I do beta for other people, but not for too many -- that's partly because I don't know a lot of the big fandoms (small fandoms = less fic, sob). I don't always have the energy for a beta, but when I do, sometimes I approach people (like in this comm!) if they say they need a beta, or if my friends say they need one.

[jagnikjen]

Aw, I hate being tired. But as you said, 900 words are 900 words. Good on you for writing even if wasn't the best writing ever. Sometimes staying in the habit is all you can do. :)

[elleth]

Today was actually quite productive, I managed a thousand-odd words and finished a drabble series I was working on, so that's nice.

As for betas, I'm on a (mostly) Tolkien-fandom-specific board precisely for that purpose, the stories are posted and then critiqued by people who have something useful to say. It's great for nitpicking and ironing out the kinks of a story, but in-depth commentary is not usually something that's given there, so will either discuss the fic with a friend, or send it to my beta; we've been flisties for a while.

[jagnikjen]

A great writing day, indeed! :)

[crowdog66]

The writing has been okay -- ~620 words on the next chapter of "Solstice and Equinox". It's all one section at the moment but will have to be broken up into two, with some new material edited in later. Not bad for a first draft on a day when I don't feel much like writing at all.

I tend not to utilize beta readers because I'm not willing to trade heavy-duty editing favors (editing is part of what I do for a living and I can't in good conscience charge for it in some circumstances and not in others). I wouldn't mind having a beta reader -- in fact, as I get older and find more errors creeping into my work a beta would be wonderful, but... well, see above. :)

[jagnikjen]

Great word count. Keep it up.

I know what you mean about the beta-reading. :) I wouldn't mind reading for you every once in a while. Not the heavy-duty editing, but I wouldn't mind doing read-throughs. We could figure it out.

[crowdog66]

Oh, wow -- thank you! :) The offer is greatly appreciated.

As noted, writing/editing is part of my job, so I'm pretty confident in my ability to turn out competent prose. What would be useful is that second pair of eyes to catch any small errors that slip through when I'm writing for fun, or any glaring compositional problems/missing bits of information that might make a reader scratch their head. If you find yourself with a bit of spare time I would be honored to have you be that second set of eyes. You can get in touch with me at spriteandvirus at gmail dot com if you'd like. *bows* (And if I find myself with some time to spare, of course I'll let you know and I can look over some of your work in turn.)

[luna_plath]

This is the first time I've commented on here, so hi there!

Writing went pretty well today, actually. I was up very late last night (so technically this morning) finishing one piece for a fest, and then I finished another piece this afternoon. By no means is that a normal occurrence, my deadlines just happen to be really close together.

I don't actually have a go-to beta in my fandom, which is strange because HP is probably one of the biggest around. I end up searching for new ones when it's required for a fest, which is annoying but it works out okay. There are a couple of communities where betas offer their services or writers make posts asking for help and I can usually find someone that way.

I have helped people with their fics before, but I've never approached anyone directly. Most of the time if I see that someone is asking for help I'll just leave a comment or a message with my email, and beforehand I'll explain how I normally edit fics.

[jagnikjen]

Welcome to the group! I too am an HP writer, though I don't churn out all that much stuff.

[bay_alexison]

Didn't check in yesterday, but I was able to get around 200 words in. I pretty much was busy writing emails and preparing attachments beforehand. x_x I have an upcoming prison break in scene and I'm unsure how to approach that, so I'll be researching a little over the structure of prisons (both inside and outside) and perhaps get a few action bits written.

I tend to ask betas around. Some were people that had reviewed my work before and pointed out some mistakes, some had offered to look over my works. As for me, I offer to beta sometimes though I warn I'm not too great with grammar but can help with other things like plot and characterization.

[jagnikjen]

Two hundred words is great progress. :)

[pinstripefedora]

About 300 words today. It's been a little slow going, but I think I'm making good progress. Slow progress is better than no progress, right? That new character clicked today, which enabled me to flesh out part of a scene that had been pretty much bare-bones until then. Now I'm waffling about whether or not to end a scene early, because the other point I wanted to address is proving difficult to bridge into and I could probably fit it into another scene anyway... I guess I'll have to sleep on it.

As for betas: I can't find any for my current fandom, so I'm using my sister for basic SPaG and prose flow, as well as making sure the plot isn't too confusing or convoluted. She isn't familiar with my current fandom, though, so she can't help me with characterization or canon-compliance, which means I have to be extra-careful during my self-edit. I wouldn't mind a beta who was familiar with my source material, but looking at the state of my fandom right now, I wouldn't hold my breath.

I don't mind being a beta, but between my penchant for procrastination and my difficulty in explaining just why how you've phrased this sentence is wrong, I'm not a particularly great first choice. Maybe I just need practice, though. I don't know.

[jagnikjen]

Three hundred words is fantastic. :)

[lullabymoon]

I had a planned resting day which felt rather good.

I don't always use betas (although I am using one more and more now my writing is moving away from short fluffy oneshots) but when I do, in most cases I ask the flist (I just have to stop feeling like I am being a bother when I ask). I have an awesome flist and usually someone will offer to spag/storyflow beta even if they aren't familiar with the fandom. I've thought about using the beta lists for some challenges but at the end of the day, I find it incredibly hard to ask.

I do beta sometimes, and in most cases it's the reverse of the first, someone I know has asked.

[jagnikjen]

Resting every now and again is a good thing. I hope it did what it was supposed to do.