WIP Challenge Check-in, Day 20 -- Friday / Snippets and Beta requests

[lacygrey]

Hi, its Friday. Time to make any beta requests if you need one and post snippets of WIPs if you feel so inclined.

I hope its been a productive week.

Poll #9169

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 11

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Today, did you...

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write?
4 (44.4%)

- a lot (by your standards)?
1 (11.1%)

- a little?
4 (44.4%)

edit?
2 (22.2%)

send to beta?
0 (0.0%)

research?
1 (11.1%)

post?
0 (0.0%)

something else? tell us?
0 (0.0%)

As discussion, and because Friday is beta request day, what do you ask of your betas?

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Spelling and grammar correction
8 (72.7%)

Plot/Character advice
10 (90.9%)

Brit/Ameri/Aussie-picking
3 (27.3%)

Brainstorming
8 (72.7%)

Stopping you making a terrible mistake by posting that one fic
1 (9.1%)

Comments

[jagnikjen]

Been going great guns until today when all hell broke loose and I haven't even been able to look at fic in any form or fashion.

I here as a way of calming down, but then it's back into the fray.

[crowdog66]

Only wrote 473 words today, and they're the snippet I'll be sharing at the end of this comment. :) Otherwise it's been a fairly productive week this time around.

My betas so far have all been informal ones (fans who liked my work enough to get in touch with me privately and offer to read WIPs), so I don't work them terribly hard (I hope!); I let them know that I welcome any feedback they'd care to give, which usually boils down to catching small spelling errors (on the concrit side) and suggesting things they'd like to see included in the plot (on the fun side). Mostly, though, I do without betas simply because I have a fairly high output rate and I wouldn't want to lay that kind of burden on anybody.

Everything I've written this week has been published, but here is the opening to Chapter Eight of "Ovum", the Garak/Bashir mpreg fic I've been working on.

************************************************

Of course it was nowhere near as simple as merely deciding to go ahead and damn the consequences. The universe didn't work that way, at least not where Elim Garak was concerned.

When he finally dragged himself into Julian's quarters shortly before 1700 he felt as if he'd been tied down and pummelled for hours by swarms of extremely determined mice. There had been times in his career when he'd had to exert himself to the full both physically and mentally, including one occasion where he'd jogged for most of an afternoon in pursuit of his target and had to beat an extremely hasty retreat after the assassination was completed: this felt rather like one of those moments, when he'd reached a safe haven and let himself finally relax the taut predatory readiness that dwelt in every muscle.

And all he'd done today was submit to a series of scans, given some blood and other bodily fluids, sat quietly while Julian lectured Nurse Jabara and Doctor Tongaru about the kindling and the projected course of treatment, waited to be seen by the station's Commander, then talked for a little over an hour. Oh, and had lunch, but that rather paled to insignificance in comparison to the minutes he'd spent in Sisko's company.

He half sat, half collapsed onto the Human's couch, wincing as his middle back protested and hoping that he wasn't about to add that to his list of troubles, and said aloud: "That went rather well, don't you think?"

Julian, who had followed close behind him and sunk down beside him in much the same attitude, tilted his head to rest against the back of the couch and closed his eyes. "I suppose that depends on your definition of 'well'."

"I haven't been thrown off the station."

"True…"

"And you haven't been summarily drummed out of Starfleet."

"Also true."

"Even though Commander Sisko was rather… what was that phrase you once used, something about giving birth to a litter of small carnivores?"

"Having kittens?"

"That's the one!" He mustered a weak smile of triumph. "Does it apply in this case?"

Julian grimaced, his eyes still closed. "Oh, I'd say the Commander provided you with the defining example of the type."

"Still. He wasn't angry enough to put me on a shuttle to parts unknown or strip you of your rank, so I suppose that's something to be thankful for."

Julian's near hand slid over and wrapped around his, warm and strong. "I've got plenty of things to feel thankful for," he murmured, his faint scowl becoming a smile that Garak found utterly charming; then he opened his soulful hazel eyes and turned them toward him, and Garak felt an absurd little spasm in the vicinity of his heart. "So, why did you change your mind?"

[littlebutfierce]

Eh, wrote some words this morning--trying another angle on a yuri_challenge fic. I have the first rough draft of my assignment done, but my recipient gave me so many awesome prompts I've been drafting several of them. It'd be awesome to be able to give two or more fics. :D

Having another eye to do a SPAG beta is always good, but I'm pretty decent at that stuff; what I really love from betas is critique about the overarching structure of the story. I tend not to see the forest for the trees. I also love comments about characterization.

[lacygrey]

Today I did lots of editing...for work.

I think what I need the most from a beta reader is someone to check that my story makes sense (someone blind to my motives!) and that I don't have ugly words or awkward sentences. Also, because Hikago was originally in Japanese, I try to choose betas who can help me make my English more international.

[sleuth]

Today was great. \o/ Worked with my beta to polish it a bit more and then published it.

[lea_hazel]

I am desperately in need of a beta that can work with an incomplete/in progress fic, to help me figure out if the emotional arc of the story makes any sense. It's a characterization heavy one-shot, and the fandom is Veronica Mars. Someone help me out, I'm totally flailing here.

[insignia]

My week has been unproductive, but I got some practice in the art of making notes of new ideas and then leaving them, as opposed to thinking about everything at once. I still have a lot of work to do with that, though.

[ishie]

Did better than I thought today but not as much as hoped for. It's amazing how far off my game a headache can throw me.

[ishie]

Argh, I meant to ask if there are any Finnish speakers/readers here? I have a non-essential piece of dialogue in Finnish in my nearly-finished (lol) fic that I want to make sure isn't gibberish.

[bay_alexison]

Today I was able to talk to my current beta through Skype over one of the concerns she had with the fourth chapter of my Big Bang. Have an idea how I'll want to rewrite tone particular part of the story, so I'll do that tomorrow. Brain pretty fried after talking with my beta and thinking over some changes I'm considering doing with the story. Oh, and being away most of today. :P

When it comes to betas, I tend to ask for spelling/grammar, plot, and characterization (what I'm doing with my Big Bang beta now and what just happened tonight). If I'm stuck then I'll ask for brainstorming too, but that rarely happens.

[jesseszen]

Would your beta necessarily have to be familiar with your fandom? I'm a pretty good beta but don't know Veronica Mars.

Let me know.

Peace, Ki

[littlebutfierce]

! I speak Finnish. Not fluently, but if it's relatively simple I could take a look at it... ?

[lea_hazel]

Not necessarily. I'm most worried about whether the progression of the story feels emotionally authentic. It's grounded in canon relasjionships, but I don't think knowledge of the series is a must.

[jesseszen]

I'll read it then and do the beta if you want me to. I do a proper beta using MS Word with comments and possible grammar changes. Need the file and an email. You can send it to me at: tei_ishimaru@hotmail.com.

Ki

[ishie]

Oh wow, thank you!!

It's just two lines. Liz Lemon from 30 Rock is doing commentary on a snooker match for Radio Finland in English, her partner replies in Finnish and calls her a mistranslation of her name. I used Google and a phonetic dictionary to get this so it's probably terrrrrible:

He's saying, "Yes, definitely, yellow Lesbian! He doesn't deserve the championship."

"Kyllä, ehdottomasti, keltainen Lesbo! Hän ei ansaitse mestaruutta."

[littlebutfierce]

Ha, I had to check that over a bit b/c my grammar is super super rusty. But I am impressed that you managed to get mestaruus into the partitive correctly while presumably not knowing what the partitive is or how it works! :D Also I'm used to "ansaita" meaning "to earn," but yes, I see that it also means "to deserve"!

That looks superficially fine to me -- though I am by no means fluent. >_< I would maybe say "varmasti" instead of "ehdottomasti" but I think either are fine; they are v. similar; I think it's just that I feel like "varmasti" is more common... but that would be "common in the context of the Finns I know," etc. & thus super-subjective!

Also, if the person is talking colloquially (which they may or may not be!), it's less formal to say "joo" (closer to "yeah") than "kyllä."

Hope that helps at least a little!!

[ishie]

Thank you so much! The more informal/colloquial is what I'd rather have and this is such a huge help :D