WIP Challenge Check-in, Day 2 -- Monday

[linaewen]

Hello on Monday!  What kind of a writing day has it been today?

•     I thought about my fic once or twice
•     I wrote
•     I did some planning and/or research
•     I edited
•     I've sent my fic off to my beta
•     I posted today!
•     I'm taking a break
•     I did something else that I'll talk about in a comment

For Discussion: Betas -- Do you work with a beta in your writing?  Do you beta for other people?  How important is it to you that your beta know the fandom you are writing in?  Speaking of betas, there's a request for a beta in Saturday's weekly post (http://writethisfanfic.dreamwidth.org/370817.html) if anyone is interested in looking into that!

My good intentions for yesterday dried up and I got nothing accomplished towards further writing.  It's going to be a pretty gruesome week for me with Real Life responsibilities, but I still hope to make writing progress!  As for betas, I generally do all my own editing and only pass it along to someone else when I am uncertain about a characterization.  In that sense, it's important to me to have someone familiar with my fandom doing the beta work.

Comments

[the_rck]

I haven't written yet today, but it's still early, so I hope to.

I try to use beta readers. I prefer that they know the fandom in question, however, and I flit from fandom to fandom so much that I don't tend to keep the same beta reader for long. I am confident enough in my SPaG that I don't feel completely dependent on a beta reader for help with that (I do make the same number of stupid typos as most people, though, and it's good to have help spotting them).

Unfortunately, I'm a lousy beta reader. I don't have the detail focus most of the time. Even when reading other people's stories, I tend to see what's supposed to be there rather than what actually is there. I can help sometimes with story flow, and I'm willing to try to see how in character and/or in canon something is if I know the fandom. I'm just not dreadfully good at it.

[merryghoul]

In the summer, I find myself taking breaks because of other responsibilities, so I had to take a break. After I put up a few recs and do other things, I'll work on my fic.

I don't usually work with a beta because for the fandoms I write in, it's very hard to find a beta.

I beta for others, but it's typically for Yuletide and smaller fandoms. I'm not too active in the larger fandoms.

I would prefer if my beta knew the fandom I was working in. I feel if you don't know or hate the canon, it can bleed into your beta work, and it can make your work not as good as it can be.

[dirty_diana]

I do work with betas and like betaing - but I can be kind of ruthless so not everyone likes being beta'd by me, heh. In fact I just wrapped up the first draft of the same fic I've been working on all year, and sent it off. Hopefully it doesn't need another year of editing work, hee.

(I once posted a fic with a missed spelling error in the first sentence. Ever since then? I always use a beta. But I don't love editing my own stuff so that's part of why I need the assistance.)