WIP CHALLENGE CHECK IN - DAY 24 THURSDAY

[peachpai]

Happy Thursday! How's writing?

-Wrote something, woo!
-Planning, outlining, note taking, research, etc.
-Editing
-Sent something to my beta
-It's done! I posted!
-Thought about writing
-Taking a day off
-Something else (discuss in comments)


Thursday Discussion: I got curious about this based on doranwen's comment on yesterday's check-in. How many of us make use of alpha readers? Which editing role do you prefer to perform for others? Why?

(If you are not familiar with the term, this is a person that helps you during the planning process of a story for plot points, characterizations, etc. This description of the differences between readers is pretty straightforward and helpful.)

Comments

[frogfarm]

Just posted the first two parts of a 5-part short fic, a pretty new fandom in general and brand new to me:

How My Other Half Lives (Dragon Maid, Kobayashi/Tohru)

When Tohru learns of a way for the woman she loves to become one of her own kind, even temporarily, the dragon maid naturally jumps at the chance. But some differences are more than skin deep.

This is the first time in a few years I've posted something before it was finished, but it's short and mostly outlined. Got a good feeling about this one, and most importantly, it's more fun than the law allows (while still being T-rated and fade-to-black).

I've performed all kinds of editing roles in the past, depending on what the person wanted. There was a Gargoyles story way back in the day that I did a pretty major cleanup on and also contributed a good bit of my own prose and dialogue, which was thankfully accepted quite happily and without resentment -- I recall the author said it was like reading a whole new story, but I had a pretty light hand in it overall. Haven't had any betas/etc in quite a while now, but it hasn't seemed to make much difference, and in fact I've found myself pretty happy with my output over the past year. That may just be me turning into more of an insular, crotchety old bitch, or I may actually be getting better not only at writing, but at editing my own writing.

(And since if kudos and comments were income I'd be writing fanfic from the wireless at Starbucks and sleeping in a box in the alley, I'd say my first priority for a beta reader these days is the ability and willingness to comment on the story both before *and* after it's publicly posted.)

[autobotscoutriella]

I wrote! Then I realized it wouldn't work for what I was planning, saved it, and started completely over from scratch. There was an attempt, at least, and if I can get it edited I might post tonight.

[enemytosleep]

Today was all edits, edits, edits both on my chocolateboxcomm piece and for another brave soul who asked for help.

I really enjoy editing and planning, and I've never really separated the two before. If someone asked for help on a story, I'd help talk through ideas, read for character voice, do actual spag edits, etc. I usually do more editing and aiding for others than my own writing because I enjoy it so much. I'm interested to see others chime in as the term was new to me yesterday!

[doranwen]

Yeah, I wouldn't emphasize alpha reader so much if I weren't so dependent on one for anything longer than a few thousand words. The one I did have for Alphas would read what I wrote and comment on it - and most of her comments were just "ooh, I love this" or similar things, but sometimes she'd catch an error, or something that didn't make sense, and I would fix it. And that works for me, to combine both functions, it's just when people only talk about beta readers I'm always thinking "I can't even get it *written* because I don't have an *alpha* reader", lol.

I didn't know the term till recently - I'd just describe it as a beta reader for plotting, characterization, dialoguing about the story, etc. Can't remember whether I read about it or had someone go "you mean alpha reader?" but either way it was a revelation. I really don't rely on beta readers much, them being thin on the ground. I tried getting one for the longer fic I wrote for this past Yuletide and I had multiple people never contact me back, say they'd help but never respond after that, etc. I gave up and just posted it. Found one typo the other day and a missing word, which I corrected immediately of course, but out of 17k I don't think that's too bad. And everyone thought it fit the canon style and sounded like the characters, so I'm guessing I did decently on the other stuff? I don't expect perfection of myself when it comes to fic (since I'm not making money off of it, it's just for fun), but I strive to write as well as possible and I'm generally content with the results.

Also, a hi from another Chocobox participant. :D I had fun writing some treats for it, looking forward to recips' reactions. (It's hard to wait!)

[enemytosleep]

I can appreciate the differences in each type of reader and how for some there is a distinct need for one more than the other, even differing from story to story. I am so used to working with the authors I've worked with over the years; we definitely perform both functions mutually (though the alpha things are usually more reserved for chaptered fics where plot holes and canon compliance are bigger issues).

I read your response below and can see why your particular visualization methods really do rely on an outside voice more than others. I can't say I'm familiar with any of your fandoms, though. There are a few hundred people at betaplease so it might be worth posting to see if by chance you find someone with a shared fandom there?

Yay chocolateboxcomm! I often write extra treats for these sorts of exchanges, but I sort of went overboard for fandom_stocking this month, so I think I'll reserve any additional pieces for a pinch hit if one comes up that I can grab.

[doranwen]

Yeah, all of the WIPs that are stuck due to lack of alpha readers are either already long enough that they'll be chaptered, or I can tell they will end up chaptered due to their premise. Usually short things I can picture clearly enough that other than some minor detail hunting I can write them without trouble. (But I do go to lengths to be accurate, lol - I wrote a fic recently where someone was buying something, and to give the exact amount of change, I couldn't just make up the amount, I really couldn't - so I looked up the actual historical price of those items in that year, AND the historical tax rate for that county… all so I could figure out how much the char would get back from the bill they handed the clerk. Yeah, I know it's a bit overboard. *sg*)

I posted on betaplease last September and got nothing then - do you know if I'm allowed to repost and if so, when? (I didn't see that on the profile.) At the time I was only partway into writing the fic in question and I managed another 4k before it stalled out completely due to lack of plotting/characterization help, so the request isn't completely accurate now, and I suspect no one looks at months-old posts to find someone to offer their beta services to.

I don't think I even saw Fandom Stocking go by - I thought I had, but then I feel like I'm mixing it up with Fandom Giftbox last year or something. I don't know, life. It's hard to keep track, lol.

[enemytosleep]

I may have spent 3 hours last week researching very specific rainmaking folklore and real world shrines that relate to those legends (and the train lines that travel there) so I FEEL you on some of that.

betaplease I'm not a mod there, but I'd say if it's been a few months you'd be fine to repost. People join and watch at different intervals so you will likely get a different set of views with the new post.

I'd rather there be "too many" fannish events than not enough, so I'm okay with missing things when I've got other stuff happening. I'm going to have to pass on this round of fluffbingo for that exact reason.

[doranwen]

*hi-fives in solidarity of obsessive levels of research*

It's been four months, so maybe this weekend I might give it another try…

Yeah, I feel the same way. As long as each event has enough people participating and they don't all suffer for too few participants because everyone's spread too thin. (It can almost get that way some months in the summer!) And if that becomes a problem, it just means we need to recruit more fans to get involved, methinks. :D

I try to keep track of what's going on mostly because any broad interest multifandom exchanges I keep current in the headers on the #yuletide IRC channel. (Most people moved to Discord, but I love IRC and couldn't stand that I couldn't turn off all emojis on Discord, so I'm staying with IRC, even if it's mostly dead.) That way with a glance I can see what's in noms, signups, writing, or coming up to reveals. Fandom Calendar is usually pretty helpful that way.

[ldybastet]

I wrote! Then realized that the plot points I had in my old outline for this sequel fic won't work because of how the characters developed in the original story. So now it's back to the drawing board, and I'm suddenly going to turn those plot points (with tweaks) into their own little series or long fic. Ooops! ;)

Also, posted fic yesterday after I got it back from beta and had fixed up the little things that were needed. :)

I always use a beta-reader, and many times she's also my alpha reader, someone I can discuss outlines, plot points, characterizations, etc. with, as I write or as I plan out the story. I often perform a similar function for her, and it works for us. Neither of us know a lot of people who still write fic, especially in our fandoms, so we turn to each other.

[lady_katana4544]

Did a bit of writing yesterday, as I started doing bits for the 100fandoms challenge table while poking around job websites.

[linaewen]

I'm still stuck in research mode, as I can't seem to decide a certain point that needs deciding before I can start writing the next chapter. Thus, more research!

I have not ever used an alpha reader, though I did sometimes check with a couple of my fellow writers about an idea or a plot point before writing it. I don't go that route anymore, except sometimes I check with my son who thinks like me and who will be honest if my idea is dumb! Other than that, I'm my own alpha and beta reader, I guess!

[doranwen]

I can do SPAG edits for someone - but I have to enjoy the story or really care about the person to do that for anything other than short fics. I don't think I'm very good at writing flow/word choice types of editing. Like, I can point out really obvious things but not the subtle stuff that really improves a fic. I haven't really been asked to be an alpha reader so I don't know if I'd be helpful, but I'd probably enjoy it? I have sort of helped people brainstorm once or twice and I had fun - and they seemed to appreciate the help, it got them started, so…

I have to make use of alpha readers for anything other than short fics because of how I write. It's hard to explain, but I'll try: I write what I "see" in my head. The clearer the mental picture of the situation, the background, any variables in there, etc., the easier it is to just see the scene flow, and I can write and write. As long as I can see it, I can write it. The inverse is true, however - if I can't see it, I can't write it. And all it takes is a little murkiness and I'm absolutely stuck. I can't handwave or go around it (sometimes I can find a way to dodge a small detail, but that's relatively rare). It could be characterization - if I suddenly am not sure if a character would behave this or that way, I can't see how to write further. It could be a detail like the layout of a house. (If I were writing about a log cabin in the pioneer days, and the canon didn't give the description, I'd be googling for an actual layout of historical log cabins so I could picture it and orient all the action in it.) And obviously, if I'm not sure what actual plot should happen next, I can't see a thing and I'm stuck. Any of those situations can strike, and I will be anxious to write more, *wanting* to write more, maybe even have a good feel for the characters (if it's not a characterization thing)… but I cannot write a thing until I get help with the issue. It's really really frustrating!

The one time I had a good alpha reader for a fandom (amusingly, the fandom is called Alphas) I wrote a whole series - and a 25k fic, the longest I've ever written (and it was written in three weeks, two weeks of which was the first 20k of it). If I had alpha readers every time I have plots that grip me that way, I'd have tons of fic written and posted. But what tends to happen is I get as far as I can until I run into characterization or detail or plot issues, and then it get stalled, and almost never gets picked up again, and I just look at it in my list of WIPs sadly. (For one fandom I even have a whole list of AU ideas I'd love to write but I would need plotting help. I'm not going to even try to start writing them unless I get an alpha reader for that fandom.) It doesn't help that I get into a lot of small/dead/nonexistent fandoms, lol. Alphas, Rookie Blue, Flood, 1-800-Missing… (The only existing fics for Flood, for instance, are either ones I wrote or that I received as gifts in exchanges.)

[samuraiter]

I managed not to write yesterday, but I have hope for this weekend. My tiredness is persistent enough that I am a little concerned that I might be under the weather. Hopefully, extra sleep will solve that. *shakes head*

Going by those descriptions, it seems I work best as an alpha reader. I have done beta detail plenty of times, but I often find it a little exhausting. (... I think I tend to be a beta of last resort, so I suspect I end up getting difficult pieces.)