Betas

[louiselux]

A comment in snowballjane's journal got me thinking - how many betas do people like to use?

Two is about the right number for me, any more than that and I tend to get a bit swamped with other people's opinions. Basically, I get confused and distracted, especially if people tell me conflicting things. Making objective decisions about what works and what doesn't in my own fiction is very difficult. It's so much easier with other people's!

But I've seen people thanking whole strings of people for beta'ing and wonder how they manage the process. I can see that having betas for different things makes sense, not only because it splits the work down into smaller chunks for them, but also because I can attempt to mentally parcel things off, as in 'these are grammar comments, these are plot comments, etc'. Not that things ever work that smoothly, really.

Also, the length of the story seems to make a difference to me. Shorter things I tend not to bother getting checked. If you choose not to get something beta'd, what's your reason?
[Poll #330108]

Comments

[snowballjane.livejournal.com]

I'd rather just have the one, but it has to be the right one. My very first beta, taryneve, did a great job of picking up on my particular weaknesses, but she's not really active in fandom anymore. I wish I'd thought to ask you first about that SS/RL fic, rather than asking in a community, since you never quite know what you're getting there and I know you know what you're talking about.

Like I said earlier, I have workshopped fics and it has resulted in edits which improved the fic, but it can also be a very confusing process.

Shorter pieces and obscure fandoms I'm not sure will find any readers tend to be posted un-beta'd.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I wish I'd thought to ask you first about that SS/RL fic,

I'd be happy to beta some other time - just let me know. Actually, I was wondering if you'd beta something for me? It's my remus_remix story that's due in on Sunday and which I haven't yet finished - it's scaring me beause I have no idea if it's any good or not. Can I send it you tomorrow? *tries not to beg*

[snowballjane.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I'll be happy to. I'm a bit out of it from sunshine and champagne (gosh it's a hard life) right now, but should be nice and clear-headed tomorrow.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Just to let you know - I've sent it to your yahoo address. Hope that's the right one!

[maeglinyedi.livejournal.com]

I usually use one beta-reader and I do have everything checked (except very short drabbles) that I post. The longest fic I've posted to this date was around 40k words, and I used one beta-reader for that one. At the moment, however, I'm writing a novel-length fic (it's around 150k words right now and will be around 200k when it's finished) and for the first time I'm now using multiple betas, because there's so much for the beta to look over, that I think it won't hurt if two more people have a look at it. So, three betas in total, of which one will focus on Brit-picking and the two others on grammar, plot and such.

[minkhollow]

It depends on what fandom I'm writing for, how long it is, and whether it's a gift for someone.
Good Omens and Discworld stuff usually only goes through schiarire; if it's Discworld RPG fic and I'm using someone else's character, I try to get the other person to make sure I got characterisation right.
Dariafic, even though I haven't written any in a while, is somewhat different. You can put out a call for beta-readers and get eight to ten responses, and since not everyone ends up replying, it's helpful to have that many people available. There're some BRILLIANT beta-ers in the fandom, too.
Drabbles and most things close to that length don't normally get a beta-read, unless it's a gift for someone. If it's a gift, it gets a beta-read. (One RPage fic I couldn't get characterisation beta-ed because it was for that character's RPer, but she loved it anyway. XD)

[dipping_sauce]

There's no option for people who don't use betas!

... Of course, that's not because I think I'm too good for a beta reader (far from it!) but because I can't find any.

me: I've just finished [latest fic]! Would anyone like to beta it?
lj: *crickets*

The closest I came was to have a friend look over my latest before I posted it. (Thankfully, she is feared in two fandoms for being a 'evil bitch' with impossibly high standards.)

(Of course, then I stumble across a fic that has had *five* betas go over it and still sucks like a vacuum. It makes me wonder sometimes if I even *need* a beta, since it didn't seem to have helped that author. *shrug*)

[janegraddell.livejournal.com]

Hello, popped in via daily_snitch

I tend to have around five betas, and I can well understand why some would find the conflicting advice counter-productive. As it happens, I rarely get completely contradictory opinions, and I enjoy having multiple perspectives. I don't split up their tasks, either. I generally ask for any and all comments about plot, grammar, style, characterization, whatever, and occasionally will point to specific concerns, but for the most part I let them have at it with whatever perspective they wish to bring.

One reason I have so many betas is that I tend to ooze from fandom to fandom and pairing to pairing within the space of relatively few stories, and will often lose any regular betas for one fandom when I move to another. So, I end up advertising, and generally just let whoever volunteers take a stab at it. It's not very scientific, but it's seemed to work so far, more or less. And now that I've moved into Harry Potter fandom, I get to start all over again. :)

[pstindustrialst.livejournal.com]

to be completely honest, i never use a beta, but am a beta often.

it's not that i don't think my work is that good, but that i rarely find competent betas.

i mean my last thing i got beta'd the only thing the person said was that my dialogue was hard to read because i removed the "he said" and "she said" after a point..

like this:

he said, "why hello there, my fine miss"
she said, "lay off it, tom"
"what's wrong with a guy hitting on a fine young lady like youself marie?"
"i'm just not in the mood for it."
you know, you're one tough cookie to crack. i love that."
"george and i had a fight last week.so i'm really not in the mood for your jokes today."
"wow... i thought you two were inseperapble. i mean you two have always been a coulple. how long have you two been going out?"
"seven years."
"damn."


i mean this isn't the text but something i made up on the spot, but it's kinda obvious the girl broke up with her boyfriend to me and the other guy is a friend to me.

*shrugs*

i asked three other people and they all got it.

i don't know.

anyhow, point is i reccomenrd three betas.

it sounds odd, but one peron may be wrong, two and you have issues on whether to change something or not if they disagree, and three gives ya a tiebreaker.


Post

[fivil.livejournal.com]

Depends on what type of fic I'm working on - something I'm used to writing can usually be betaed by only one person. Something that I struggle with, new pairing, new characters I've never written before, new fandom - these I usually want looked over more than one person.

Three is the charm.