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!