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One of my little babies is going to be made into a podfic. First, a translation and now spoken word. *grins* That just tickles me to no end.
This is right on the cusp of a pretty good day at work that ended rather badly. Tell me, if you can... if you were being helped by Person A yet you knew Person B but she was sitting in the corner doing paperwork and not really paying attention to you, would you call Person B to complain because you thought Person A wasn't polite enough to you? Or maybe you should call Person C who is the supervisor and vent to them! Don't ruin my day by trying to make me rat out my coworker (and a person who I thought was in a semi-right position but wasn't about to bring up her faults to either her or the customer seeing as how I'm not Person C and in no way care how she sounds but only that she does her job so that I am able to get my paperwork done) or by making me feel like a fool because I wasn't the one helping you.
But I digress.
Let's talk about Betas. I've seen a lot of Beta talk in my flists lately. I've been a beta and am currently under the influence of a beta. She's the best in the world and you can't have her. She's mine.
I rarely use my beta. She is more of a cheerleader for most of my stuff. It feels foolish to waste her time for anything less than 5000 words. Yes, she reads everything but mostly she's around to say nice things to me when I'm feeling wobbly about my place in the universe. That's what I pay her for on the average day.
But I needed to have my SBB betaed because the rules say so. Also, it's a good practice for anything that can't be written in two or three settings because continuity is a bear when you can't even remember what you had for breakfast yesterday morning. She was actually reading along with me as I wrote (hooray for Google Docs!) and was catching some of the errors (it's amazing how many sentences I didn't actually end because typing a period does not always mean the thought is done) as I went along. Tonight I am finishing up with the last of the "shaded" comments (a nice bright pink to catch my eye so I won't miss anything) and I would like to point out the things that I have found that I love in my beta.
Number 1: She tells me when she likes something. Those little comments give me the warm fuzzies because it means that I'm not just funny to myself.
Humber 2: She's not afraid to tell me when I have consistent errors. I'm the sort of writer who is just trying to get the pictures from my head onto paper most days so I have a tendency to write quickly (oh, how I wise for more of those nights!) so she is valuable for catching those sorts of errors. I do find myself wanting to write back to her and assure her that I am a smart person and DO know the difference between set and sat even though I make that error a lot (although I don't know the difference between then and than and never will) but I stop myself because her job is not to judge me but to fix my writing. I doubt very much that she's laying on her couch, cackling about how ignorant I am. And if she is... well, we'll deal with that next time I visit in person, now won't we?
Number 3: She knows where I'm going with the story without being told and is able to get me back on track. And if she hasn't gotten it just right, I know I've missed something and need to go back and figure out where I went wrong.
Number 4: She cares about the story just as much as I do. I feel that she's invested in it and WANT to finish because I know she needs that ending just as much as I do. Word to the wise, if you snag a beta who doesn't have a personal investment in your writing, you don't have a beta. You have a pre-reader. That would be a reader who has access to your story before you publish it. A beta cares. A pre-reader... well, you aren't guaranteed of anything.
Number 5: She never backs down from an argument. For this story, my beta and I spent a good week going back and forth with this argument:
Her: She seems harsh.
Me: What does that mean?
Her: In the beginning, she doesn't seem to care for him very much.
Me: That's ridiculous. Of course, she cares.
Her: Let me read through it again.
Me: *sullen* Okay.
Her: I've highlighted the areas in which I think she's harsh.
Me: What does that mean?
Her: Did you look at the highlighted areas?
Me: *sullen* No.
Her: Go look at the highlighted areas.
Me: Okay, fine.
Me: *rewrites because damn if she isn't right*
Her: Do you feel better?
Me: Yes. Cookie?
Sometimes I need to be beaten around the head and shoulders to let go of a plot line or a sentence or even a character trait. Now, I don't know if my beta just gave up or if I truly did see what she saw but I do know that every time I looked over something that was highlighted, I left it a little bit stronger than when I first found it. A beta worth her weight in gold (and that's becoming a little less for me to shell out every day! *grins*) won't back down and I shouldn't want her to. I should be looking at what she's looking at, trying to see the story through the eyes of the next crop of readers. If she doesn't like it, the odds are good that they won't either.
Number 6: (and this is important) She isn't doing this to hurt me. A beta isn't doing the job for the sheer love of torture but because they care about the writer. I don't often offer up my services as a beta because of this fact. Not that I don't love you all. The sad fact is that I don't feel as if I can care for more than one or two writers at a time. Any more than that and I feel as if I'm just giving platitudes. I bet my beta would say the same thing. She doesn't spread herself out over more than a couple of people at a time.
And like I said... you can't have her! *grins*
But I would encourage you to find a good beta. Not from a list at some site but from your friends or contacts on a community of writers. It's all well and good to hand over your stuff to be proofread but if you want a beta, you have to cultivate a RELATIONSHIP first. Why do you think writers are always thanking their spouse or their best friend or their mother? Their beta was someone close to them who cared about the story.
Think about it. Get back to me. I'd love to know what you think about this subject.
Man, do I ever need the Inception soundtrack! YouTube just isn't cutting it tonight!
Now I'm going to go back to my struggle with set and sat. *bites nails*
This is right on the cusp of a pretty good day at work that ended rather badly. Tell me, if you can... if you were being helped by Person A yet you knew Person B but she was sitting in the corner doing paperwork and not really paying attention to you, would you call Person B to complain because you thought Person A wasn't polite enough to you? Or maybe you should call Person C who is the supervisor and vent to them! Don't ruin my day by trying to make me rat out my coworker (and a person who I thought was in a semi-right position but wasn't about to bring up her faults to either her or the customer seeing as how I'm not Person C and in no way care how she sounds but only that she does her job so that I am able to get my paperwork done) or by making me feel like a fool because I wasn't the one helping you.
But I digress.
Let's talk about Betas. I've seen a lot of Beta talk in my flists lately. I've been a beta and am currently under the influence of a beta. She's the best in the world and you can't have her. She's mine.
I rarely use my beta. She is more of a cheerleader for most of my stuff. It feels foolish to waste her time for anything less than 5000 words. Yes, she reads everything but mostly she's around to say nice things to me when I'm feeling wobbly about my place in the universe. That's what I pay her for on the average day.
But I needed to have my SBB betaed because the rules say so. Also, it's a good practice for anything that can't be written in two or three settings because continuity is a bear when you can't even remember what you had for breakfast yesterday morning. She was actually reading along with me as I wrote (hooray for Google Docs!) and was catching some of the errors (it's amazing how many sentences I didn't actually end because typing a period does not always mean the thought is done) as I went along. Tonight I am finishing up with the last of the "shaded" comments (a nice bright pink to catch my eye so I won't miss anything) and I would like to point out the things that I have found that I love in my beta.
Number 1: She tells me when she likes something. Those little comments give me the warm fuzzies because it means that I'm not just funny to myself.
Humber 2: She's not afraid to tell me when I have consistent errors. I'm the sort of writer who is just trying to get the pictures from my head onto paper most days so I have a tendency to write quickly (oh, how I wise for more of those nights!) so she is valuable for catching those sorts of errors. I do find myself wanting to write back to her and assure her that I am a smart person and DO know the difference between set and sat even though I make that error a lot (although I don't know the difference between then and than and never will) but I stop myself because her job is not to judge me but to fix my writing. I doubt very much that she's laying on her couch, cackling about how ignorant I am. And if she is... well, we'll deal with that next time I visit in person, now won't we?
Number 3: She knows where I'm going with the story without being told and is able to get me back on track. And if she hasn't gotten it just right, I know I've missed something and need to go back and figure out where I went wrong.
Number 4: She cares about the story just as much as I do. I feel that she's invested in it and WANT to finish because I know she needs that ending just as much as I do. Word to the wise, if you snag a beta who doesn't have a personal investment in your writing, you don't have a beta. You have a pre-reader. That would be a reader who has access to your story before you publish it. A beta cares. A pre-reader... well, you aren't guaranteed of anything.
Number 5: She never backs down from an argument. For this story, my beta and I spent a good week going back and forth with this argument:
Her: She seems harsh.
Me: What does that mean?
Her: In the beginning, she doesn't seem to care for him very much.
Me: That's ridiculous. Of course, she cares.
Her: Let me read through it again.
Me: *sullen* Okay.
Her: I've highlighted the areas in which I think she's harsh.
Me: What does that mean?
Her: Did you look at the highlighted areas?
Me: *sullen* No.
Her: Go look at the highlighted areas.
Me: Okay, fine.
Me: *rewrites because damn if she isn't right*
Her: Do you feel better?
Me: Yes. Cookie?
Sometimes I need to be beaten around the head and shoulders to let go of a plot line or a sentence or even a character trait. Now, I don't know if my beta just gave up or if I truly did see what she saw but I do know that every time I looked over something that was highlighted, I left it a little bit stronger than when I first found it. A beta worth her weight in gold (and that's becoming a little less for me to shell out every day! *grins*) won't back down and I shouldn't want her to. I should be looking at what she's looking at, trying to see the story through the eyes of the next crop of readers. If she doesn't like it, the odds are good that they won't either.
Number 6: (and this is important) She isn't doing this to hurt me. A beta isn't doing the job for the sheer love of torture but because they care about the writer. I don't often offer up my services as a beta because of this fact. Not that I don't love you all. The sad fact is that I don't feel as if I can care for more than one or two writers at a time. Any more than that and I feel as if I'm just giving platitudes. I bet my beta would say the same thing. She doesn't spread herself out over more than a couple of people at a time.
And like I said... you can't have her! *grins*
But I would encourage you to find a good beta. Not from a list at some site but from your friends or contacts on a community of writers. It's all well and good to hand over your stuff to be proofread but if you want a beta, you have to cultivate a RELATIONSHIP first. Why do you think writers are always thanking their spouse or their best friend or their mother? Their beta was someone close to them who cared about the story.
Think about it. Get back to me. I'd love to know what you think about this subject.
Man, do I ever need the Inception soundtrack! YouTube just isn't cutting it tonight!
Now I'm going to go back to my struggle with set and sat. *bites nails*
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-13 06:31 am (UTC)From:And I couldn't help but agree with your entry about betas. Your beta sounds like a wonderful person, and I can't help but be reminded of my own beta. Personally, I think a friendship - or, at the very least, a connection of sorts - is very important when one is looking for a beta. It makes the writer feel at ease knowing that someone who actually cares about their story would go through the trouble of correcting it. And sometimes a beta can be the source of inspiration and encouragement a writer needs to start/complete a story. I, for one, need my beta to nag at me so that I'll "get off my lazy butt and start writing" and, to be honest, I appreciate it when she starts stalking me and telling me to "start writing!".
I just couldn't help but leave my thoughts here. Hope you don't mind my "stalking."
no subject
Date: 2011-02-13 07:49 pm (UTC)From:I feel bad for people that don't have their own beta because I use mine in a very similar way that you use yours. Without Aster around, I wouldn't be nearly as motivated and would give up on a lot more challenges than I currently do (I think I'm at a fifty percent success rate WITH her). Finding my first beta was NERVE WRECKING, though. I do understand why people don't have one because it can be a blow to your pride to even need one! Well, it was to mine... you mean I'm not perfect??? *grins* That was nine years ago and I'm so much better at writing now than I was then. And there would be no way I could ever do any of these Big Bangs without her pushing at me.
So, I'm pro-beta but I'm pro-the right beta!
no subject
Date: 2011-02-14 04:26 pm (UTC)From:I don't bother my beta with drabbles and short stories though, otherwise I'd be bombarding her with my nonsense. Yeah, same here, but I'm dead serious about improving my writing, and I think by having a (good) beta is a significant step towards improvement. I read somewhere, and I quote: "a good beta not only corrects your errors, but helps you become a better thinker as well." Through my short experience in writing, I've found that to be true.
Amen, couldn't have said it better myself!
Oh, thanks for adding me. I'll add you right back! :D
no subject
Date: 2011-02-13 07:10 am (UTC)From:She's witty, she actually gives a damn, and yes, I have to kick her in the ass every now and again. The thing is, I enjoy it. I love talking with her at random, even if we're not discussing her story. By building a relationship with your beta (or the person you're betaing for), you're gaining, not only help, but a friend who will be there to help you.
Thought I'd say a little something, as this entry is very touching. And good luck with your podfic! :D
no subject
Date: 2011-02-13 08:12 pm (UTC)From:I'm glad you liked the entry and welcome!