Beta

[pez]

I really, really want betas like the ones Chrissie has: people who would question why something was written in a particular way rather than just put it down to style. The writer doesn't have to take on any of the comments, of course, but she should seriously think about each comment; sometimes a writer can get so immersed in her own style that she forgets the basic techniques of writing, if you know what I mean.

I also think such betas would be useful for many other writers. Sometimes I read something and I know it's because of the style that things are written the way they are but I also know it could be so much better or just less bad if they had someone look at it and question it.

Not many people can accept having their work beta-ed this way, though. Betas like this are hard to find, but writers who don't have the stick up their ass far enough to just say "ha, it's my style, if you don't like then don't read" are probably even harder to find.

It's the difference between the works that lots of people comment and say it's great, and the works that lots of people comment and say it's great, AND still refer fandom n00bs to it a few years later.

Comments

[giving-ground.livejournal.com]

There have been occasions when I've been really desperate for feedback like that and all I could get from anyone was "yeah, it's good, just fix [random grammatical error x]"... I do sting when I get criticism, of course I do, but I also know that it would help me produce better stories.

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

Getting crit takes some guts. If it's too much then I reckon the next best thing is to let it sit, DON'T LOOK AT IT, EVER for at least a few weeks. Then when you look at it again it'd be like reading your own old fic... you know how sometimes you read old stuff and say OMG WHY DID I WRITE IT LIKE THAT...

This, of course, don't work when you have deadlines to adhere to. =/