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

[seraphim-grace.livejournal.com]

I have a beta like that, he has skin like leather because he knows if he is too harsh, in my opinion, that I'll vent at length before instituting the changes he suggested
i might get back a fic with X wouldn't do this, as the only note
or a whole passage marked up with "written by a muppet perhaps"
the irony is he's usually right

I encourage crit because it allows a lot of growth, I know there are things that we all need to work on (I like loooooong sentences and am working on it) and as a writer we genuinely can't see them, we're up too close, even on a reread because we're automatically back in that place we were when we wrote it
it hurts when i get a story back with a line through it and told to do it again, which i do with pwp lemons if he considers them too formulaic but the difference in feedback when i do do it again is astonishing.
trusting him is easy because I've known him since i was tiny, but trusting him with my writing often still causes explosions with me screaming you don't know what you're talking about, i did that deliberately.