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lanalucyMany fanfic writers use the services of the same beta reader for years. I have been wondering if it would be better to switch betas more often and be exposed to a wider variety of comments.
What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of switching? Of staying with the same beta always? I ask this theoretically, because this is a question about the system of long beta relations, not about individual people. If you want, you can answer from a writer´s perspective, but also from a beta-reader's perspective, or both.
I answered from a writer's perspective. And, by the way, this was a very good topic to pursue.
In general terms, long-term beta relationships bring comfort, security. It's much easier for me to pose some crazy way out there what if when it's just![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
newnumbertwo and laura_mayfair who are going to see it at first. I'm not afraid to pose weird ideas to either of them, or to ask them if they think I can write something - not CAN I, but do I have the skill to do justice to the story I want. I know no matter how crazy the idea, newnumbertwo and laura_mayfair are going to be supportive of whatever effort I put into it, won't belittle me, even if they don't like the story idea, and will tell me honestly if they don't much like the direction of the story.
On the other hand, sometimes I want to write a fic FORnewnumbertwo or laura_mayfair, and obviously, I don't want them to have to beta their own fic, so I have to reach out beyond my comfort zone and ask someone new.
And when it comes to editing/revising, second, third, and more drafts,newnumbertwo and laura_mayfair are both very busy these days, and while it means leaving my cozy writing room with the beanbag chairs and the bowls of chocolate snacks and endless slushy iced tea, branching out brings me to people with different perspectives who refine my fic (and my writing in general) in different ways.
I would like to always havenewnumbertwo and laura_mayfair as my sounding boards and cheerleaders. And since I will not, because things always change, whether we like it or not, I will also adapt and welcome other people into the fold.
Speaking only in terms of my most recent experience with Some Assembly Required, which I completed a portion of for both![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
getyourwordsout Big Bang and het_bigbang (which reveals on AO3 on Monday): I had a total of eleven women giving me individual feedback. Each of those eleven brought something different to the piece, asking me different questions, posing different what ifs, and each one, in her own way, made the piece better.
newnumbertwo and laura_mayfair were the first two, in its initial stages, when it was pouring out of me thousands of words at a time, and they were like "What is this?" and "I like this. Where are you going with it?" and "I don't think anybody's ever done this. This is fantastic!".
newnumbertwo reads and leaves me comments on technique - like action beats - and squees at particularly appealing ideas or scenes or clarifies characterization, particularly with respect to Laura Roslin. She was my first fandom beta after I started writing, and I cannot even tell you how much work she did when I first invited her into my crazy OCD world of fics and prompts and ideas, etc. I was astounded - and grateful - when she didn't run away screaming.
laura_mayfair points out things she especially likes, and gives super-supportive comments when a scene or fic pulls together especially well. She tells me when I've hit characterization really well, when she finds something funny or interesting, or when something in the fic gives her a fic idea/question which I might be able to use in the fic (or somewhere else). She's also great at telling me when I've used a particularly good turn of phrase.
singerdiva01_sk brings a uniquely feminist perspective to her critiques, and she knows how to bring on the GIRLY! (And thank gods, because I am not girly at all, and there will be two weddings.) :D Like, red shoes with a red dress? NO, Lana.
altitudeandwine gives a brusque, no-nonsense 'this doesn't work because' critique which is hardcore without being harsh. She worked on Assembly last minute and really tightened it up. I didn't take all her advice, but the advice I did take improved Assembly measurably.
fragrantwoods sees connections and story-behind-the-story, even when I don't realize I'm writing it, and she's great at feedback on social work perspectives and relationship negotiation, among other things.
kdbleu is also a K/L fan, was one of my first 'cold readers,' and gave me great feedback with regard to the balance of Kara and Lee's relationship to the rest of the story. I didn't take all of her advice, either, but again, what I used improved the fic.
With Assembly, I had to rely on non-BSG betas, too, since I was finishing it for BigBangs, and each of them was an educational and positive beta experience.
red_b_rackham (for het_bigbang) slogged her way through four different longfics and made me make smaller paragraphs, among other things, lol, asked clarifying questions about dialogue attribution and such, and squeed over parts she really liked. She is my favorite non-BSG-fandom beta (am I supposed to have a favorite?), that's how much I liked working with her.
aflaminghalo (for GYWO BigBang), who is not at all familiar with BSG, gamely read a new fandom, read more than the required 10-15K words, and loved the story, especially the way Kara created a family around herself, and gave me several suggestions for ways to enhance other POVs than Kara's.
nyyki gave me lots of last-minute verbal brainstorming (and an idea for another fic).
There are a couple of people who wish to remain anonymous for reasons.
And thegetyourwordsout mods, who okayed me having a reader even though I'd gone waaaay over the target word count (I put a stopping place in there. aflaminghalo decided not to stop.).
The ladies atbsg_checkin are amazingly supportive in general, and willing to cheerlead or read a bit of a fic or answer questions about a topic. The writers and mods at getyourwordsout are stupendous cheerleaders, and quite talented at keeping people motivated over the long haul.
I'm not gonna go wild (Um, FRAK no) and say sayonara tonewnumbertwo and laura_mayfair anytime soon (or like, ever), but I'm easier now with the changes happening within BSG fandom in general and within my BSG writing world in particular. If and when (please make it no time soon, pleasepleaseplease) I have to let them go, I will let them go with love.
Things change. I don't have to like it. I do have to Roll With the Changes. TM REO Speedwagon.
What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of switching? Of staying with the same beta always? I ask this theoretically, because this is a question about the system of long beta relations, not about individual people. If you want, you can answer from a writer´s perspective, but also from a beta-reader's perspective, or both.
I answered from a writer's perspective. And, by the way, this was a very good topic to pursue.
In general terms, long-term beta relationships bring comfort, security. It's much easier for me to pose some crazy way out there what if when it's just
newnumbertwo and laura_mayfair who are going to see it at first. I'm not afraid to pose weird ideas to either of them, or to ask them if they think I can write something - not CAN I, but do I have the skill to do justice to the story I want. I know no matter how crazy the idea, newnumbertwo and laura_mayfair are going to be supportive of whatever effort I put into it, won't belittle me, even if they don't like the story idea, and will tell me honestly if they don't much like the direction of the story.On the other hand, sometimes I want to write a fic FOR
newnumbertwo or laura_mayfair, and obviously, I don't want them to have to beta their own fic, so I have to reach out beyond my comfort zone and ask someone new.And when it comes to editing/revising, second, third, and more drafts,
newnumbertwo and laura_mayfair are both very busy these days, and while it means leaving my cozy writing room with the beanbag chairs and the bowls of chocolate snacks and endless slushy iced tea, branching out brings me to people with different perspectives who refine my fic (and my writing in general) in different ways.I would like to always have
newnumbertwo and laura_mayfair as my sounding boards and cheerleaders. And since I will not, because things always change, whether we like it or not, I will also adapt and welcome other people into the fold.Speaking only in terms of my most recent experience with Some Assembly Required, which I completed a portion of for both
getyourwordsout Big Bang and het_bigbang (which reveals on AO3 on Monday): I had a total of eleven women giving me individual feedback. Each of those eleven brought something different to the piece, asking me different questions, posing different what ifs, and each one, in her own way, made the piece better.newnumbertwo and laura_mayfair were the first two, in its initial stages, when it was pouring out of me thousands of words at a time, and they were like "What is this?" and "I like this. Where are you going with it?" and "I don't think anybody's ever done this. This is fantastic!".newnumbertwo reads and leaves me comments on technique - like action beats - and squees at particularly appealing ideas or scenes or clarifies characterization, particularly with respect to Laura Roslin. She was my first fandom beta after I started writing, and I cannot even tell you how much work she did when I first invited her into my crazy OCD world of fics and prompts and ideas, etc. I was astounded - and grateful - when she didn't run away screaming.laura_mayfair points out things she especially likes, and gives super-supportive comments when a scene or fic pulls together especially well. She tells me when I've hit characterization really well, when she finds something funny or interesting, or when something in the fic gives her a fic idea/question which I might be able to use in the fic (or somewhere else). She's also great at telling me when I've used a particularly good turn of phrase.singerdiva01_sk brings a uniquely feminist perspective to her critiques, and she knows how to bring on the GIRLY! (And thank gods, because I am not girly at all, and there will be two weddings.) :D Like, red shoes with a red dress? NO, Lana.altitudeandwine gives a brusque, no-nonsense 'this doesn't work because' critique which is hardcore without being harsh. She worked on Assembly last minute and really tightened it up. I didn't take all her advice, but the advice I did take improved Assembly measurably.fragrantwoods sees connections and story-behind-the-story, even when I don't realize I'm writing it, and she's great at feedback on social work perspectives and relationship negotiation, among other things.kdbleu is also a K/L fan, was one of my first 'cold readers,' and gave me great feedback with regard to the balance of Kara and Lee's relationship to the rest of the story. I didn't take all of her advice, either, but again, what I used improved the fic.With Assembly, I had to rely on non-BSG betas, too, since I was finishing it for BigBangs, and each of them was an educational and positive beta experience.
red_b_rackham (for het_bigbang) slogged her way through four different longfics and made me make smaller paragraphs, among other things, lol, asked clarifying questions about dialogue attribution and such, and squeed over parts she really liked. She is my favorite non-BSG-fandom beta (am I supposed to have a favorite?), that's how much I liked working with her.aflaminghalo (for GYWO BigBang), who is not at all familiar with BSG, gamely read a new fandom, read more than the required 10-15K words, and loved the story, especially the way Kara created a family around herself, and gave me several suggestions for ways to enhance other POVs than Kara's.nyyki gave me lots of last-minute verbal brainstorming (and an idea for another fic).There are a couple of people who wish to remain anonymous for reasons.
And the
getyourwordsout mods, who okayed me having a reader even though I'd gone waaaay over the target word count (I put a stopping place in there. aflaminghalo decided not to stop.).The ladies at
bsg_checkin are amazingly supportive in general, and willing to cheerlead or read a bit of a fic or answer questions about a topic. The writers and mods at getyourwordsout are stupendous cheerleaders, and quite talented at keeping people motivated over the long haul.I'm not gonna go wild (Um, FRAK no) and say sayonara to
newnumbertwo and laura_mayfair anytime soon (or like, ever), but I'm easier now with the changes happening within BSG fandom in general and within my BSG writing world in particular. If and when (please make it no time soon, pleasepleaseplease) I have to let them go, I will let them go with love.Things change. I don't have to like it. I do have to Roll With the Changes. TM REO Speedwagon.
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no subject
Date: 2015-08-28 01:55 pm (UTC)And I'm loving where Assembly is taking you/us. ♥
no subject
Date: 2015-08-28 02:15 pm (UTC)I'll be writing for a long while to come.
I have ideas. And they're not all BSG. :D
{{{hugs}}}
Did you see I renamed the two parts? Latin and Japanese. It woke me up in the middle of the night. I'm so weird.
no subject
Date: 2015-08-28 02:45 pm (UTC)And you know I love middle-of-the-night inspiration.
no subject
Date: 2015-08-30 11:31 pm (UTC)I love this whole post, celebrating all of the different perspectives people bring to the beta process.
And I DO hope you continue writing for a very long time to come!
/hugs
no subject
Date: 2015-08-31 01:52 am (UTC)As long as you keep coming back. {{please}}
And yeah, I'm not gonna stop writing any time soon.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-01 04:14 pm (UTC)I am blushing over the "fav" comment. :D I defs look forward to working with you again too! You're awesome!! (Though maybe I should brush up on my BSG, hey? ;P)
no subject
Date: 2015-09-02 03:12 am (UTC)I would certainly not turn my nose up at a rewatch. :D
I really need to anyway.