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Types of Beta Reading

ivyblossom

I’m interested in the kinds of fanwork that goes on in the production of fanfiction; there’s  more than we usually articulate, and I’ve often felt like we haven’t got the language to differentiate between the different kinds of beta work that goes on behind the scenes. So I’ve given a shot at articulating and classifying the various kinds of beta reading I’m familiar with.

SPAG Beta. Spelling, punctuation and grammar. This is your basic line edit. This is the person who catches your typos and silly mistakes. 

Dropped Words Beta. Some people might be both a SPAG and a dropped words beta, but I feel this one deserves pulling out. I don’t know about you, but I can’t write a damn sentence without dropping at least a word or two. I think the word is there, I can practically see it there, but it’s not there. Many (if not most) people will add the lost at or an or the in there for you in their minds and not notice, but the laser eyes of a dropped word beta will put you to rights again. To be a dropped words beta you need to be able to look at the text without getting drawn into the story, and that’s both a special skill and a sacrifice for someone who actually likes your story. So anyone who can do this: you are a treasure, a gift, and made of gold.

Plot Beta. This is work that happens at the very beginning, as well as throughout a story. A plot beta is the person you talk your story out with, she’s your sounding board in the creation process. She may not be into SPAG or dropped words, and might not be a britpicker or formatting genius, but that doesn’t matter. Your plot beta’s not really there to worry about your word choice. She’s there to help birth a story with you. I write very long stories, so plot betas come in early go through my outline with me as I construct it. A plot beta is one of the few who end up beta reading an outline, in my experience. Many betas I’ve worked with don’t want to know what’s going to happen next in a story. They don’t want to be spoiled. So you can keep the spoiling conversations between you and your plot beta, and keep surprising a SPAG and formatting beta.

Research beta. This person works with you to help you pin down the bizarre facts you need to get your story right. Like a plot beta, they can act as a sounding board and help you construct the fine details.

Character Beta. This is someone who will act as a north star for you on a particular character. This is helpful if you’re writing about a character you don’t feel entirely certain about, or you just want someone to argue with you about the actions of a particular character so you can feel confident that s/he is at least close to being in character. It’s actually hard to keep the canon core of a character in your mind as you morph and change him/her, so having someone around who isn’t off on your flights of fantasy with you can be helpful in that respect.

Emotional Flow Beta. This is someone who reads your story for its emotional flow. Is it working? Does it ring true? They’re not there to debate whether the characters are OOC, just to tell you if the actions you’re describing feels real. This is related to a plot beta, and can be related to a character beta, but is different than both. Your emotional flow beta might have no idea where you’re story is headed and is just reacting to what’s on the page right now, which is useful. (hiddenlacuna suggests: whump!beta.)

Settings and Location Beta. This is someone who is attuned to the places you’re setting your stories, works well with Google Maps, and is anal retentive enough to correct you if you say it takes forty minutes to walk to that Tesco when it actually takes about twenty-five. This person is often also your Britpicker, but this is a separate service, I’d say.

Britpicker. Everyone knows what a Britpicker is, right? The person who tells you you’ve used the word “gotten” again, and that “recognize” doesn’t have a z in it in the UK. Also it’s a lift for God’s sake, not an elevator! In other fandoms, you may need an Americanpicker or other. (I’ve yet to be asked to act as a Canuckpicker, much to my disappointment.)

*-picker. You can call in an expert on anything, really. If you have violins in your story, call in a violin expert! Cricket? The inner workings of the BBC? Find a picker for that! It never hurts to call in someone with specialist knowledge. 

Smut Beta. The person who helps you sort out those insanely complicated sex scenes. This is someone you trust not to laugh their bums off at you as you stumble through this terrifying territory.

Canon Beta. Someone whose inner knowledge of the canon in question is exquisite, and who can make sure you haven’t made any egregious mistakes. 

Formatting Beta. This is a person who makes sure your code is clear to be posted. In more complicated stories, this might be a bigger deal than usual.

One person can be many of these things; obviously they’re not mutually exclusive.  I think you could merge a few of the pieces and end up with a sort of sounding board beta you talk to before and during the writing, and then the person with the laser eyes you call in once you have something to actually look at. But these are (at least some) of the work that is behind the scenes of a fanfiction story.

If you are someone who would like to be someone’s sounding board, but you don’t really want to be responsible for line editing, you can still offer to beta. It’s just a different kind of relationship, and different expectations on both sides! All kinds of betas are welcome, useful, and intensely valuable!

Did I miss any?

dcjbigbang

If you were ever wondering what kind of beta work you want/need, or what kind of beta you are. This is a pretty good list to refer to.

Source: ivyblossom resources mod stuff beta I'm in lust with queue

Anonymous asked:

Forgive me for being slow... but I saw the beta list email and was wondering... what am I supoosed to do with it? I'm an author, so do I just randomly ask one of them to beta for me? How do I know if someone's already asked them?? HELP

Anon, this is not an unusual thing, especially if you are a participating in a bang for the first time. 

We do require your story to beta’d. We do not require you to use the list provided. That is there for you to use if you want to.

If you choose to use one of the people on the beta list go through the list and take notice of the rating of fic that they are willing to beta, then look at the list of things that they provided that they will not beta (such as A/B/O or non con, or major character death, etc) and find someone that is compatible with the story you are writing. 

Once you locate one or two people get their preferred contact info and shoot them a message telling that that you got their info from the beta list for the dcjbb and were wondering if they were able to beta. They should let you know if they can or can’t, if they can’t, wash rinse, repeat!

We hope that this has been helpful if you still have questions do not hesitate to talk to us. Send us another ask or even an e-mail. Remember, communication is key!

FAQ beta dcjbb dcjbigbang dean/cas/jimmy deanjimstiel dean/cas/jimmy big bang dcj Anonymous

Anonymous asked:

Should I assume if I haven't gotten an email yet that I haven't been selected to beta?

Apologies Anon, we have been busy and have not been able to get the e-mail confirmations out to betas. They will be sent out in the next 24 hours. 

As far as being selected to beta goes, that is up to the authors. We will be sending the authors a link to the list of everyone who has signed up to beta so that if they choose to they can take a look at everyone and their squicks/triggers/preferences to find a beta that would be a good fit for their story. 

If you signed up as a beta you can rest assured that you are on the list and may be contacted. We are not pairing beta’s and authors in case there is something in the story that we are unaware of that would not go over well with the beta. 

Thank you for your ask, your patience, and your understanding.

FAQ beta authors dcjbb dcjbigbang dean/cas/jimmy dean/cas/jimmy big bang deanjimstiel Anonymous

3 Days left to sign up!!

This is a reminder that there is only THREE days left to sign up for the Dean/Cas/Jimmy Big Bang!

January 5,2017 at 11 pm EST    time zone converter  sign ups will close.

For the first time around and being a rare pair we have received such an overwhelming response and are thrilled!
As of right now we have:

  • 30 Authors
  • 25 Betas
  • 11 Artists

We are so excited to see so many enthusiastic people for this bang, the response has been overwhelming! It is looking like we won’t have enough artists before we close sign ups so we will most likely leave artist sign ups open in hopes to find artists for all the fics. If you’re an artist and interested, sign up and let everyone know! We will be happy to have you involved.

If you know any artists that may be interested in creating art for a story please reblog and tag them in it so they know we are looking! 

Author Sign Ups
Beta Sign Ups
Artist Sign Ups


Here is more information for those who might be interested:

Rules
Schedule
Info and Contact
FAQ

dcjbb dcjbigbang artists needed spn artists artists Dean/Cas/Jimmy Big Bang Dean/Cas/Jimmy Deanjimstiel supernatural supernatural big bang spn spn fanfic writing beta

Anonymous asked:

What's the difference between an author artist and beta?
  • An author is the person, or persons if you have a co-author, that write the fic.
  • An artist is the person that does the art for the fic they choose. 
  • A beta is a person who reads your work before you post it to check for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and continuity errors. 

I hope that this answers your question, Anon.

FAQ bcjbb bcjbigbang author artist beta clarification Anonymous