Beta Bio: general description as a beta reader
Hey there!br /br / I'm Shockrider, and I want to be your betareader. Probably. Read more to find out what I mean by that.br / br / I am a journalist who's been trained in editing as well as writing. My betareading style is fairly straightforward. I read through a whole story first, only correcting minor grammar and spelling mistakes as I go on, but leaving everything else more or less intact. Once that's done, I'll re-read the piece and change more important errors, such as mixed verb tenses or other things I didn't notice before. Please note that I will NEVER change anything important to the plot without first talking to you. I'll make notes about what parts I think are too wordy or, similarly, need more explanation. I'll also let you know if I think certain passages have characters not acting like themselves and need to be worked on.br / br / I expect that anyone wanting to have me beta will at least proofread over their work and do a basic spelling/grammar check. I know too well that these tools don't catch everything, and that's why I'm here! I want to help turn your idea into a great, engaging tale of the most epic awesomeness. But if I'm reading through an introduction and every other word is badly misspelled, I'm going to very quickly lose interest and send it back. |
My Strengths: beta, writing, or reading strengths
I've been trained in basic advanced editing, which includes spelling, grammar, and more by one of the finest journalism schools in the U.S.A. I know most rules about punctuation and sentence structure, and I can be a real help in these areas. I also think myself as being good at character development. I can spot when an author didn't feel like putting effort into his or her work and took a quick and easy route or used some cliche in order to push the story along. I also consider myself to be a good dialogue writer. I'll take extra care to make sure the dialogue in a story flows well and stays in character. |
My Weaknesses: beta, writing, or reading weaknesses
My biggest weakness when it comes to writing is wordiness. I tend to ramble and sometimes mix up ideas when I'm typing away, but I almost always catch them when I'm editing my work. Still, I'm jealous of people who can write down exactly what needs to be said in as few words as possible. Also, since I'm a journalism student, I'm working on this problem, but fiction writing is different from writing a column.br /br / On that note, I also sometimes get stuck in the style of writing journalists use, which is the Associated Press style (AP style). I am usually very good about keeping this out of regular writing, but it does sometimes slip in. If I'm betaing your work and you see me make a change that looks a little odd to you, let me know and I'll explain why I did it. If it turns out I was just using AP style, I'll change it back immediately if you don't like it. |
Preferred: types of stories I prefer over others
Deep down, I'm really a sappy guy. I love well-written WAFFy romantic fanfics. They just make my day. More specifically, I love the sub genre of the hurt/comfort, which kind of falls into the WAFF category. I also like action/adventure pieces as well as good humor, but at the end of the day, I'm a romance man. There are exceptions to this, however, which are in my "Not My Cup Of Tea" section.br /br / As for specific fandoms, I prefer anything from Naruto, video games, Star Wars, Pokemon, Evangelion, Dragon Ball Z, and pretty much any other anime you can think of. The only things from that category I'm not too fond of are really obscure shows/manga that fill some odd niche. I'm not an Otaku, so I don't live and breathe anime, not that doing that is necessarily bad. I just don't appreciate some of the lesser known animes out there as much as your potential beta reader should. I'm here to make your story come to life, and if I can't get interested in the fandom, I'm not doing my job. |
Would Rather Not: I do not beta for these stories
As I mentioned, there is one big thing I'm not into, and that's slash/yaoi between two characters that aren't gay in a given canon. If your story is about Naruto and Sasuke getting together, I'm not your guy until they do it in the series. Yuri is usually fine, though. Why? Because I'm human and a bit shallow.br /br / The only anime I can think of that I really don't want any part of is the Gundam series. I never got into it when I was younger because I didn't like the characters. Plus, any Gundam battle will have me scrambling for Wikipedia to figure out who and what the heck you're talking about. Like I said above, if you're into that, then you deserve a betareader who is going to happily look over your work.br / br / As for specific genres, I'm not a fan of angst or horror/deathfics. I'm a sucker for happy endings, so if your story is a downer, I'm not your guy. |
