Beta Bio: general description as a beta reader
I’ve beta read for multiple stories and had people beta for me, so I have a fair amount of experience in what beta reading entails (though by no means am I claiming I'm perfect), I have a very strong grasp of the technicalities of the English language and am very eager to help others.When I read a document, I scan first for typos, and then read a second time, focusing on word choice and phrasing, and then a third time to make sure the writing flows well. I highlight problematic words and phrases to refer to them, with my comments on the side. I’ll highlight any stylistic changes I’ve made, the exceptions being typos, spelling errors, punctuation, and anything else I’m completely sure about. However, I'll rarely make direct changes if I believe the issue is subjective; in those cases I will just comment a suggestion. I will also occasionally make a comment about something I may have changed/needs changing, trying to educate the writer further about the issue. |
My Strengths: beta, writing, or reading strengths
Dialogue formatting, punctuation and formatting, and spelling. I'm also good at spotting repetitiveness, such as in words, phrases, sentence structure, sentence length, and flow.Making the story realistic and believable. I dislike stories where everything is perfect, the events ridiculous, or the OCs are too over-the-top. Related to this, I'm good at researching, and can help you if you are unsure how to go about researching/don't know how to phrase the question you're searching for, but I will NOT do your research for you. Descriptions- scenery, actions, looks, feelings. I can also help come up with ideas to make a paragraph have more substance, such as extending fight scenes so they aren't too short and over too quickly. |
My Weaknesses: beta, writing, or reading weaknesses
I'm not sure if it's just my writing style, but I may overuse commas, and I also tend to abuse adjectives and adverbs.I have a fear of writing characters poorly, which means that I have a bad habit of not writing characters at all unless I'm completely confident that I know them well. This also means that apart from making sure the character stays true to their base personality, I can't guarantee that I can keep them amazingly in-character. |
Preferred: types of stories I prefer over others
I prefer action, adventure, and fantasy stories, but can beta for most stories (though I won't be very helpful aside from basic grammar checking if I don't know the material very well). I can do serious plots, lighthearted and silly ones, or any mix of the two, as well as angst and fluff. I've got a decent grasp on romance and am a-ok with smut. My strongest fandoms are Ninjago and Okami, and I'm pretty well-versed in Persona 3 and 4. |
Would Rather Not: I do not beta for these stories
Sci-fi generally isn't my thing, and anything purely modern-day tends to bore me. I don't like doing anything with real-life people, and I shy away from stories with heavy amounts of OCs as the main cast unless it's done well.I will reject stories with extremely poor characterization, formatting, and grammar. If I think your plot isn't that great I may try to help you make it better, but no guarantees (especially if I think it's unfixably bad). I may also reject stories that utilize cultures the writer isn't familiar with and clearly didn't research. (At least make an effort, man.) |
