Beta Bio: general description as a beta reader
I've been reading fanfictions for almost 10 years, and reading as a whole for a lot longer than that. And over my time reading, both books and fanfictions, I've thought a lot about what makes a story work, and what doesn't. Obviously I'll check for basic grammar mistakes, but I'll also give my opinions on the story. What feelings I get, what I think works, what I think doesn't, what plotholes I see...and while it is up to the author to act on my observations and advice, I think I can make a sub-par story into a strong one. br /br / I only ask this-I will not accept reading stories featuring things like bashing or gary-stu main characters. I expect any authors I may beta for to put effort into their work. Even if it's not the best out of the gate, or on their first draft, they need to have the goal of actually wanting to put out a good story, rather than just obsessing over a main character. And when I say obsess over the main character, I mean something like a typical Naruto Neglect! story, where the main character is a badass, and good stuff happen to the characters who side with and like them, and the characters who don't get shafted and bashed and are made to look like arrogant dumbasses, with no real motivations and relatability for the characters who get bashed, and no real challenge, conflict, or growth for the main character and those who side with them. |
My Strengths: beta, writing, or reading strengths
I'm a reader. I'm good at giving the perspective of an audience. How they would view it, how they would like it. I'm also an ideas man. I can see interesting subplots that the author could take advantage, and help them plan it out, or even give an idea of how to get out of a writer's /br / I'm probably best at boosting middle to lower-middle tier stories in terms of quality, both in writing quality, and in depth and uniqueness of plot and characterization, to an upper tier level. |
My Weaknesses: beta, writing, or reading weaknesses
I won't be as good at fine tuning the already really good stories. Stories where it might be more important to change a couple words to make a particular sentence stronger. I won't be able to really boost an upper tier story into THE top tier. |
Preferred: types of stories I prefer over others
Give me something unafraid to be new. Be an author unafraid to stray from cannon, but to take place in the original world. Also, as far as fandoms go, I specialize in terms of knowledge of the Naruto and PJO fandoms, and Naruto crossovers, and PJO crossovers. I especially like crossovers where a main character (Percy and Naruto especially, but also other characters such as Danny Phantom or Ben Ten) go into another universe (HP, RWBY, DxD, Fairy Tail, Yu-Gi-Oh, DBZ, Avater: The Last Airbender, LoL, etc.) and have an impact on the stories and characters. |
Would Rather Not: I do not beta for these stories
Bashing stories and stories that just want to follow the cannon and have whatever changes they make from cannon (whether it's add a new character or change the main characters powers or origins, or have some event happen a little differently, or anything like that) have no actual impact on the direction the story goes. |
