I will look out for and correct the following: br /br /
Basics: Grammar, punctuation, and spelling. I won't mess with anything else unless you /
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Fluency: How well your writing flows. I'll exchange repeated words when necessary and occasionally rearrange a few sentences. Your sentences need to flow smoothly or what your write won't make sense or will be too hard to /
br /
Characterization: How in-character you keep everybody. But, unless you think you did a horrible job at it and want me to fix it, your story should be /
br /
*Improvising: If your story is choppy, I can add in lines here and there to help explain the /
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**Just Plain Old Commentary: If you want my opinion of your story, I'll do a 'word-by-word' commentary (which means I'll be writing my opinion on the middle of the story instead of it being at the end like a review). I WILL NOT edit the story if you ask for a commentary; everything you write will stay the same. What I write in the commentary is my personal opinion -not yours or anyone else's- and I WILL be 100% honest with you. You don't have to listen to what I say.
But, I expect you as the writer to send me your BEST -or as good as you think you can get it- manuscript; I don't want some half-baked script. Yes, having a bad day/week/month/year/life CAN affect your writing, but that is NOT an excuse for writing poorly. If you need time to fix your chapter/story, then take the time; don't rush. People are wiling to wait if that means the quality of your chapters goes up.
Betas are here to look at what you think is your best work and say, "You know what, I KNOW you CAN do better; and I'll help you get there." They're not here to re-write your story and let you take the credit for it.
Remember, it's your story, we're just editing it.
*I will not do this unless asked for. If you ask for this, I will put in parenthesis or at the end of the chapter my reasons for doing whatever it is I changed/edited.
** I will not do this unless asked for. This is basically a long review of your story in your story. Nothing will be edited or changed, but I will put up my suggestions at the end of the chapter or on parenthesis.
