miss_ingno | Entries tagged with beta advice

Different Approaches to Beta Reading

Every beta has their own style of working on a story. But when you’re just starting, beta-reading can feel quite overwhelming. Hopefully this list will give you a starting point to figure out what method you prefer, or maybe it’ll give you ideas of what else to try.

1) The Silent Readthrough. You read through the story once without leaving any comments or suggestions, usually as the first step.

Upside: Gives the story a chance to sink in, and you gain a first impression of the effect it has. This is particularly useful for giving a first-impression-summary at the end, or when you’re trying to look at the big picture. It lets you enjoy the story to its fullest the way a reader would. Take notes for yourself of things that stick out.

Downside: Knowing the story already, you might have trouble with your brain skipping over parts since you know where it’s going. You’ll have to focus harder on the next readthrough(s), and if you didn’t keep any notes you lose most of your first-reaction feedback. A scene that didn’t quite work the first time might not stick out to you anymore since its more familiar now. A follow-up readthrough with comments is definitely necessary.

2) The Focussed Readthrough. Focus on one area per readthrough. You can do a grammar run, a spellcheck run, pay attention to character, dialogue, pacing… You can split the areas into as many readthroughs as you like.

Upside: You are very clear on your goal with every readthrough. It helps to focus on the details necessary and provides a very thorough feedback for your author. You can brush up on relevant writing advice or grammar rules before your readthrough, putting the tips at the forefront of your mind. Very useful for beginner betas and people who find they have trouble with certain areas of focus.

Downside: Every time you narrow your focus on just one area means another readthrough. Multiple readthroughs require a lot of time and attention, and some areas are harder to focus on the more familiar you are with the story. It gets harder to provide a fresh pair of eyes. Some advice might also only applies to certain scenes and not the entire story.

3) The Complex Readthrough. Apply all the things in a single readthrough. This is my personal approach, most of the time.

Upside: A thorough approach that covers all the areas you could focus on. Once you’re in the right mindset, applying writing advice and grammar rules becomes easier, since your brain is already set to “work-mode”. It takes less time than multiple readthroughs, too. Good for fast-approaching deadlines and longer stories.

Downside: It’s hard to keep track of everything, and easy to get distracted by one area of focus, forgetting the other areas you should/want to cover. You might lose story immersion because you have to concentrate on the work-part and as such the impression/effect of the story is reduced. It also takes a lot of effort and can leave you quite exhausted.

4) The Priority Readthrough. This is when you take your authors special requests in mind and focus solely on those areas when reading the story. Alternatively, do a limited readthrough of just the scenes the author pointed out.

Upside: Taking extra time and paying special attention to the areas and scenes an author is unsure about ensures that the author gets the feedback they really want. Singling out the scenes or areas of focus in one readthrough guarantees maximum attention is paid to the special requests.

Downside: Might already be covered by previous or later readthroughs, and as such feel like a waste of time. Though honestly, it’s always good to review the author’s priorities and give those scenes some extra thought, so if it feels that way, try to gain some distance or read through pertinent writing advice again, before coming back to these scenes.

You can, of course, mix-and-match these methods as suits you best. Maybe do a Silent-Priority Readthrough, where you take notes on the priorities and the first impression, so you can later come back to your notes as you work on the scenes that the priority applies to. Do a Complex Readthrough looking for several types of writing advice, and follow it up with a Focussed Readthrough to double-check grammar and spelling. Try out the various methods, see what works best for you.

What’s your approach to betaing? Please let me know in tags or reblogs, I’d be interested to see others’ perspectives on this topic!

(Beta Advice 101)

AKA what betas can offer to writers

In the corner of fandom I grew up with, there’s been this implication that beta-readers are for people who are bad at grammar and spelling. That they have great ideas but need help with their English. Meanwhile, a ‘good’ writer can do their own edits. I believe this fallacy arose from the idea that a beta’s main duty is spellcheck work, which is why I’ve illustrated different functions of betas in this post.

So. What do beta readers have to offer?

A second perspective. The author is usually too close to their own story - we compare it to what it looks like ideally in our heads, we already know the outcome, what connections and hints should be picked up on. It’s hard to distance yourself from all that, especially in a short amount of time. Getting a fresh pair of eyes helps figuring out what works and what doesn’t.

A unique point of view. This gets really obvious when you have several betas. Everyone latches onto different bits and details, and has different opinions about plot and character, different life experiences. It helps to figure out scenes, especially when you’re not happy with how they turned out, and with a sensitivity reader it helps to avoid pitfalls. It can give your story more depth, make it multi-faceted.

Spellcheck is still a valuable set of work for betas. As a writer, I’m sure you’re familiar with the phenomenon: you’ve re-read your own story so many times, your eyes just skip over the typos. You’re just happy you’ve got the words out and having to edit on top of that is exhausting. Again, a fresh pair of eyes is always helpful.

Encouragement. Sometimes it’s hard to keep writing. Sometimes the story feels like it’s going nowhere. Sometimes having to edit the existing story gets in the way of finishing it. A beta can provide positive reinforcement, feedback and help you figure out how to possibly get out of the corner you wrote yourself into.

Reassurance. We’ve all had that creeping doubt when writing that it’ll come off all wrong, that this character is totally OOC, that the clues are too subtle and everyone will miss them, that they’re too obvious and it’ll be boring, that no one will read it, it’s all garbage anyway… having a beta is really helpful to get rid of these self-doubts.
This is why it’s so important for betas not only to point out what still could use some work, but also when the author did something really good!

World-building. As a beta, I like to ask questions about the world, how things work, how they apply to the characters. As a writer I’ve found these questions super useful because sometimes it’s hard to think of the right questions to ask, but even just considering one of these can spiral out and create a more fleshed-out world to set your story in!

Help with applying writing advice to your story. Maybe you want to write a fight scene, so you read up on advice, but it just won’t come out right and you don’t know why. You’ve followed the steps but it still doesn’t feel right. Get a beta who has an understanding of this area! Or just fumble through it together. That’s also a valid tactic and hey, two pairs of eyes see more than one.

Not all authors are looking for a beta. I’ve known writers who feel like they would never post anything if they had to wait for a beta to read it over, who don’t feel like editing, who are just happy they wrote anything at all. And that’s fine! Especially with fanfiction, a beta is not a must-have. I myself only tend to get betas for stories that are either very important and dear to me, or longer projects. Sometimes I just get one because I’m tired and on a deadline and don’t want to deal with the typos.

But whenever I do work with one, I feel a lot more satisfied with the end result.

(Beta Advice 101)

There’s probably as many reasons as there are people who beta-read. I can certainly only speak for myself. So why go to all this effort? What’s the reward? What do you gain from beta-reading?

Beta skills translate into writing skills. Whenever you pinpoint something that’s off in another’s story, or tell them why a thing works; when you apply writing advice or suggest an alternative phrasing, every time you teach your brain to find and analyze these moments. So when it comes to writing your own stuff, you’re then able to pick up on similar patterns in your own works and improve your stories.

Working with a highly skilled author is a great opportunity to learn from them. You gain insights in how they deal with certain issues and it forces you to analyze stories that are already of good quality for weaknesses. The level of effort you have to put into it is higher because you still want to offer them something valuable, but it’s a challenge that you can only grow from.

On the other hand, working with an amateur author who has trouble in areas that you’ve already mastered is equally rewarding. Seeing their improvement over time and helping them turn their ideas into solid stories is amazing. And at the same time it helps you refocus on those areas you’ve taken for granted, might even increase your skills in those areas.
IMPORTANT. Make sure not to overwhelm them with suggestions and advice. They can only focus on so many things at once - it’s crucial to prioritize what they want to improve on first, and focus on the most obvious weak spots. Everything else will come with time.

On a less cerebral level, there’s a sense of accomplishment for being involved with a cool project. The story is the author’s, first and foremost, but you helped. You influenced that. It wouldn’t be the same story without you, and that can be really exciting.

And on an entirely selfish standpoint, getting to read a story first, before it’s publicly available. There’s nothing wrong with this sentiment. It’s certainly been one of the reasons why I’ve enjoyed beta-reading in the past (though has become less so as I’ve become busier with my own projects). As long as you still put in the effort, put in the work to actually help the author and leave feedback.

Some stories only exist, some stories were only ever posted thanks to alpha and beta readers. I have several of those, stories that would have forever remained a WiP without the encouragement and help I’ve gotten from my friends.

Why do you want to be a beta reader? Reblog with your own reasons and rewards, I’m curious to see what others think.

(Beta Advice 101)

You’ve tried your hand at beta-reading, and you know what to expect now. You want to get better. Here’s a couple tips that might help!

Re-familiarize yourself with grammar rules. School might’ve been a while, and some things are hard to grasp. There’s plenty of advice out there regarding how to use punctuation in dialogue, when to use commas, who vs whom, who’s vs whose, etc.

Writing advice. Applying writing advice to the story covers almost all of an editor-type beta’s duties. Pacing? Word choice? Character? Dialogue? These are all questions an author struggles with while writing, and a beta is there to provide a second perspective. Consume all writing advice that you can find, but remember that as with most advice, some things might work for some people but not for others. You can make suggestions, but it’s up to the author to decide whether to use them or not.
(Also, Thesaurus.com is your friend when looking for synonyms. Don’t use the same word three times in a row, find alternatives.)

Practice. It might not make perfect, but it definitely hones your skills. The more stories you beta-read, the better a grasp you get on the assorted areas. Working with various authors might be helpful, too, to get diverse kind of experiences. Like I’ve said before, every author has different expectations and needs help with other areas.

Analytical reading. I know I’ve said it before, but I cannot stress it enough. This is basically beta reading without writing the critique down. Analyse the fuck out of every story you come across, figure out why things work and why they don’t.
IMPORTANT. Analysis gives you a lot of fodder for comments. Positive things you can easily shower the author with, but unless they’ve specifically asked for constructive criticism in the A/N, do not offer unsolicited advice. If they do ask for feedback, make sure to use the Positive-Negative-Positive cushioning method when bringing up something that didn’t work - you’re not there to rip them or their story apart, after all.

(Beta Advice 101)

Beta readers can fullfil a number of functions. One of the most important things is to realize what kind of beta the author is looking for.

Alpha or cheerreader. A person who’s there to encourage the author, with whom the author can spitball ideas and bring up plot points that just don’t seem to want to work, talks out writer’s block with and is in general something of a cheerleader for the story. Do not underestimate their importance.

Spellcheck beta. This is your most basic type of beta: Someone who looks for typos, spelling mistakes, grammar, and maybe for difficult to understand phrasing.

Editor-type beta. Someone who tells the author what works, and what still needs work. This tackles a variety of topics, from character consistency over story structure to plot plausibility. Pacing, characterisation, where the story flow is interrupted, where it gets boring, where you were about to cry - all of those and more fall within this category.

Sensitivity beta. So the author has included a deaf, trans, Korean character, but has no life experiences from any of those categories. In this case, they get a sensitivity reader or two from within the communities they represented in their story, to sort out and flag issues with the various *isms and *phobia. This way, they avoid misrepresenting those communities and there’s less of a chance of perpetuating harmful stereotypes. Of course, different individuals from the same community might have differing opinions. In general, this practice is (should be) more common in published fiction rather than fanfiction.

Expert or research assistant. The story is set in a bakery in the 16th century in Monaco. Now, the author does their own research, of course, but certain cultural, historical aspects are hard to ferret out. Asking someone who knows about the stuff you need in depth, or someone who has done this kind of research before helps cut down on the time spend on research and probably leaves the story more accurate. Might overlap with a sensitivity reader if the area of expertise is that community.

Of course, a sensitivity reader can also be a spellcheck beta, or a topic expert can give you advice on pacing. Here’s where the communication between author and beta is important, so both sides know what’s expected and needed.

(Beta-Reading Advice 101)