Betaing
I could really use some beta readers for Elcenia's re-launch who have not been exposed to the prior incarnation of the work. The betas I have nearly all have at least some familiarity with it, so they will make inferences that arbitrary new readers won't be able to and won't catch certain kinds of unclarity. (I'll happily take new betas who have read prior Elcenia versions, too, but am specifically seeking those who haven't.)
Here is what my beta readers do:
1) Be on an IM client a lot. Receive raw-HTML pastes of a few paragraphs at a time of yet-unpublished installments of writing.
2) Listen to me think aloud about future plot details, character development, etc. Be discreet about privileged information. (I'm not cagey about spoilers, but I prefer that they all be handed down directly from me, not disseminated indiscriminately from reader to reader.)
3) Supply feedback on the pastes and the thinking-out-loud. This has two purposes: One, I write faster and more happily when I feel like writing gets me attention. So if you have a comment or two on every paragraph, that is extremely helpful, even if the comments are just "Hahahaha! I like $SENTENCE!" or "Awww, poor $CHARACTER!". Two, to point out typos, catch grammatical brainfarts, identify areas of poor clarity, and otherwise find things I might want to change about the story.
Betas are given Borg designations in the form of Greek letters. (i.e. I have an alphabeta, a betabeta, a gammabeta, etc.)
Here is what my beta readers do:
1) Be on an IM client a lot. Receive raw-HTML pastes of a few paragraphs at a time of yet-unpublished installments of writing.
2) Listen to me think aloud about future plot details, character development, etc. Be discreet about privileged information. (I'm not cagey about spoilers, but I prefer that they all be handed down directly from me, not disseminated indiscriminately from reader to reader.)
3) Supply feedback on the pastes and the thinking-out-loud. This has two purposes: One, I write faster and more happily when I feel like writing gets me attention. So if you have a comment or two on every paragraph, that is extremely helpful, even if the comments are just "Hahahaha! I like $SENTENCE!" or "Awww, poor $CHARACTER!". Two, to point out typos, catch grammatical brainfarts, identify areas of poor clarity, and otherwise find things I might want to change about the story.
Betas are given Borg designations in the form of Greek letters. (i.e. I have an alphabeta, a betabeta, a gammabeta, etc.)