Beta-Reading Survey
With permission from the author of the survey, I've put up her questions here for folks to read, and her email address for interested parties to send on their answers to her. Her e-mail is: jae_s1978 [at] yahoo [dot] de (to avoid spambots), and her website is Jae's Fiction.
Here's the full "questionnaire":
1) How many writers/on how many stories do you currently work? At the moment, none. It just depends on if an author asks and if I know I'm going to have some time available to do it.
2) In which fandoms (name of the tv show, movie) / genres have you beta read? Fandoms I've beta'd in: Bad Girls (UK), ER (US), Forever Knight (Canada/US), among others. I read fic in quite a few different fandoms.
3) What's your approach to beta reading? What do you do after you receive the story from the writer? Find out what the author is looking for in a beta. Solves a lot of problems right off the bat.
I usually try and do a read-through of the story to get a general idea of what they're trying to say in their story - even if its a fluff piece. Also a second and third read-through can pick up spelling and grammatical errors that the first read-through might not.
4) What are the most important things a beta reader should do? Find out how much constructive criticism they want. Some want more detailed criticism that would go beyond just a general spell and grammar check. Stuff like credibility of the characters. A writer can lose an audience just as quickly by writing something that's so far off the mark for the character that it doesn't make sense, as they would a pile of spelling and grammatical errors.
If it's an Alternate Universe story, how far out there can the characters behave before the audience just loses interest; does it fit with the overall feel of the character. The intrinsic nature of the character. Also if they're going to put them in Alternate Universe situations, they have to make it plausible, otherwise, it's an original story, just substituting your favourite characters into the situation.
5) Are there some things a beta reader should avoid? Do not try to 'rewrite' the story how you think it should be. It's author's story not yours. If the author doesn't want a detailed [constructive] criticism of their work, that's their prerogative.
You can offer your services to beta in a general forum, but don't tell an author (in a reply to a posted story) that their writing sucks and here's how I can fix it for you. It won't go over well. Especially on a forum). I know that goes beyond saying but I've seen it happen. Don't take it for granted what the writer wants when you beta. Ask them.
On a rare occasion I've had to walk away from a story and tell the author that I can't because there was too many errors that I didn't know where to start.
6) Do you use MS Word Track Changes or how do you mark your changes and comments? Similar to this actually. I use Open Office Writer (an open-source program) for writing/beta'ing. In an email I'll take the sentence or paragraph and retype it with the changes made in another colour, so that they can compare it. The comments in another colour so that it differentiates it from the story. I'll also put in the paragraph number so that the author can easily pick it out when they go back to their own story.
7) Do you belong to any organizations (mailing lists etc.) for beta readers or are you exchanging information about beta reading with other beta readers? Not specifically. I'm on some fandom lists / LiveJournal communities with other writers. We just often will ask on the list/community if we have a story that needs a beta and someone will offer their services.
8) Are there any good websites about beta reading that you know? Can you provide a link? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_reader
There's also plenty resource communities on LiveJournal:
When you plug beta reader into the 'Interests' search section of LiveJournal you get some 70 matches. Some are fandom specific.
9) Do you also write your own stories? Yes. See Fanfiction - Mine and Others
10) What could writers do to make working with beta readers easier or more effective? Always keep a line of communication open. The writers need to be specific in what they want in a beta, as I mentioned above. Do they just want someone to spell and grammar check their story. Or do they want something more detailed. As beta's we shouldn't make assumptions about what they want.
11) Are there any resources (dictionaries, books, websites, fandom specific things, e.g. websites or companions to TV shows) you sometimes use when you beta read or that could be of help to less experienced beta readers? Please name author/title or link to the website, if you can. This very fandom specific. And given my interests, that's a LOT of websites. The easiest thing to do for the author or beta is to google the show's official pages and search Wikipedia for the show (it's not 100% perfect but it's a pretty damned good resource.
Remember, both writing and beta-reading a story takes work to make the story flow well so that the reader will enjoy the finished product. Create a good working relationship with your beta. Don't expect miracles.
Now, on a separate note, I'm hungry. Going to dash out and pick something up I think.
Here's the full "questionnaire":
1) How many writers/on how many stories do you currently work? At the moment, none. It just depends on if an author asks and if I know I'm going to have some time available to do it.
2) In which fandoms (name of the tv show, movie) / genres have you beta read? Fandoms I've beta'd in: Bad Girls (UK), ER (US), Forever Knight (Canada/US), among others. I read fic in quite a few different fandoms.
3) What's your approach to beta reading? What do you do after you receive the story from the writer? Find out what the author is looking for in a beta. Solves a lot of problems right off the bat.
I usually try and do a read-through of the story to get a general idea of what they're trying to say in their story - even if its a fluff piece. Also a second and third read-through can pick up spelling and grammatical errors that the first read-through might not.
4) What are the most important things a beta reader should do? Find out how much constructive criticism they want. Some want more detailed criticism that would go beyond just a general spell and grammar check. Stuff like credibility of the characters. A writer can lose an audience just as quickly by writing something that's so far off the mark for the character that it doesn't make sense, as they would a pile of spelling and grammatical errors.
If it's an Alternate Universe story, how far out there can the characters behave before the audience just loses interest; does it fit with the overall feel of the character. The intrinsic nature of the character. Also if they're going to put them in Alternate Universe situations, they have to make it plausible, otherwise, it's an original story, just substituting your favourite characters into the situation.
5) Are there some things a beta reader should avoid? Do not try to 'rewrite' the story how you think it should be. It's author's story not yours. If the author doesn't want a detailed [constructive] criticism of their work, that's their prerogative.
You can offer your services to beta in a general forum, but don't tell an author (in a reply to a posted story) that their writing sucks and here's how I can fix it for you. It won't go over well. Especially on a forum). I know that goes beyond saying but I've seen it happen. Don't take it for granted what the writer wants when you beta. Ask them.
On a rare occasion I've had to walk away from a story and tell the author that I can't because there was too many errors that I didn't know where to start.
6) Do you use MS Word Track Changes or how do you mark your changes and comments? Similar to this actually. I use Open Office Writer (an open-source program) for writing/beta'ing. In an email I'll take the sentence or paragraph and retype it with the changes made in another colour, so that they can compare it. The comments in another colour so that it differentiates it from the story. I'll also put in the paragraph number so that the author can easily pick it out when they go back to their own story.
7) Do you belong to any organizations (mailing lists etc.) for beta readers or are you exchanging information about beta reading with other beta readers? Not specifically. I'm on some fandom lists / LiveJournal communities with other writers. We just often will ask on the list/community if we have a story that needs a beta and someone will offer their services.
8) Are there any good websites about beta reading that you know? Can you provide a link? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_reader
There's also plenty resource communities on LiveJournal:
When you plug beta reader into the 'Interests' search section of LiveJournal you get some 70 matches. Some are fandom specific.
9) Do you also write your own stories? Yes. See Fanfiction - Mine and Others
10) What could writers do to make working with beta readers easier or more effective? Always keep a line of communication open. The writers need to be specific in what they want in a beta, as I mentioned above. Do they just want someone to spell and grammar check their story. Or do they want something more detailed. As beta's we shouldn't make assumptions about what they want.
11) Are there any resources (dictionaries, books, websites, fandom specific things, e.g. websites or companions to TV shows) you sometimes use when you beta read or that could be of help to less experienced beta readers? Please name author/title or link to the website, if you can. This very fandom specific. And given my interests, that's a LOT of websites. The easiest thing to do for the author or beta is to google the show's official pages and search Wikipedia for the show (it's not 100% perfect but it's a pretty damned good resource.
Remember, both writing and beta-reading a story takes work to make the story flow well so that the reader will enjoy the finished product. Create a good working relationship with your beta. Don't expect miracles.
Now, on a separate note, I'm hungry. Going to dash out and pick something up I think.