Concerning betas…
So, okay, here’s the thing. I have been reading fanfiction online for just over four years, in four different fandoms. In comparison with some of you, this is not very long, I know, and I know what I’m going to complain about is not specific to one fandom and has been going on since people began writing fanfiction.
Lately, I have been reading some of the bandombigbang fics since posting began, and of the handful I’ve read that claim to have been beta read by at least one person, and in most cases, multiple people, very, very damn few of them appear to actually have been edited. I realize that spelling and grammar checks are not always correct and do not always catch mistakes, and that the odd typo or misplaced/missing comma might slip past even the most thorough beta, but what the fuck is up with the abundance of fic with glaring (and consistent) spelling/punctuation/grammar/homophone issues? *NB: I am not singling out BBB. Most of the fics that I have been reading lately just happen to have been posted in that community for that fic challenge.*
I know that not everyone is as…attentive to the technical aspects of a story as I am. I know that not everyone is a pedantic asshole with a degree in English. I know commas are hard. I know many people would say that if I want grammatically correct fic I should write it myself. What I don’t know is why on earth the people who allegedly beta read these often disastrous fics don’t seem to have a proper grasp of the most basic elements of (at least) grammar and punctuation.
Are we--yes, I’ll include myself here since I’m a writer--so full of ourselves that just having written 20K+ words is accomplishment enough? (Or any length fic; again, not picking on BBB here, but it’s what I’ve been reading lately). Do we really only care about enlisting the help of our friends to beta our fic because, since they’re our friends, they’ll tell us our fic is amazing, regardless of how many technical problems it may have? Are betas lazy? Do people who offer/are asked to beta fic really just not know what they’re about in some cases? Are these betas actually quite good and just happen to edit for authors who can’t/won’t/don’t make the necessary, correct changes?
If you’re a writer… Who do you approach first when looking for someone to beta something you’ve written? Do you generally ask your friends for help, or do you ask around in communities offering beta services? Do you require your beta to be a part of your fandom? What things do you ask a beta to pay particular attention to when editing your fic? Have you ever been offended by suggestions made by a beta reader?
If you’re a beta… How do you choose people for whom you will beta fic? Have you been asked to beta by someone and turned them down? Why would you not beta fic for someone? Have you ever put in time and effort to looking over someone’s fic only to have them disregard the changes you suggested and then post a technically messy fic with your name mentioned as the beta reader? What do you do if this happens?
As a reader... Is poor spelling/grammar/punctuation something you can overlook if the content/idea of the story is good enough/holds your attention? How forgiving of these mistakes are you willing to be?
I will be the first to admit that I am not very good at writing long fic on my own. I would even go so far as to say that lately, I can’t even scrape together a couple thousand words. I will admit that I often post snippets of things I’m working on, or ficlets, or drabbles, that have not been looked over by anyone else, but I am posting these things to my journal, not to fanfiction communities with widespread readerships. I know that I do not know everything about grammar, punctuation, etc. I do know that I’m pretty damn good at editing fic, and that when I do so for someone, I do my absolute best to catch every single mistake that I can. I was lucky enough to get to beta three fantastic pieces of fiction for the BBB challenge (yeah, that was more than 100K words!), and I was also lucky that these three people trusted me enough to want to take advantage of the advice I offered and make changes in order to put out the best pieces of fanfiction they could. I like to think it was a pretty beneficial situation for all concerned.
I guess what I really want to know is, when did it become a bad thing to use a competent beta before posting fic?
Okay, I’m going to shut up and go get lunch now, but please feel free to opine/theorize/commiserate in comments. I’m leaving this post unlocked, with anonymous comments turned on and IP logging turned off if you would rather respond that way.