The Beta Post
Request or offer beta services here!
If you're offering to beta, here are some ideas of info to include with your offer:
- Your LJ Name/Address and/or Email
- Will you read general (non-relationship) fic? Heterosexual pairings? Slash pairings?
- Genres you prefer? (Romance, angst, mystery, etc.)
- Genres you aren't interested in?
- What are you best at? (Plot holes, characterization, flow/voice of the author, spelling/grammar?)
- Couples/Pairings you love?
- Couples/Pairings you won't read?
- How harsh can you be? (Meaning, will you have a problem honestly telling a person what's wrong with their story for fear of hurting their feelings?)
If you're requesting someone beta for you, it's a good idea to include a brief summary of what your story is about, what you're looking for (help with grammar, American-isms, characterization, etc.), and how long the story is. Also, be patient waiting for a response -- nobody's getting paid to do this and real life can sometimes be a pain.
Lastly, if you can't handle constructive criticism about your writing, please don't ask for someone to beta! The whole point of this is to get criticism about where you can improve your story, not get lots of "OMG!!!11! plz write more soon!!111!! u r gr8!!!"