Or what's a beta for? And, is there a beta in your meta?

[red_satin_doll]

ETA 08/02/13: comlodge just re-stated the point in the convo thread below that I was attempting to make re: beta-readers and meta and did so better and far more concisely than I could ever hope to. I bow to her awesomeness.

I just noticed one more empty "pending" slot in the Beta catagory at the Running With Scissors Awards,  which seems odd to me.

Comments

[snogged]

I feel really blessed to have strong relationships with my betas. I really feel like velvetwhip and snowpuppies have helped me excel as a writer and I'm deeply appreciative to both of them for that.

[red_satin_doll]

Well you've got two of the best writers in this fandom as betas (yeah, I said it), so I'd imagine that definitely "ups your game". Obviously not all writers make good betas, and not all betas are "great writers". (I'm speaking of myself in this instance.) That's true in any field of course. (I have second-hand experience in this via my sweetie's four years in art school.) In fact quite a large percentage of visual artists in the US turn to teaching because they can't make their primary living from art, no matter how good they are. Some of them are great teachers - and some need to get their heads out of their big fat egos.

The old saying "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach" is utter bullshit IMO. Those who can, teach; those who can't, criticize teachers.

[comlodge]

An interesting conversation. I'd never come across the term 'beta' til I came here. Perhaps it is a fanfic thing. For me 'beta' always meant a release eg of software, that was not final - it was past the design stage but needed to be tested further, usually in a live situation, to find and fix the final bugs

[red_satin_doll]

FYI I edited this post to add a link to your reply because you said what I was trying to but a lot better and with fewer words. & I was hoping you'd stop btw here especially after our convo yesterday re: having someone spotcheck artwork because it's the same idea.

In short, I humbly bow to your way with words, my Queen. And true to form I respond with - a lot more words.

I'd never come across the term 'beta' til I came here.Neither had I. I'd not come across the term meta in this context either - I guess it's meant to me "all nonfiction fanwriting"? Which could include stream of consciousness or off the cuff observations, very academic analysis, fangirl (or boy) squee, even fiction or artwork (I mentioned Lostboy's "Monomythology of Buffy" as an example. But I guess some of your own artwork could be included, making ties between Anne Pratt and Dawn/Buffy for example

[comlodge]

I wondered, at some stage way back when, if meta and beta came into being because fanfic is using others ideas so we should use something other than RL titles for things. I wonder a lot of silly things really, lol.

When I go to Rome, I shall eat pasta and pizza and bitch that they're not authentic 'cos they are nothing like back home in Oz!

I have to remember that it is not my story

And this is where I would fail, I'm sure. I would want to rewrite it. There is a genre here called 'remix' where authors rewrite each other's stories, with permission. Of course, fanfic is a 'remix' of canon.

You may prepare my breakfast now, my handmaiden. I'll have it in bed because it's too early and cold to be sitting here at my little desk. :D

[red_satin_doll]

And this is where I would fail, I'm sure. I would want to rewrite it.

I have no problem with friends who've asked me to beta but I had a friend I tried writing a collaborative fic with and - that didn't work in the long run. I always thought of myself as a good collaborator, a good follower but in this case it was like two queen bees in the same hive. And I think in the end it may have cost me a friendship. I have no idea, they stopped talking to me one day after promising they'd never do such a thing. :-(

Of course, fanfic is a 'remix' of canon.

YES, exactly this. And it's not limited to fandom at all. Michael Cunningham's novel "The Hours" is a remix of Virginia Woolf's "Mrs Dalloway" (esp the first chapter).It's fanfiction (he's a great fan of Woolf) albeit professionally published.

You may prepare my breakfast now, my handmaiden

Does Her Majesty prefer her grapes peeled or unpeeled?