It's UP! Hola - Beta Appreciation Week!

[icarus]

Finally, at long last, Primer to the Dark Arts is up somewhere other than ff.net!

The first third is now up at FictionAlley!
Snitchfiction!
InkStainFingers!

And, once the complete Beta is done, I'll send it in to Telanu at Walking the Plank (perhaps an NC-17 version? We wonders, aye we wonders...). Telanu reviewed it, liked it, mentioned a couple points I've since corrected.

*I went ga-ga when I saw her review... then my heart plummeted when she saw some things I should change... noooooo! It's not perfect?! But I saw she was correct, and she did say it was minor and....*

Why I post pre-Beta stories
I post pre-beta stories on ff.net, because I am impatient, and because I am paranoid. I had a Beta once who was uncomfortably comfortable with the concept of plagiarism (she winkingly suggested I stole Primer to the Dark Arts? It was the winking that bothered me). I recalled from a run-in with a con-artist co-worker that 'criminals' tend to accuse people of things they themselves would do. I posted my chapters of 'Primer' right away. She flipped.

Since then I've stake my claim to my stories right off, just in case. This beta was rather odd, and I found her at a slash group being reprimanded for posting threatening messages. I feel justified now for feeling rather freaked out by her.

It was just this one that was odd.

Beta Appreciation Week!
I have had many, many, many positive experiences with Betas. Here is where I give credit where credit is due.

Gabby Hope Beta'd my LOTR Frodo/Sam. She is the pickiest Beta I've ever worked with, and it shows in the final quality of the stories, for which I hold her directly responsible. She cut paragraphs, and she was right. We did no fewer than six revisions of my 'Too Many Friends.'

CLS is incredible, smooth and fast. She's very interested in the plausibility of the story and will point anything that doesn't make sense. She has that rare ability to leave the writing style alone while improving the story by asking questions rather than trying to write it herself. I will remember this when I Beta next time.

Belfrage was great, she's very choosy and when she sees something that's not fleshed out, she's all over it. Also, she really worked over my more awkward sentences, started in on my comma-addiction (Gabby did the same).

Flavoured Sugar Beta'd 'A Moment of Sin' and 'First Signs of Magic: Draco Malfoy.' Her writing style is fluid and poetic. She tells me where something is 'not quite proper English, but stylistically it works here, but not there.'

Kat and Desiree Beta'd 'First Signs of Magic: Hermione Granger.' Kat was doing her first Beta, and did a lovely job, particularly in the Brit-pick (metric please!) and pointing out inconsistencies. Desiree had good ideas on things to cut and sharpen the stories.

Wilderness Guru (my loffly boyfriend) Beta'd 'Sweet Hypocrisy,' 'Hagrid's Hut,' and 'Unexpected Guest.' His male perspective has been invaluable on my NC-17 porn.

I'm a good person to Beta for, honest. I listen, I make the changes you suggest, I send back my files quickly with responses to your comments - sometimes long ones...

I believe a writer is too close to their work to really see it well, so ought to pay attention to their editors.

Let's hear it for Betas!

Comments

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

It was originally meant to be an NC-17 story, but I toned it down for ff.net. I'm working with CLS to see what we can incorporate. It's coming your way, as soon as it's Beta'd. *grins shamelessly* The tricky part is going back in those early stages of the relationship when the characters have already grown in my mind.

~Icarus