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Day 24 – Betaing – How many betas do you like to use to make sure there aren't any major flaws in your fic? Do you have a Beta horror story or dream story?
Short answer: I don't have a beta, and 95% of the time, I don't use one.
Long answer: My reasoning for this is twofold:
(1) There is nobody in the world who is more critical of my work than me, of this I am convinced. I am very, very hard on myself (it's a character flaw) so my personal bar of acceptableness is set very high. This is why it takes me so long to actually finish a story (and even longer if its a multichapter). I am constantly second-guessing myself, and this was something that was exacerbated by being in the middle of the ultra-critical IY fandom. I made myself sick over some of my IY stories, and all that needless stress was one of the reasons I ran away to smaller pastures.
Anyway. My work goes through several stages of revision, from the moment inspiration strikes to the moment the final version is posted. I am constantly looking at characterization, plot, flow, as well as stuff like spelling and grammar. I'm not perfect - I have the occasional typo that shows up in the final draft - but I'm pretty confident in my ability to catch stuff like that. When I'm actually writing a story, I'm very sensitive to it/about it, and well aware of its flaws, so to have someone else come in and point them out to me is just going to make me hate the work even more, and potentially abandon it. And, considering my output has slowed WAY down lately, I don't need something else holding me back.
(2) Another scar the IY fandom left on me was regarding feedback, and lack thereof. It got to the point where I'd convinced myself that if people weren't commenting, they weren't reading. I still hold onto this idea today, even though I know and understand that this simply isn't the case. But, still, this is what makes me hesitant to ask for beta work if I need a fresh pair of eyes ~ if my potential audience is already small, then why am I going to risk making it even smaller by having someone read my work before its done? *shakes head*
I'm getting better about asking for help when I need it, though. Being a member of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
awenish has been helpful, and there are lots of wonderfully supportive people around me, so I rarely hesitate to ask if I'm stuck. And - how's this for weird - I enjoy beta'ing for other people! :P And I try to be gentle, because I've heard too many horror stories about betas to be anything other than.
So...yeah. IDK. I don't have a regular beta, and I don't use them unless I get stuck and frustrated. I never claimed to be normal or rational about this stuff, LOL :P
( Other days )
Short answer: I don't have a beta, and 95% of the time, I don't use one.
Long answer: My reasoning for this is twofold:
(1) There is nobody in the world who is more critical of my work than me, of this I am convinced. I am very, very hard on myself (it's a character flaw) so my personal bar of acceptableness is set very high. This is why it takes me so long to actually finish a story (and even longer if its a multichapter). I am constantly second-guessing myself, and this was something that was exacerbated by being in the middle of the ultra-critical IY fandom. I made myself sick over some of my IY stories, and all that needless stress was one of the reasons I ran away to smaller pastures.
Anyway. My work goes through several stages of revision, from the moment inspiration strikes to the moment the final version is posted. I am constantly looking at characterization, plot, flow, as well as stuff like spelling and grammar. I'm not perfect - I have the occasional typo that shows up in the final draft - but I'm pretty confident in my ability to catch stuff like that. When I'm actually writing a story, I'm very sensitive to it/about it, and well aware of its flaws, so to have someone else come in and point them out to me is just going to make me hate the work even more, and potentially abandon it. And, considering my output has slowed WAY down lately, I don't need something else holding me back.
(2) Another scar the IY fandom left on me was regarding feedback, and lack thereof. It got to the point where I'd convinced myself that if people weren't commenting, they weren't reading. I still hold onto this idea today, even though I know and understand that this simply isn't the case. But, still, this is what makes me hesitant to ask for beta work if I need a fresh pair of eyes ~ if my potential audience is already small, then why am I going to risk making it even smaller by having someone read my work before its done? *shakes head*
I'm getting better about asking for help when I need it, though. Being a member of
awenish has been helpful, and there are lots of wonderfully supportive people around me, so I rarely hesitate to ask if I'm stuck. And - how's this for weird - I enjoy beta'ing for other people! :P And I try to be gentle, because I've heard too many horror stories about betas to be anything other than.So...yeah. IDK. I don't have a regular beta, and I don't use them unless I get stuck and frustrated. I never claimed to be normal or rational about this stuff, LOL :P
( Other days )
