To beta or not to beta?

[azziria]

Interesting discussion over at powrhug's journal about a comment someone made about never reading a fic if the author didn't use a beta.

Personally, I never use a beta and never have.

Why don't I use one? If I'm honest, the main reason is largely due to insecurity and to not wanting to be a nuisance by asking anyone to do it (yes, I have issues, want to make something of it?).

There's also a big issue for me of the fic being *my* work and *my* ideas - I don't actually want anyone else's input. That's not arrogance, it's more that what I write for work isn't *mine*, it's a framework for many other people to hang their ideas off, so it often gets ripped to bits and changed over and over. My fanfic is the only thing I write that is mine and mine alone, and that I can do with as I will. (I do enjoy knocking fic ideas around with the like-minded, though!) If I were going to use a beta, it would have to be someone pretty much on my wavelength, and I don't know how easy that would be to find.

Plus, once a fic is done I want to post it and get it out of the way, I don't want it hanging around.

Of course, I write and edit (technical/medical stuff) for a living, so I'm pretty confident in my spelling and grammar. I'm also picky as hell. I'm not saying nothing ever gets through (the occasional British spelling or term, maybe), but on the whole I'm happy with what I post. I can't stand to read badly-spelled or grammatically-poor writing, and I pride myself that what I turn out isn't either of those.

But I don't make a big deal about announcing that I didn't use a beta for a fic. I have confidence that readers will judge by reading my work. If they don't like it, they can close the window, move on and avoid me in the future.

Comments

[portraitofafool.livejournal.com]

I don't use a beta and I never have. I don't feel like I need one and like you, that isn't arrogance or anything of the sort, but I do know how to spell and I'm uptight enough about punctuation that I know how to use it. I actually sometimes wonder if I'm too proper with my punctuation by the time I have something fully polished (which can be up to month after I've posted) because a lot of what I do isn't stuff that's common practice even though it is correct.

Poor grammar is only excusable if it’s used in dialog, however, grammar that is too formal in a piece of fiction can also be a drawback. The lack of contractions in some stories (amongst other things) leads to entirely too much formality/science report level stiffness, where in fiction it’s not common and not necessary; is in fact in some instances detrimental to the story itself. That sort of thing is particularly evident in dialog because it just looks wrong when a character says, “No, I do not wish to go with you to the market” when that character would’ve realistically said something more like, “Hell no, I ain’t goin’ to the store with you”.

I nitpick and that's the end of it, but I feel that I do it well on my own. I'd feel very strange if suddenly, years after I first started writing, I decided I needed a beta. I may leave out a word (in fact it is my #1 Writing Sin) but I will also catch that on a read-through and ta-da, it's all good. I actually find it easier to edit once I have something posted here on LJ; I catch things I missed reading over it in Word. It may seem odd, but it works for me.

I don't "warn" for my fics being unedited because I don't feel that I need to and for someone to say they won't read a fic that hasn't had a beta is just stupid silly. There is so much crap floating around out there that's been beta'd that there are not words for it. I actually think some of the best stories I have ever read actually didn't have beta-readers.

Also, like you and a some others on this post, I see fics occasionally that may have five (or more) betas and they're the most slapped together, poorly spelled and punctuated piles of crap I have ever seen. I think using a beta is a joke a lot of the time. Betas are test audiences more than anything, but if said "test audience" is your closest group of friends, most of them will likely lie and tell you it's perfect when it clearly is not. Obviously that is not always the case, but a lot of the time it is. I would rather edit my own work and actually correct it than have someone read it and add commas or just do nothing at all.

Bad spelling, grammar and punctuation are all things that will have me running for the hills about a paragraph in. I'm hypercritical of things like that and when I read something I want a tight, well polished and put together story; having a beta (or six) in no way guarantees that. I found a fic the other night where the second or third word was "wounded" (the author meant "wound" as in "they wound up on the couch"). There were several other massive boo-boos in that story and those are just ones I picked up skimming it. I do believe--though I can't say for certain since it has been a couple of days now--that the fic I am referring to had a beta. Great job, beta! *headdesk*

I do edit for a couple of people, one person almost exclusively and she wound up asking me to do that for her because I was the only one who did anything. When I edit, I do nothing more than basic spelling, grammar and punctuation. I will also break run-on sentences because when you've got a sentence that's a paragraph long... it needs to be broken. I will not pick a storyline apart or anything like that unless I am specifically asked to do so or there's a plot hole in it the size of the Grand Canyon then I may point that out.

So, yes, I really don’t understand why someone would refuse to read a story that had not been beta-read because that really means absolutely nothing from everything I have seen.

/ramble

[sans-souci2.livejournal.com]

" So, yes, I really don’t understand why someone would refuse to read a story that had not been beta-read because that really means absolutely nothing from everything I have seen."

yes, that.

well said !

[azziria.livejournal.com]

I edit on LJ, too. I write in Word (or Simpletext if I'm on the mobile), but everything gets put up onto my journal locked for me to read through. It's as though that gives me the space I need to look at it objectively - somewhere in my brain is the idea that Word is for writing, and LJ for reading fic,so putting a WIP there gives me the chance to look at my own work with a new eye. And of course I still tweak stuff even once it's been posted to the comms, if I notice something that I can't leave well alone.