This ain't your momma's beta reader!
Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 9:57 pmI have a proposal, for any of you who would be willing to try something a little experimental in terms of fanfic writing and beta reading. It's actually an extension of a Peer Tutoring class I'm taking at school.
Most of us have been through a beta reading process, and it's usually a "red pen" type of experience. While -- at least speaking for the beta readers here at the expanse -- we try to explain things instead of just edit, it is, admittedly, an editorial process.
As an employee of the university's writing center, my job will be to help people with their writing, but in a much different capacity than, say, a professor or an editor. It will still involve working with the writer on a piece of writing, but I"ll be more like a guide than someone who wields the red pen.
I have to put in 20 hours of tutoring experience for my class, and my professor has given me approval to spend five of them applying this approach to beta reading here. It might be a pretty good alternative for those of you who are a little intimidated, as you will be in control of your piece at all times.
But it's not just for those who are beginners or intimidated. The writing center at school is dedicated to helping any writer, on any piece of writing, at any phase of development. That means you can come in with an assignment when you're at the "I hate writing and I have no clue how to begin" phase, or when you're an experienced, competent writer who has a finished piece and just wants another pair of eyes. And any skill/experience level or phase of development in between.
I need to work out some details yet, but I'll most likely be conducting beta sessions over Skype or Yahoo Instant Messenger. This won't be like a traditional beta where you drop it off and someone tells you how to fix it. You are going to do all the work. That means that you'll have to commit about an hour of time to working with me on your piece if you volunteer to try this. My professor is pretty excited about this, because the writing center is looking at adding online support to its services, so I'm sort of pioneering something on both ends.
So, if you have a piece of writing you'd like to beta, and you're willing to give something new a try, please PM me and we can see if our schedules coordinate somewhere. I'm looking at starting this sometime in the next week.
You can post questions here or PM those to me as well.
Thanks!
Most of us have been through a beta reading process, and it's usually a "red pen" type of experience. While -- at least speaking for the beta readers here at the expanse -- we try to explain things instead of just edit, it is, admittedly, an editorial process.
As an employee of the university's writing center, my job will be to help people with their writing, but in a much different capacity than, say, a professor or an editor. It will still involve working with the writer on a piece of writing, but I"ll be more like a guide than someone who wields the red pen.
I have to put in 20 hours of tutoring experience for my class, and my professor has given me approval to spend five of them applying this approach to beta reading here. It might be a pretty good alternative for those of you who are a little intimidated, as you will be in control of your piece at all times.
But it's not just for those who are beginners or intimidated. The writing center at school is dedicated to helping any writer, on any piece of writing, at any phase of development. That means you can come in with an assignment when you're at the "I hate writing and I have no clue how to begin" phase, or when you're an experienced, competent writer who has a finished piece and just wants another pair of eyes. And any skill/experience level or phase of development in between.
I need to work out some details yet, but I'll most likely be conducting beta sessions over Skype or Yahoo Instant Messenger. This won't be like a traditional beta where you drop it off and someone tells you how to fix it. You are going to do all the work. That means that you'll have to commit about an hour of time to working with me on your piece if you volunteer to try this. My professor is pretty excited about this, because the writing center is looking at adding online support to its services, so I'm sort of pioneering something on both ends.
So, if you have a piece of writing you'd like to beta, and you're willing to give something new a try, please PM me and we can see if our schedules coordinate somewhere. I'm looking at starting this sometime in the next week.
You can post questions here or PM those to me as well.
Thanks!
