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Need a beta?
May. 17th, 2011 08:54 pmAs I seem to be suffering from a heavy case of writer's block (no worries, I WILL finish my fic for beedle's challenge) I thought I'd offer my services as beta-reader.
As most of you know, I am not a native English speaker. However, I think my general grasp of the English language and, especially, my grammar are sufficient for beta-reading. Here's what I do:
- I use track changes and commentary in Word/Open Office. I will explain changes I made unless it's something obvious.
- I look at grammar (my strong suit is punctuation)
- I look at the sentence structure, try to eliminate repetitions and suggest improvement for how a sentence or a sequence reads.
- I also look at expression, but that actually is not my forte since, naturally, my vocabulary and knowledge of colloquialisms will never be as good as that of a native speaker.
- I will also look at content if you like; I'll tell you whether you got an idea across the way you intended or look for plot holes etc.
When dealing with technicalities, I usually backup my modifications by looking up the according rules. This is a great practice for me to improve my own writing and get to the point where I don't have to look any grammar rules up at all ;)
Types of stories I will beta
- Pinto
- K/S
- some other pairings on request
- one shots or shortish multi-chapter fics
- crack, angst, romance, porn ;)
If you'd like me to beta one of your fics tell me what exactly you need and what the story is about and I'll get back to you asap. You can either leave a comment here or PM me.
One final note: Despite me being quite the grammar nazi my spelling is beyond bad. That is when I don't use spell check. I think that I have some minor degree of dyslexia because there are letters and letter combinations I ALWAYS screw up and simply can't remember. But since I have working spell check in Open Office that won't be a problem. In doubt I'll look it up.
As most of you know, I am not a native English speaker. However, I think my general grasp of the English language and, especially, my grammar are sufficient for beta-reading. Here's what I do:
- I use track changes and commentary in Word/Open Office. I will explain changes I made unless it's something obvious.
- I look at grammar (my strong suit is punctuation)
- I look at the sentence structure, try to eliminate repetitions and suggest improvement for how a sentence or a sequence reads.
- I also look at expression, but that actually is not my forte since, naturally, my vocabulary and knowledge of colloquialisms will never be as good as that of a native speaker.
- I will also look at content if you like; I'll tell you whether you got an idea across the way you intended or look for plot holes etc.
When dealing with technicalities, I usually backup my modifications by looking up the according rules. This is a great practice for me to improve my own writing and get to the point where I don't have to look any grammar rules up at all ;)
Types of stories I will beta
- Pinto
- K/S
- some other pairings on request
- one shots or shortish multi-chapter fics
- crack, angst, romance, porn ;)
If you'd like me to beta one of your fics tell me what exactly you need and what the story is about and I'll get back to you asap. You can either leave a comment here or PM me.
One final note: Despite me being quite the grammar nazi my spelling is beyond bad. That is when I don't use spell check. I think that I have some minor degree of dyslexia because there are letters and letter combinations I ALWAYS screw up and simply can't remember. But since I have working spell check in Open Office that won't be a problem. In doubt I'll look it up.
