Your Beta and You: An Owner's Manual

As you are likely aware if you're reading this, I beta a lot of people here in Twific. I love everything I beta, and I think I'm extremely lucky to be working with so many talented, strong writers. It's fun to find that balance between accepted elements of style and an author's individual voice, because despite what you might have heard, editing for fiction is a healthy compromise between science and art, and if you edit with strict adherence to Strunk and White, you run the risk of killing a writer's rhythm.

So, you're writing. Maybe it's something you've never attempted before, and you spent the majority of your time in English class passing notes to your friends and wishing you had the kind of telekinetic power that could force the minute-hand of the clock on the wall to move from 11:00 to 11:55 in the blink of an eye. You missed some stuff about the difference between a comma and a semicolon, and Cliff Notes didn't explain things like Nigel Watts' "eight-point story arc" to you with any degree of clarity. Forget hyphens - I mean, Jesus, those things are annoying, and the rules are ridiculous. Sure, you studied, but what you primarily chose to study were your fingernails or the split-ends in your hair. You had no plans to write fiction at any point in your life, because fiction seemed about as useful to you as algebra. Karma hates you now, boy, because here you are, with a story to tell, and no English teacher standing by, waiting for you to raise your hand with a question about the difference between "who" and "whom".

You realize that you are in need of a beta. Everyone talks about theirs, and if they've got one they really love, you look on with the same jealousy you might once have reserved for that friend who got a great new car, or that annoying couple down the street who've been married for ten years and still hold hands and make goo-goo eyes at each other. You want that kind of relationship with a beta. You want a beta who is going to make you look good, and who is going to make what you write look pretty. There are only two things amiss with your plan to get the right beta for yourself: the first is that you have no real idea what a beta should do, and the second is that you have no idea where to find this "perfect" beta.

Let's talk about what a beta should do. There are no hard-and-fast rules, here, so let's talk instead about general things an author might need from an extra (and hopefully, more experienced) set of eyes. Obviously, a beta should be pretty clear on the rules of punctuation and grammar. I mean, they don't need to be able to define a past-perfect tense at the drop of a hat (no - I take that back, because they really should be able to do that. Past perfect in English just involves the word "had", as in "I had paid attention in English class when the teacher talked about tenses."), but they should have some kind of grip on things. They should be able to proofread for spelling errors and general usage (reign/rein, waste/waist, your/you're, et.al.). But in addition to these, a good beta should be available to discuss any concerns you might have about things like plot construction and character development. They should be able to helicopter over your story and spot potential shoals and riptides.

I don't know how anyone else does it, so I'll tell you how I approach the position of beta. I'm not here to write your story for you, because that's your job. I take the craft of writing very seriously, and I know that you'll never develop your own authorial voice if I'm constantly getting in the middle of things and forcing you to view the story through my eyes, with my voice. You need to make mistakes in order to learn from them. Instead, I will generally wait for you to come to me with your concerns. "Does this make sense? Does this work? Do you understand why the character chose to act this way?" Those are all questions I'm thrilled to get from an author. In return, I will ask questions like "Who is your character? What motivates him/her? What does he/she want from this situation? What does he/she fear?" I ask those questions because again, if you've properly developed your characters, the answers to these questions will go a long way toward guiding you to the right answers to the questions you've just asked me.

So, no, I won't tell you what to do with your story. It's your story, not mine - I'm merely functioning en loco parentis as a bit of a foster mom. If I see what strikes me as a glaring omission or wildly out-of-character behavior in the story, I will mention it without being prompted. I will call you out on clichés, and encourage you to find a more original way to express a thought. I will correct any grammatical and usage errors I find, and try to strike that aforementioned balance between academic punctuation and the art of storytelling. I'll talk to you about things like dialogue tags and meta-monologue (of course I'll tell you what a meta-monologue is, because I can see you're curious: it's the internal monologue a character has in which he or she wonders something "big" and more comprehensive about the world or his/her place in it, i.e. "My mother never hugged me as a child. Do all children who grow up without physical affection learn to fear and mistrust it as adults?").

Okay, it's your turn, now: what are you looking for in a beta? Go in with a clear idea. Do you need someone to sit with you while you draft an outline and talk through plot points with you? Do you need someone to just focus on style and grammar and leave the rest up to you? Do you want someone who will hold you to a strict production schedule and demand weekly updates from you? How much contact are you expecting to have with your beta? How quickly do you expect your beta to be able to turn a chapter around and get it back to you? Do you think you'll need to go through several drafts of each chapter, or are you a "one and done" kind of writer? Do you want your beta to pick apart your characterizations with you? Are you looking for a beta who would be willing to function almost in the role of co-author or close collaborator? How hard do you want to be pushed? How honest do you want your beta to be? Are you a fan of tough-love, or kid-glove?

Seriously, make a shopping list. WRITE IT DOWN, AND BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF.

Once you have your shopping list, where do you go to find this awesome beta? Of course, you can start with Project Team Beta and Twicounsel, both of which exist to help novice writers jump in and start swimming around the fic pool. They're there to make it easy for you, which is incredibly nice of them. If, however, you're a maverick and want to find your own way, there are several tried-and-true methods. The first is obviously to find someone who is a fan of the genre of story you're planning to write. Don't look at the angst crowd if your story is a fluffy one. Don't hit up the AU crowd if your story involves human teenagers. Don't romance someone who writes T-rated fic if you're planning to get your characters naked a lot. Want to write slash or Bellsper? Stay away from the canon-couple crowd and hardcore B/E shippers. It's challenging enough to find a good beta fit: don't shoot yourself in the foot by attempting to date outside your species.

Once you've figured out which group you need to target, look at everyone involved: authors who write in that genre; eloquent reviewers of stories you love; and beta profiles that specifically list the kind of interests which march alongside those in your proposed story. It's obvious to go for authors, but there are literally HUNDREDS of fantastic reviewers who could easily beta for you. Read reviews for stories.

When you have a target or two, spend some time discussing your plans with them. Ask them to be honest with you, and let them know that there are no hard feelings if they find they can't commit to the project. Be gracious, because you're asking for help, and nobody's under any obligation to give it to you. Look for a combination of skills and enthusiasm. You might not find both in the same person, so it's possible that you'll end up with two or even three betas, who will go over your work with an eye toward different elements of the thing. Decide for yourself how much of their input you'll accept, because in the same way that they are not obligated to offer it, you are not obligated to take it. Betas offer suggestions and help - if you encounter a beta who gets butt-hurt when you don't accept their advice, you're probably best off finding another beta. Good betas put their egos aside to give you the help YOU need, not the validation THEY crave.

This doesn't mean that you shouldn't be grateful for their help and advice, because you should. Being a beta is often a bit of a thankless task, because the author gets all the glory in the form of reviews, while the beta sits there on the sidelines and is left to bask in the quiet knowledge that they had a hand in your success. It is for this reason that you should always remember to thank your beta. Make a fuss. They volunteer their time and their care to help make your story a better one, so acknowledge them whenever and wherever you can. Not doing so is the rough equivalent of Hilary Swank accepting her Oscar and neglecting to thank Chad Lowe for being her husband. DUDE. That's wrong, and it's also probably the reason why they're no longer married. I'm just guessing, because it's not as though they told me about their reasons for the divorce.