May Writing Meme: Day 7
May. 7th, 2011 07:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dagas_isa7. Do you use beta reader(s)? If so, what do you look for in a beta reader? What specialties would your ideal beta have?
I use beta readers for exchange fics, fics for events requiring betas, and fics where not having beta would be skeezy. Ideally, I'd do them for any longer fic, but I can't think of anyone who's enough a fan that they'd take on my melange of small fandoms. *tries to push down her massive insecurity*
Anyway, currently in a beta, I do look for someone who can do basic SPAG, who can out any places where words have just drifted away, and who's familiar enough with the fandom to do characterization checks. Any familiarly with me as a person or an author is a bonus but not necessary.
In my ideal world where I'm awesome and have a fan base and am totally not awkward, my beta would ideally be the type do all that and be willing to give it some sincere reaction checks. What scenes are extraneous? Where are things incomplete? What's very likely to be hurtful? What effect are you going for here? Basically, my ideal beta would be able to help me look at my work with fresh eyes and approach beta-ing as a conversation rather than a series of corrections, if that makes sense.
P.S. To those who have betaed for me and/or will beta for me in the future: ♥ I am really grateful for your work.
1. Why do you write?
2. What piece of writing are you most proud of?
3. How often do you write? Do you have any writing rituals? Say, certain locations, beverages, background music, times of day, target word counts, etc.?
4. How much of the story do you know before you start writing it? Do you use outlines?
5. What tools do you use to write? Audio recordings, pen and paper, computer software, other methods, some mixture thereof?
6. How do you come up with names and story titles?
7. Do you use beta reader(s)? If so, what do you look for in a beta reader? What specialties would your ideal beta have?
8. What kind of support, if any, do you get for your writing?
9. Do you share your writing publicly or keep it private? Have you or would you like to be published?
10. What's your biggest source of writer's envy?
11. How much detail do you usually leave out of a story?
12. Where do you turn when your research is coming up with nothing of value to the story?
13. Optimally, how many times does your work go through the revising process?
14. Do you make literary or cultural references in your work? If so, what sources do you usually draw on? How do you decide whether to make (or keep, when editing) a particular reference?
15. What repeated themes do you see running through your work?
16. How do you support your themes? How do you make sure your language reflects them, and how do you decide whether something belongs in the plot or the theme category?
17. What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever gotten?
18. What genres have you written in?
19. Do you write long stories, short stories, or both? What's challenging about writing a particular story length?
20. Is your writing generally plot- or character-driven? Why?
21. Do you ever participate in writing challenges? Which ones?
22. Out of all the characters you've ever written, which one is your favorite? Which one has surprised you the most?
23. Do you use unreliable narrators? Why or why not?
24. What do you like most about writing? What do you dislike?
25. Give some examples of how various story ideas have come to you. What forms did they come in?
26. What stories haven't you written that you would like to write?
27. Do you have any works in progress?
28. Do you visualize scenes when/before you write them? Or do you go by how the words sound in your head? Both? Something else entirely?
29. What do you do when the words just aren't coming?
30. Do you like to tell stories orally as well as writing them down?
31. What's your policy on remixes, podfic, and other transformative work?
I use beta readers for exchange fics, fics for events requiring betas, and fics where not having beta would be skeezy. Ideally, I'd do them for any longer fic, but I can't think of anyone who's enough a fan that they'd take on my melange of small fandoms. *tries to push down her massive insecurity*
Anyway, currently in a beta, I do look for someone who can do basic SPAG, who can out any places where words have just drifted away, and who's familiar enough with the fandom to do characterization checks. Any familiarly with me as a person or an author is a bonus but not necessary.
In my ideal world where I'm awesome and have a fan base and am totally not awkward, my beta would ideally be the type do all that and be willing to give it some sincere reaction checks. What scenes are extraneous? Where are things incomplete? What's very likely to be hurtful? What effect are you going for here? Basically, my ideal beta would be able to help me look at my work with fresh eyes and approach beta-ing as a conversation rather than a series of corrections, if that makes sense.
P.S. To those who have betaed for me and/or will beta for me in the future: ♥ I am really grateful for your work.
1. Why do you write?
2. What piece of writing are you most proud of?
3. How often do you write? Do you have any writing rituals? Say, certain locations, beverages, background music, times of day, target word counts, etc.?
4. How much of the story do you know before you start writing it? Do you use outlines?
5. What tools do you use to write? Audio recordings, pen and paper, computer software, other methods, some mixture thereof?
6. How do you come up with names and story titles?
7. Do you use beta reader(s)? If so, what do you look for in a beta reader? What specialties would your ideal beta have?
8. What kind of support, if any, do you get for your writing?
9. Do you share your writing publicly or keep it private? Have you or would you like to be published?
10. What's your biggest source of writer's envy?
11. How much detail do you usually leave out of a story?
12. Where do you turn when your research is coming up with nothing of value to the story?
13. Optimally, how many times does your work go through the revising process?
14. Do you make literary or cultural references in your work? If so, what sources do you usually draw on? How do you decide whether to make (or keep, when editing) a particular reference?
15. What repeated themes do you see running through your work?
16. How do you support your themes? How do you make sure your language reflects them, and how do you decide whether something belongs in the plot or the theme category?
17. What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever gotten?
18. What genres have you written in?
19. Do you write long stories, short stories, or both? What's challenging about writing a particular story length?
20. Is your writing generally plot- or character-driven? Why?
21. Do you ever participate in writing challenges? Which ones?
22. Out of all the characters you've ever written, which one is your favorite? Which one has surprised you the most?
23. Do you use unreliable narrators? Why or why not?
24. What do you like most about writing? What do you dislike?
25. Give some examples of how various story ideas have come to you. What forms did they come in?
26. What stories haven't you written that you would like to write?
27. Do you have any works in progress?
28. Do you visualize scenes when/before you write them? Or do you go by how the words sound in your head? Both? Something else entirely?
29. What do you do when the words just aren't coming?
30. Do you like to tell stories orally as well as writing them down?
31. What's your policy on remixes, podfic, and other transformative work?
