Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Over the years, I've evolved a method for beta-reading that seems to work best for me. I think anyone who does this work will evolve their own approach, the same way that any writer will have their own process. But  for what it's worth, here's what I do. I'll expand on many of these in subsequent posts:

1. Pick a writer I like and introduce myself via email, ask, comment, etc.

2. If accepted, get their next story.

3. Using Microsoft Word (my preference) I shift the comment attributions to my pseudonym, turn on track changes, and get my Ctrl-Alt-M fingers warmed up for comment bubbles.

4. I begin reading the story and make most of my comments as they strike me on first read. This goes against the conventional wisdom, which is to read the story once and then start commenting, but it's crucial to preserve my first impressions.
   
   First round is a gut check, recording observations. It includes every issue I see, plus every gut reaction that I have to the story. Because I won't have a second chance at those, I catch every positive ("LOL") negative ("I’m bored") or observation. ("OMG I’m getting so worried for Krycek!") First round also includes spot repairs of typos and notes about larger grammar issues the author may want to fix, more things I would miss on a second read.

5. Exception: If the trend of my first reactions suggests that the story may need a substantial rewrite, I stop making in-text comments altogether, read the story to the end, and start work on my comment letter. I will not send the comments I wrote to the author because the big picture is more important here, and the abandoned comments tend to be overly negative.

6. Having made my first-round comments, I sleep on them at least one night before starting my second pass. This step is necessary to put my comments in perspective and help me temper them.

7. Second Pass: This is the time to analyze the big picture. Now that I know where the story is going, I try to clarify the observations. For example, if the first pass says "I’m bored" several times in one area, I’m going to delete most of those reactions and replace some of them with more analytical responses about why I was bored and what to do about it. A flat report of my reaction won't help much; a kindly-expressed explanation of why I feel that way will.  ("I got so excited about what happened to Lestrade, that switching over to Sherlock's ballistics experiment made me lose some of that excitement. Maybe the ballistics scene would be better if it happens before Lestrade gets kidnapped?") 

8. I expand on comments where they need clarification, and delete any notes I made that have turned out to be irrelevant, excessive or distracting. I also use the second pass to tone down negative responses and express them more kindly.
   
   For what it’s worth, I do not usually re-read the story while I do the second pass; I'm really refining my own responses. If I didn't get it on the first round, it's probably not important; I catch less on the second pass, not more. This time is really for analysis.

9. Comment Letter. The comment letter is a global reaction that reiterates and organizes some of the big-picture observations about the piece. If I was working professionally on a novel-sized piece, the comment letter would be anywhere from two to five pages. For fanfic beta, the letter might be two to eight paragraphs. The "sandwich" model for comment letters can be effective here (praise-critique-praise) but I’m not very formal about it.

10. And then...send the comment letter email off with the commented piece as an attachment, and see what happens. Which, thankfully, is usually lovely.