Beta

[zland666]

What are Beta Readers?

[thatboyChase]

they usually read it before it gets put up on eFiction, they read through the story first, beta testing it, see: beta reader

[zland666]

they usually read it before it gets put up on eFiction, they read through the story first, beta testing it, see: beta reader

 

 

Oh I see.

 

Thanks.

[Tarin]

To expand on what Chase said, they look for plot holes or other awkward situations in the story. They are not editors of grammar, they are like editors of plots. You can tell the difference between a story on GA that has been beta'd and a story on Nifty that has not. There's often conflicting time lines, impossible situations, inconsistent characters, etc.

[MikeL]

To expand on what Chase said, they look for plot holes or other awkward situations in the story. They are not editors of grammar, they are like editors of plots. You can tell the difference between a story on GA that has been beta'd and a story on Nifty that has not. There's often conflicting time lines, impossible situations, inconsistent characters, etc. A beta reader helps an author resolve these issues.

Actually, some authors would describe the functions in the reverse of what Tarin described. What's significant is that both functions are essential to producing a clean, polished story. The names applied to your team members are not so important. Plot and grammar are both important; a writer should be sure all bases are covered.

Edited March 16, 2010 by MikeL

[Tarin]

Actually, some authors would describe the functions in the reverse of what Tarin described.

[Graeme]

If you're ever mad enough to watch movie credits, you'll often see someone whose job title includes something like 'Continuity'.

 

That's another aspect of beta-reading -- checking for continuity. If one chapter has a character living ten minutes away, and another chapter has them living thirty minutes away, the beta reader will hopefully pick that up and tell the author so it can be either explained (they moved) or fixed.

 

To expand on the relationship between editors and beta readers, the editing tasks span a spectrum from spelling, through grammar, sentence construction, and onto story flow, scene complexity and overall plot.

 

It is rare to find someone who has strengths in all of these areas (from the technical through to the artistic). Most of the time the editors here at GA concentrate on the lower, technical aspects of editing. The beta readers tend to cover the more artistic aspects.

 

As an example, I had a scene in a story where I had two people arguing. A beta reader pointed out that there were other people on the room, and that they should have reacted to what was going on. I had been concentrating too much on the interaction between the two main characters and had neglected the others. As a result of the comment from the beta reader, I was able to enhance the scene and make it more realistic, and hence stronger.

[MikeL]

It is rare to find someone who has strengths in all of these areas (from the technical through to the artistic). Most of the time the editors here at GA concentrate on the lower, technical aspects of editing. The beta readers tend to cover the more artistic aspects.

I may be a little confused about titles, but, as I said before, they don't really matter. What does matter is that you have several people on your team who, collectively, provide all the strengths that Graeme mentioned. I think I'm supplying some of both sets of services (editing and beta reading) for the authors I work with, but they all have others who make suggestions or corrections that I have not made. It seems to work well.