kiramythos, the Authorlord's right hand!

[kiramythos]

Well, I've finally made my way here! Took me long enough. Anyway, for
those who don't recognize the name, I'm the beta. Basically, I'm the
one you blame when chapters take too long to get out, since my turn
around time for the last few chapters has been averaging at a week. I
know it shouldn't take that long, since I'm on my summer break, but
considering that to fully beta a chapter, and do a good job of it, I
sit down and stare at it for three hours or more (Chapter nine, for
example, was 20~ pages--it took some time), perhaps it's more
understandable. I don't like working in small clumps, you see. I
usually do a quarter or so when I first get it, (after my first read
through of course XD) let it stew for a few days, then do the rest in
one go before I go over it with a fine tooth comb a few times.

Anyway, I'm getting rambly. Point is, when the chapter is held up,
it's my fault, so this is your place to bitch and moan about how long
I'm taking. It likely wont motivate me, but it will entertain me, and
an amused beta is one a little more willing to get going. XD

For now, you'll be very pleased to know, I'm totally caught up. So,
you don't get to bitch for a little while! Well, at least until Jade
sends me numero ten so I can sit on it and torture your asses. :)

[Jade]

Haha, very nice introduction. Would you like me to make the chapters
shorter and easier to handle for ya? -snicker-

Anyway, I give props when necessary, and mytho deserves a good number
of them for keeping my writing (almost) mistake free. The few mistakes
that do make it in are because I'm too lazy to read over the chapter
once more after I get it back, and are only my own fault.

He is caught up, and I guess I'll take this time to mention that I had
Chapter Ten 60% done, but I think I might have lost it due to a
computer malfunction. So no blaming the beta if it takes a while -
blame me for being an idiot and trying to mess around with my
computer. I really shouldn't do that.

Oh, and don't let him fool you. He's only being a good beta so he can
get the chapters before everyone else, read them, and then sit on them
to make you all suffer. ;)

[mike's wou account]

Now, that's a beta with a personality.
"The thing about growing up with Fred and George is that you sort of start
thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve." - Ginny Weasley

thanks
mike
msn: jessa...@hotmail.com
e-mail: mbabc...@wou.edu

[wotsfreek]

YOU LUCKY BASTARD!

That is all.

[Jade]

He also has to deal with mistake ridden drafts - so maybe not so lucky
at all. =P

[kiramythos]

Jade! How could you accuse me of such deplorable behaviour! Why, I
really--awe, who am I kidding, it's true. I was sick of waiting for
chapters, so I took steps to get them faster. And I like torturing
others. XD

And for the record, your drafts are perfectly readable in their
original conditions. I just make obscure grammar changes and make sure
things sound the way you want them to. There's really not that much
work--I just take it slowly so that I don't miss it when you DO make
mistakes... and then hold them over your head. :P

[wotsfreek]

Jade, making... mistakes? I think you should keep logs of them and
post them here. So everyone can join in on the fun! :)

[Jade]

Don't even go there.

The first one he'd probably tell you is the scene in Chapter Nine
where Ginny wakes up and finds Harry's head on her arm. I originally
wrote:

"She felt his head start to rub against *his* (not her) arm as he
stirred, and she turned her eyes back to him as his fingers moved
gently between hers."

It took three or four emails, reminders, and thirty minutes of staring
at the screen before I realized I used the wrong pronoun.

[Julie McCollum]

*waves*

Beta to beta, I promise I'll never complain about how long a chapter takes.  My process is pretty similar to yours, and it almost always takes at least 2 - 3 days, depending on how long the chapter is, how many chapters from my different authors I have at the time, and how real life is treating me. You're doing a fantastic job, btw -- the chapters are very clean. I love being able to read a story and not be thrown out of it by bad grammar or incomprehensible sentences.

And the whole point of being a beta is being able to read the chapters first, isn't it? (Or maybe that's just one of the few perks we get.)

~Julie

On 8/12/07, kiramythos <jet...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Well, I've finally made my way here! Took me long enough. Anyway, for
those who don't recognize the name, I'm the beta.

--
If you haven't got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.
~Bob Hope

[wotsfreek]

lol. So THAT'S WHY Chapter Nine was out half an hour late!

[Jade]

That, among other things. =P I had to rewrite a couple sentences to
avoid antecedent hell as well, and that wasn't fun.

[Time Shifter]

Yes, as another beta (past beta; one of my authors left the country,
and the other disappeared), I can vouch for the fact that my first
beta job was almost solely because I wanted the chapters faster. Also,
I'm actually good at editing and I wanted the story to look as good as
possible. Anyway, just saying hello to the other betas (who have work)
here; hello.

[wotsfreek]

Hey Jade if Kira comes down with a "mysterious illness" can I take
over? ^.^

[Jade]

Haha. "Mysterious Illness" indeed.

Btw, as an author I'd like to say thanks to all the betas out there.
(Time, Julie, kira, et al) Fanfiction wouldn't be nearly as good
without the support of a beta team.

[wotsfreek]

Go Beta's. I really need one who doesn't actually know me, because
then they wouldn't be afraid to critique my stories. I seem to have a
hard time finding critics (which is surprising considering the quality
of the stuff I write), all my friends, of course, tell me that "It's
great, you're the next Mark Twain! etc." I always say "That's great,
but what did you NOT like about it?" I think they are afraid to tell
me, but I really wish they would.

Ok, that's the end of my rant of the day I guess.

(If I didn't have homework it would be longer)

[Jade]

Haha, I'd be happy to pre-beta your stuff. I don't pretend to be a
real beta (er...or have ever beta-ed anything in my life), but I'm not
afraid to constructively criticize.

[wotsfreek]

O_O that would be like Picasso looking over my sketches. I would
happily send you my crappy stories for you to help me make stronger,
faster, and better, but I think you'll be busy enough with College and
everyone telling you to write.

[mike's wou account]

lol! though if anyone needs someone who has there computer reading stuff to
go over anything go ahead and send me your work;)
I'll be glad to read it over...
thanks:)

"The thing about growing up with Fred and George is that you sort of start
thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve." - Ginny Weasley

thanks
mike
msn: jessa...@hotmail.com
e-mail: mbabc...@wou.edu

----- Original Message -----
From: "wotsfreek" <wots...@gmail.com>
To: "The Leaky Pensieve" <the-leaky...@googlegroups.com>

[Jade]

wots: That's probably true - though if I have free time, I'd be happy
to look over them. Just don't plan on anything in the next couple
weeks until I get settled in Tallahassee - I'm already dragging on
chapter ten. It's only 60% done, and I was hoping to have it done
tomorrow so it could go into beta by the weekend.

[wotsfreek]

If I write something that I think is amazing I'll send it too you,
because by the time I do you should be more than settled in, in fact
you might have graduated already xD. I'm so glad it's the weekend now,
all of my classes are like across the school from each other, and the
marching band practices right outside two of my classes (AND one of
those teachers has a soft voice - not a good combo). My teachers are
constantly giving the "This is honors" talk, almost enough to make me
respond with, "Honors? THIS - IS - SPARTA! *kick*". I also have a
bunch of "Homework is what school is for" teachers soooo. Yeah.

[LoonyPhoenix]

I'm another beta, and I'm here to say hello to my colleagues. *waves*

Kiramythos, do nag your author not to leave behind the original as
well as the corrected version! ;) (At least I'm assuming that's what
happening in cases like this one: He'd seen Sirius Black lunge at him,
but he hadn't seen Ginny hadn't been anywhere in his vision...) And
don't forget to nag him to come up with a new chapter faster either,
though I don't think you need any reminding there.

As to taking your time yourself... Well, I do understand it, as a
beta, but as a reader, I'm not going to like it :p

[wotsfreek]

So I'm back (see my post in "Soul Nexus Updates" for more details) and
still plotting Kira's downfall and my ascent! Oh BTW Jade, are you
going to put the RTF's for Chapters 8 and 9 up?

[Jade]

Oh, someone actually noticed those? Lol...I forgot to put eight up,
and just kinda kept forgetting. I'll do that sometime tonight.

[wotsfreek]

Haha, ok. I was just wondering why they hadn't been updated in awhile.

[Thomas]

I suppose if you really wanted to get most of the mistakes out, you
could always add a beta, not that I really understand the process
never having done it -- I'm just a Grammar Nazi -- it just seems that
some people have an army of people checking their punctuation *grin*.
Any-who, it's been really good so far, I found the story like 2 days
ago and have been reading in between classes when I SHOULD have been
reading my Cultural Anthropology text book (no loss their, watching
paint dry and then flake off is more entertaining), so if I fail my
next midterm I'm blaming you people *glares*, lol keep up the good
work, everyone needs someone to deflate their ego and check their
spelling once in a while, it's even better if they're the same
person ;-).
Love the story so far and looking forward to a new chapter, it's a
fresh take on an old premise and it's always nice to find out that I
haven't seen everything and that my natural cynicism CAN be put back
in the damn box and RTS'd.

T