Fic notice: In Loco Parentis Part 5 Posted (HP genfic)

[hobgoblinn]

Well, part 5 of my EIP (Epic in Progress) is now up on ff net: here.

I'm pleased with how it's going, even as I despair of getting any further or fixing the glaring deficiencies every time I sit down to it. I owe a huge debt to my betas, not only on this work (research_girl and sahiya) but also on other work, past and present. You all know who you are. I'm too afraid of missing any to list you all out. It's weird though-- I really have written a lot over the past year and a half.

slaymesoftly posed an interesting question about betas recently on riters_r_us. How do you deal as a beta with a writer who really is Bad? I'm not that bad, but I am painfully aware my imperfections must also be painful (or painfully funny maybe at times) to read. But I noticed going through the beta notes on this part, that after I cleared away the things they noted, it somehow gave me insight into things they hadn't complained about. I added some things, tweaked some others, and I can just feel that it's better than it would have been. It's almost like clearing away the dead wood let the rest flourish.

And it also let me pull my focus away from some things I thought were bad that they didn't mention, to see other things. To trust that they were okay enough to move on and see something I hadn't before. Not sure I can explain it any better, but I am quite grateful for how it worked out.

Happy Holy Saturday to all.

Comments

[sahiya.livejournal.com]

How do you deal as a beta with a writer who really is Bad?

I try not to. I have in the past, for one reason or another, and I've also worked as a writing tutor, which is similar in some ways. Basically you have to say, "This is never going to end up as if I had written it" and focus on a few things. I made the mistake once of pointing out everything I saw wrong in a story, and the writer never posted it. I wasn't mean in my comments (though I did beg her to learn the rules for dialogue punctuation in English, which might have been going a bit far, but OMFG), but she still ended up really discouraged. Since then I've decided that if I end up beta reading something that's just painful, you have to focus on one thing.

[bemoan1000.livejournal.com]

This is a good question. And how bad is bad? And what is that one thing?

[samson28.livejournal.com]

Yeah for the update. I'm really enjoying the story so shall go read in a few.

I have only beta read a few times as my punctuation is pretty hit and miss! I was to check out the spellings and characterisation.

Well I slunk away quietly after reading a few chapters. The author was ever so nice and very often took a few of my suggestions but the characterisation of Snape was just so awful - he was like a fluffy, insipid kitten. I cringed everytime he said anything and just knew I wouldn't be able to read anymore.

Thing is, I can read and enjoy well written badfic but this was bad!