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

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

Well, if I would hit the back button on it, I'd classify it as bad. But My reading standards are pretty high. As a beta (or a judge for that matter) when I want to gnaw my eyeballs out to escape, it's bad. Different scale.

Seriously, I do what some other people on the thread here and at riters_r_us suggested-- give Extremely Painfully detailed comments on what's wrong and Why for at least a good chunk or section of the work, and see how they respond. If they're learning and growing, I am willing to put in my time, but I really have to see they're putting as much into it as I am, trying to avoid the same mistakes and asking good questions. I would say I use the "don't have time excuse" to extricate myself from bad situations, but in fact I've also used it more often for people who were doing well and showed promise, because I really Didn't have time. As a perusal of the tag "wee hob" on my journal should make abundantly clear.

The one thing idea I agree with-- for me it's generally the one element I think the writer is at a place where s/he's receptive or able to learn it. Or for a better author, a challenge to take it that one step further-- to make the leap from a nice fluffy short romp to something with a theme, some substance.

Some people don't Want that, though. Incidentally, you might go back and post this question as a reply on sahiya's comment and see what her response to the same question might be. She probably won't see this reply, but she would see it in her e-mail if you replied directly on her comment.