Jo reads your story and tells you what she thinks …

[Jo Raskoph]

Hi there,

I've loved beta reading each time I had an opportunity to do it so I thought I might as well do with a thread. That said, I try to keep my online hours limited to a reasonable amount and life gets stressful from time to time… so it might take a while until I figure out the best way to do this efficiently.

 

I'm not a native English speaker, so I might not be your best bet for:

• Spelling
• Grammar

I will, of course, point out any errors I spot—I just can't claim I'll spot them all (or even most).

 

I can confidently give feedback and suggestions on the following:

• Description
• Flow
• Plot/Suspense
• Characterisation
• Showing instead of telling

Here are the rules I've come up with, I might add more if the need comes up.

 

I will read:

• OF
• Any fandom—as long as knowing it well isn't required to understand your story.

 

Fandoms I'm reading/writing in are:

• Harry Potter
• Anything Maggie Stiefvater (except All the Crooked Saints yet, but I have it on my to be read pile)
• Sherlock
• Game of Thrones (I've read ASOIAF and some of the other books, but it's been a while)

But I've read a lot of fiction beyond that and I'm sure I forget stuff if I try to list everything, so maybe just ask if you want to know if I'm familiar with your fandom.

 

I won't read:

• Excessive violence
• Sexual assault/rape
• Eating disorders
• Self-harm/suicide

If I don't manage to read your story for reasons not listed here, I reserve a right to decline betaing

 

How I'd like to beta: I think google docs are a marvelous invention and would like to get a link and use the comment/suggesting mode function to beta, but if you have a different method that's worked well for you in the past I'm willing to try it.

 

I read in another thread that someone is offering two types of beta (the cheerleading and the prodding one). I tend to do a mix of both, but I think it would make sense if you let me know in advance if you:

• … are looking for positive feedback only
• … want to post asap and are not up for restructuring
• … are planning to work on your piece for a few rounds more and are looking for in-depth feedback

 

For now, I'm planning to have one slot at a time—for the simple reason that I don't have experience with how well this will work for me. If you request when the slot is already filled, I will not consider your request but you can always re-request when the slot is open again.

Multi-chapter stories are okay, but each chapter should please be requested separately.

Turnaround time will probably be 1-2 weeks, as most of the time I'm only active on the weekends.

 

To request a beta, please fill out the form:

Story Name:
Fandom:
(Predicted) Length:
Warnings and Advisory:
Genre(s):
Summary:
Areas of Concern:
Type of Beta:

[Guest Noelle Zingarella]

Hi Jo! I don't know if we've met yet, and I was excited to see you offering a beta thread. I am knee-deep in my first fanfic novel in a long time and I had just been thinking that having a beta would be really nice. I've never had a beta before (except my husband who patiently listens to me ramble about my story in the evenings), so I'm not really sure how it works either. I have 14 chapters posted so far, and I'd like to post chapters as I finish them, if that works for you. Maybe we could talk more over PM to see if this would be a good fit for both of us? 

2 hours ago, Jo Raskoph said:

Story Name: Moonlight (M) Link

Fandom: Harry Potter

(Predicted) Length: 40ish chapters

Warnings and Advisory: Consent Issues Mild/Moderate, Derogatory Language, Domestic Abuse, Hate Speech, Sexual Content, Spoilers, Substance Abuse, Violence (Not excessive)

Genre(s): Action/Adventure, Angst, Romance

Summary: Miranda Rose had always been a bit reckless and she was used to taking the consequences as they came. However, when she met a certain dark-eyed potions master in the summer of 1995, the consequences would change her life forever.

Areas of Concern: I want to be better at showing rather than telling. I also struggle with maintaining self-confidence while writing. And, since this is a Snape/OC romance, I want to make sure the emotional pacing is right. By that, I mean that I don't want to bring him along so quickly that it's totally out of character, but I also don't want to bring him along so slowly that it is super annoying to the reader. That said, the story is a roller coaster and not a slow burn.

Type of Beta: All of your beta strengths would be awesomely helpful to me. I'd rather not restructure the chapters that I've already posted, but I'd love to send you an outline of the story arcs I have planned for the rest of it and I would consider restructuring those. I'm in the process of drafting chapter 15 and expect to have it ready sometime this week.

Anyway, thank you again for posting this thread and let me know if you are interested

 

 

[CheekyTorah-Lex]

Would you be willing to read my billxtonks story and tell me what they think of the flow of the story?  I’m basically looking for if my story is too gabby (talky) or too much that isn’t needed in it  and if it flows well too.

[CheekyTorah-Lex]

3 hours ago, Jo Raskoph said:

Story Name: take me or leave me
Fandom: HP
(Predicted) Length: 4000 words
Warnings and Advisory: derogatory language rated T
Genre(s): break ups
Summary: Bill and tonks have been together on and off for a year, she makes him a hot mess when he feels like she wants other people, can they work through it?
Areas of Concern: flow, plot, dialogue (don’t want too much talking and not enough “narrative voice”
Type of Beta: critical (?) I can handle it  (comment section please 

Here

 

[Jo Raskoph]

Hey, you two.

I'm sorry, it took so long to reply — I'll request with staff to add a note to the first post that I'm mostly inactive during the workweek.

@Noelle Zingarella you've claimed my one slot fist so I'd say you get it. Only I've seen you've requested beta for the same story in another thread as well in the meantime so maybe you could just drop me a few words to let me know if you still need beta for that story.

@Lacey Black I'm sorry, I only have one slot at a time, so I won't consider your request for now.

 

Slot 1: claimed by @Noelle Zingarella

[Guest Noelle Zingarella]

@Jo Raskoph, it’s ok! I would love to work with you on my project . Let me know what I should do next.

[Jo Raskoph]

Slot 1: open

[Guest Noelle Zingarella]

Jo!!! I got an idea for the next chapter that I can't ignore. Can I send you a google doc link by the weekend??

Story Name:  Moonlight Chapter 16
Fandom: Harry Potter
(Predicted) Length: This chapter will probably be 5000-7000 words
Warnings and Advisory:  Consent Issues (Mild/Moderate), Derogatory Language, Domestic Abuse, Hate Speech, Sexual Content, Spoilers, Substance Abuse, Violence
Genre(s): Action/Adventure, Angst, Humor, Romance
Summary: A Comedy of Errors about an Unstoppable Force meeting an Immovable Object. Miranda Rose had always enjoyed more than her share of good luck, which served her well in avoiding the consequences of her frequently impulsive behavior. But when her penchant for risk-taking leads her into the middle of a war—and an entanglement with the enigmatic Severus Snape—her luck may not be enough to save her.
Areas of Concern: I'm going to be doing a total shift of scene in this chapter and have to introduce a bunch of new characters, some of them totally original. I'm concerned about flow, characterization, and avoiding "info dumping", at least in an annoying way.
Type of Beta: I'm open to whatever needs to be done to make it the best it can be.

[Jo Raskoph]

Hi Noelle, sorry I didn't reply sooner, I didn't get a notification for your reply. I'll be on it soonish. (And I've enabled notifications for this thread now… I'm curious how they got turned off...)

Slot 1: @Noelle Zingarella

[Predictable Chaos]

Hey Jo,

Are you still betaing?  I'm struggling with a story set in during Grindelwald's war. I feel like it has too much dialogue and not enough action. 

[Jo Raskoph]

I'm back, I think.

@potionspartner if you have anything to beta right now I'm offering first dibs in apology for not being able to fill yoir request in 2019.

So one slot open.

[Predictable Chaos]

On 1/15/2021 at 1:12 AM, Jo Raskoph said:

I'm back, I think.

@potionspartner if you have anything to beta right now I'm offering first dibs in apology for not being able to fill yoir request in 2019.

So one slot open.

Thanks for the offer, Jo, but I haven't written anything since August. If my muse ever strikes again, I'll take you up on your offer. 

[Jo Raskoph]

Okay! That means:

One slot open