Jenavira is a veteran of the Harry Potter fandom, with a regular column, Musings, at fanfiction.net. Here, she discusses how to beta-read, and why you should do it. We’re delighted to have her, and we hope you gain much from her insight.

‡ Why you should Beta Read ‡

Quality-control in fanfiction is a somewhat less than spotty business. Because it is so easy to publish online, anyone can publish anything — as is easily testified to by anyone who has ever browsed Geocities websites. To help improve the quality of fanfiction, the phenomenon of beta-readers evolved: more experienced writers who edit and advise on other writers’ fic. However, the anonymity of the internet has also affected the quality of the beta-readers and editors. Because anybody can claim anything they like online, sometimes the editors don't know everything they should about the business of editing someone else's writing. In that service, I present to you these items of note that a beta-reader or critical editor should address.

Beta-reading, critical reading, editing, or whatever you may wish to call it, is not an easy job. There are many things a good editor needs to look for, and even if his advice is good, he must deal with the fact that it is not his story — it belongs to someone else, namely, the author. However, editing can be a very rewarding process, and can earn you no small number of favors from grateful authors.

An editor has to look for mistakes and inconsistencies on a wide range of levels, from the minute to the overall. Starting at the smallest level, an editor needs to be on the lookout for typos. A spellchecker doesn’t catch everything, and a “too” where there should be a “to” makes a great deal of difference. The same goes for missing words or improper conjunctions. Odds are, since the author knows what it's supposed to say, he hasn’t noticed it. The editor is a fresh pair of eyes to help notice these things. This is the easy part.

After that, the editor has to look for technical problems, such as run-on sentences, too-long paragraphs, improper punctuation, and spelling mistakes. A spellchecker and, sometimes, MSWord’s grammar checker, are useful here, but again, they can't catch everything — and spellcheckers don't catch misspellings of fandom words and names like “Dumbledore,” “flobberworms,” and “Veela.”

Some grammar leniency is, of course, allowed for creative fiction. Sentence fragments can be a stylistic tool, as can the passive voice. But these can be overused and used improperly even as stylistic tools, and a good editor should know when it becomes too much. If you're a little shaky on grammar rules, the best resource available is Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style, now in its fourth edition. It lays things out in a very clear manner, with lots of examples.

The next most complicated issue to address is tone or voice. It isn't the editor’s job to change an author's individual voice, but he should make sure it's internally consistant. Changes in tone — from dramatic to humorous, for instance — should be justified. Here’s where communication between author and editor is very important. An editor might find a particular tone or style jarring, but the author may want it that way. Some discussion back and forth is probably a good idea, especially on complicated points. If what the author wants to convey isn’t clear, that's obviously a problem, and the editor should look into ways to fix it. On the other hand, the author certainly has the right to defend any stylistic choices to the editor.

In fanfiction, there's an additional consideration — the comparison to the original tone and voice. Harry Potter is incredibly British in tone, even in the American editions of the book, and there’s really no reason to Americanize it even further in fic. Again, the fic writer doesn't have to sound exactly like J K Rowling, but a good stab at the general feel of the text is probably a good idea. It helps readers to orient themselves in the universe.

Identifying where tone is wrong is pretty easy; identifying how to fix it is often an entirely different story. Usually it's just a question of a few words here and there; sometimes connotations slip by unnoticed. A thesaurus is the best tool for fixing these kinds of things.

Next, the editor needs to keep an eye out for characterization. Characterization should be both internally and externally consistent — that is, it should make sense both within the fic and in relation to the original source. This is another problem that’s easier to recognize than to correct, especially if a character’s out-of-character actions end up driving a major plot point.

Again, to fix the problem, you’ll need to talk to the writer. Find out why they did things the way they did, what needs to happen, and what other options there are. Sometimes it's just a matter of replacing one character for another; sometimes it can require quite a bit of rewriting.

A lot of characterization happens in the dialogue. Keep an eye out for each character’s vocabulary and sentence structure; they can be very distinctive and can have a great effect on adding to or detracting from characterization.

Finally, an editor should be aware of overall issues like pace and coherence. An author generally has only a vague idea as to the actual pace of her story. What moves quickly in the writer's mind can easily drag on the page, and vice versa. The editor should be aware of the pace of the story, the situation of the plot, and whether these two mesh. If not, they need to make corrections.

How to fix a dragging scene? First, chop up long paragraphs; they take longer to read, especially on a computer screen. Use active verbs rather than linking, and get rid of the passive voice. Above all, trim. Adjectives and adverbs have no place in a fast-paced scene. A scene that flashes by too quickly is easier to fix; adding words is much less painful for most writers than cutting them.

Coherence, in this sense, isn't the quality of the writing; it's the quality of the organization. Here, look to see that the plot makes sense and moves in the way it's supposed to (usually linear, but not always), that the order of the scenes makes sense, and that nothing in the structure is impossibly confusing. In general, fanfiction shouldn't be too cryptic. This is one place where an editor shouldn't make too many specific suggestions; if something is confusing, point out where, and try to help the writer understand why it's confusing, but don't try to re-order it yourself, especially if you're not working from a full manuscript.

Don't be afraid to criticize. Writers don't send their stuff to beta-readers or editors for glowing praise; they send it to get improved. That said, don't be cruel — writers can be a sensitive bunch, and insulting their stories can be worse than insulting them.

Above all, remember that while fanfiction is something we do for fun, it's also something many people take quite seriously. The balance can be hard to strike, but it is important. An editor is there to make sure that fics are readable at their worst, and intelligent, well-written, and striking at their best. Many people complain about the quality of fanfiction, but few do anything about it; a good editing job is something nearly everyone can benefit from.

Jenavira,
February 2003

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