User:Thnidu/Beta reader

The following is a revision I am working on for the page Beta reader. My first thoughts and research for this revision are on the talk page under alpha vs. beta. Thnidu (talk) 00:00, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

Permissions
This section is for keeping track of who I've asked for permission & who's answered. It won't be part of the article revision.

Letter of request
Modified as needed if not sent as comment on blog page:
 * I'm revising the Wikipedia article "Beta reader" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_reader), which considered the author to be the "alpha reader" and anyone else pre-publication a "beta reader". I would like to quote from this post, but only with your permission.
 * My comments on the previous version of the page are at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Beta_reader#alpha_vs._beta.
 * My draft version of the page is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Thnidu/sandbox

Requests & replies
Permissions requested; checkmark and reply info and text when answered
 * _ permission requested, but no reply yet
 * ✔ permission given
 * ✘ permission refused
 * ''[ number ] blog : post [wikilinked to quote below]
 * ''requested
 * ''reply
 * ''reply text


 * 1) ✔ : Gods, Witches, Space & Stars: writing thoughts of L.A.Christensen : Alpha-Reading
 * 2) * comment 130128
 * 3) * email 130129:
 * Yes, you have my permission to quote from this post. Thank you for asking!
 * 1) _ : Writing Excuses : Writing Excuses 5.33: Alpha Readers
 * 2) * comment (130128)
 * 3) ✔ : Mary Robinette Kowal: How and why I use online alpha-readers while writing novels.
 * 4) * via contact page: http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/contact/ (130128)
 * 5) * Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 11:53 PM
 * Absolutely you may quote anything on my site. Thank you for double-checking. The back and forth in the discussion comments is fascinating.
 * 1) ✔ : Taven ["Tami"] Moore : Alpha Readers vs Beta Readers
 * 2) * comment 130128
 * 3) * email and comment, 130129:
 * You may absolutely quote me, though I am unabashedly glad you posted the link to your draft version so I can see that I’m not the only source.
 * Excellent wiki page, and I hope everyone else gives their permission as well. The multiple points of view really sell it.
 * Thank you!
 * 1) ✔ : Beth Bernobich: Through the Looking Glass : ALPHA AND BETA...
 * 2) * email to contact address: beth@beth-bernobich.com 130128
 * 3) * email 130129
 * Sure, quoting is fine by me. (And I like your draft version--very useful, imo.)
 * 1) _ : Fanfiction.net: Beta Readers
 * 2) * email to contact address: support@fanfiction.com (130129)

Lede (after the horizontal rule)
An alpha reader or beta reader (also spelled alpha-reader / beta-reader, or alphareader / betareader, or shortened to alpha / beta) is a person who reads a written work, generally fiction, with what has been described as "a critical eye, with the aim of improving grammar, spelling, characterization, and general style of a story prior to its release to the general public."

The author or writer may use several such readers prior to publication. The terms "alpha" and "beta" – the first two letters of the Greek alphabet – are an appropriation from the software industry, which uses the terms "alpha" and "beta" for software that are internal works in progress and publicly released tests, respectively (though a "beta" version may still be tested internally, and an "alpha" version may be offered to outside testers in open-source development). Some speak of "gamma readers" (third stage) as well. While the use of the concept and the term is most common among fan fiction writers, it is growing in popularity with novelists, to the point where some have thanked their beta readers (sometimes even referring to them as such) in their acknowledgments.

Alpha readers are, by definition, the first readers other than the author's own self, and beta readers are at the next stage. The "job descriptions" of alpha and beta readers vary somewhat. An alpha or beta reader, who may or may not be known to the author, can serve as proofreader of spelling and grammar errors or as a traditional editor, working on the "flow" of prose. In fiction, the alpha or beta might highlight plot holes or problems with continuity, characterisation or believability; in fiction and non-fiction, the beta might also assist the author with fact-checking.

Other types of writing groups have been known to use the term critiquer or the abbreviated, informal version critter in the same context as these Greek-letter terms.

Definitions

 * Edited down from definitions used on various websites.
 * All quotes are by permission of the owner of the site.
 * → See above. Now that I've realized all that direct quotation is the wrong way, permission isn't so necessary. But I still want to do it, esp. for the personal sites. 07:16, 6 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Layout of subsections here:
 * ''[ number ] website name (date accessed)
 * ''name of post
 * definition text as edited from the site '''[commented out 07:28, 6 February 2013 (UTC)]
 * → ''the above edited down to something more workable and appropriate to a WP page

Christensen
1. Gods, Witches, Space & Stars: writing thoughts of L.A.Christensen
 * Alpha-Reading (accessed 2013-01-28)

→ The alpha-reader's job is to recreate their reading experience for the author. They can do this in various ways, but the more detailed the description and summary of their various reactions (not just the negative ones and not just the positive ones), the more helpful they will be. ... Beta-readers and gamma-readers are the next step. If alpha-readers read the first draft a writer produces, beta-readers read the second draft with fresh eyes and gamma-readers read the third.

Writing Excuses
2. Writing Excuses
 * Writing Excuses 5.33: Alpha Readers.
 * transcript of podcast (both accessed 2013-01-28)

→ My alpha readers are my writing group, my editor, and my agent. My beta readers ... I send the book to in its completed form after my agent has seen it, after my writing group has workshopped it, to see the entire scope of the book and get back to me as just a reader giving feedback would. ... Alphas have to be able to see the book when it's not in its perfect form and see what you're trying to do with the book. Alphas for me have to react as a writer does, not as a reader. Betas, at least as I view them, are people who see the book in its near complete form and then can read as a reader can.

Kowal
3. Mary Robinette Kowal
 * How and why I use online alpha-readers while writing novels. (accessed 2013-01-28)

→ Alpha readers [They see installments, as the author writes them and sends them out.] I only want big picture things about how the story plays and don't want any line-specific notes. This is because, with my own writing process, thinking about mistakes in the language will make me self-conscious and slow me down. So I ask my readers to tell me what bores them, what confuses them, what they don't believe, what's cool (so I don't accidentally "fix" it). I enjoy stream-of-conciousness reactions as well, because that tells me how the story is playing.

When I have a completed draft, I make a language pass. Now, I go through and look for sentence-level stuff because I have the whole structure down so I know what needs to be polished and what should just be cut. I also look at pacing as I go through it.

[Then] I give the novel to beta readers. The problem with having people read along as I go is that the pacing is off for them because they have to wait between installments. That's not how someone would read the book normally, so I give the book to a select group of beta-readers who do have permission to flag language issues, in addition to structural issues.

Moore
4. Taven Moore
 * Alpha Readers vs Beta Readers (accessed 2013-01-28)

→ Alpha readers are the ones who go in first. Beta readers get your "polished" draft.

Alphas will read your stuff multiple times and give you critiques … and in almost every case, you do the exact same for them. You may go multiple rounds with your alphas, making changes, tweaking things, deciding what needs to go and what needs to stay, and does the phrasing here really work, and is "taxidermied" really a word or not?

Beta readers come in when you and your alphas can't find anything else wrong. Beta readers are READERS more than they are critiquers (though if you're lucky, your beta readers know enough to point out flaws you couldn't see). They're your test group, getting the book you're pretty sure is ready for you to hand off to an agent or publisher. You know there will be further edits down the line, but THIS book is good. It's not perfect, but it's good, and you need some FRESH eyes on it – people who never read earlier versions that went through work with the alphas.

Bernobich
5. Beth Bernobich: Through the Looking Glass
 * ALPHA AND BETA... (accessed 2013-01-28)

→ If you're writing novels, especially, you might want two widely different levels of feedback: the alpha and the beta. Alpha readers give quick feedback, and (for the most part) address the larger elements of the story—the pacing, the tension, plot arcs, characterization, backstory, and theme.

Beta readers are your second (or third or fourth) draft friends. Once you've wrestled the plot into shape and rewritten the first chapters to match the final ones, you need the skills of the beta readers. Now you truly need the line comments to point out the grammar mistakes, the typos, and the poor word choices. You also need feedback on the structural elements, only in much more detail than before. Pacing, characterization, tension, and prose have all changed since draft one, most likely. You need confirmation that everything works together, or if not, where it failed and why.

Beta readers work much slower because the level of detail is that much greater. After you finish that second draft, find three or six people who will spend the next month or two reading your work and picking it to pieces.

FanFictionNet
6. Fanfiction.net: Beta Readers ''[Listed in the .]
 * [This website pairs authors of fan fiction with volunteer alpha/beta readers. The site does not use the term "alpha reader".] (accessed 2013-01-28)

→ [This website does not use the term "alpha reader".] A beta reader (or betareader, or beta) is a person who reads a work of fiction with a critical eye, with the aim of improving grammar, spelling, characterization, and general style of a story prior to its release to the general public.

Absolute Write
''This website is listed in the. It's a place for writers to meet and among other things to read for each other. I just copied huge chunks out of their "What is a beta reader?" thread and put it on a subpage of this page, User:Thnidu/sandbox/Absolute write.

''Editing down to a "→" usable definition will take more time. Lots.

''07:16, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

Beta reader directories

 * FanFiction.Net: Beta Readers - Particularly notable in that it is part of one of the largest and most active fan fiction archives on the Internet. It was added to the site relatively recently due to popular demand, after a brief period of (fittingly) beta testing.
 * Absolute Write forums
 * Critique Circle