Do you have a beta read your fics before you publish them? Or do you prefer to do your own checking & hope that’s good enough?

Personally, I’m not keen on the idea of having a beta reader (no shade to any who do). I re-read (& sometimes re-write) my chapters A LOT.
And when I’m happy with them, I give it a few days & re-read them again for SPAG issues or inconsistencies.
And then when I’ve posted them, I re-read them again because my brain won’t let me in case they magically changed between pasting & posting. (I do the same with emails & the like. 🤷‍♀️)
After all that, having someone else re-read it yet again seems kind of redundant.

  • borzoiteeth@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    It depends on the story for me. I usually don’t. Sometimes a peer or a friend offer themselves to beta. Often I’ll accept because I’m aware my English can be a mess lol. If I’m working on a piece that has a sensitive subject I am not personally familiar with I will seek someone to double check.

    One friend of mine was completely ignorant to Pokémon. Their knowledge began with whatever I shared when we talked monster designs or company abuse. I do not know why or how they became interested in my PMD stories but it has been a delight to hear their fandom-blind thoughts on it.

    Every once and a while I beta for others. Never for SPAG! But for plotholes, worldbuilding, art, word bubble/panel placement, etc I happily do. I very delight in tackling plotholes it is a favourite puzzle of mine to solve. But sometimes I have been asked to beta for things that are beyond me and had to turn it down. Certain genres and themes do not click for me,