30 Days of Fan Fiction Meme, Day 24

24 – Betaing – How many betas do you like to use to make sure there aren't any major flaws in your fic? Do you have a Beta horror story or dream story?

My history with betas reflects my history with fan fic in general: it's gotten a lot more casual over the years. When I first started posting fic around 2004, I got everything betaed, big fics sometimes by more than one. Today, I rarely put forth the effort and patience to recruit a beta before posting, unless I'm writing in an area I know I'm not competent to field alone, the most typical example being the British idiom. To that end, I usually go to vilakins's door today, and she is very obliging and helpful.

One effect of not getting stories betaed anymore is that I almost always have typos because I'm not a very good proofreader. As for quality, I think it depends on the story. Sometimes I can put out a decent quality story on my own (in my own estimation). Sometimes my stories fall flat, and I'm sure a beta would have been helpful.

I do still sometimes get major works betaed. louderandlouder and sixish did some lovely beta work for my on my giant Banana Fish fic a few months back.

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