Gentle-Touch Beta

[Mamacita]

Are you frantically cranking out story after story, too busy trying to get that next idea nailed down before it escapes to be able to go back and check for every period and comma? Have you looked at your story so many times that by now you might not be seeing those little mistakes? Is there a turn of phrase you just can't quite get to come out the way you want it, a word on the tip of your tongue you could probably get if someone would just jog your memory?

If so—I can help!

I'm an accredited beta for Harry Potter fanfics through Perfect Imagination. My job in the real world involves editing, too—research articles for publication in scientific journals—and I've been doing it for twenty years. Before that, I had a really excellent high school English teacher who did a thorough job of pounding spelling and grammar rules into our heads, especially mistakes that are most commonly made and how to correct them. I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but I sometimes think someone must have handed me a red pen at a very early age, as I absolutely love editing other people's writing! I write my own fiction as well; I'm posting Harry Potter fanfiction here at AFFN and have other work (also HP) at FanFiction.net as Mamacita-san. My profile is at http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1056722/Mamacita-san. In addition, I'm writing an original novel for publication.

If you know your writing's weak in specific areas (conversations, descriptions, etc.), I'll work with you so you get an end result you're happy with. If English is not your first language, I can help—BUT PLEASE BE AWARE that the editing required may be rather extensive, and don't be offended. I want to help you polish your good story into a great one and also learn to recognize and fix your own mistakes so you become a stronger writer. I'll help you steer clear of melodrama—unless it's intended, of course, in which case I can ham it up with the best of 'em.

My promise to you as your beta:

- When I make suggestions I will explain my reasoning.

- Criticism is always constructive and friendly.

- I will defer to you as the ultimate authority on your own story; you are welcome to accept or decline any of my suggestions.

- I make no judgements about the content or relationships in your story. I will beta any content or 'ship you want to write about except songfics. I tend to avoid those as I never know the songs people use in them, and poetry is not my strong point.

- I will return two versions of each story or chapter: one is marked up with my corrections and suggestions, the other has the corrections already made for you and is clean and ready for posting. You don't have to use this clean version and I can skip it if you like, but if you agree with most or all of my edits, it saves you the time cleaning up the "edit" version. If you want me to insert HTML code for italics, bold, or section divider lines, please use bold or italics where you want them in the text and indicate where you want dividers, and I'll incorporate them into the clean version.

- I guarantee a turnaround of a week or less on short chapters (1-10pp) or one-shots; usually it is closer to one to two days. Longer chapters might take a day or so longer depending on my work load.

Give a shout if you'd like some help with your story.

[Guest coldwaterfairy]

I have a HP DM/HG mystery fic in need of a discerning eye. If you're interested let me know and I'll give you the details.

[Mamacita]

sounds good! good timing, too—i don't have a lot of work going on right now, so i'd be happy to take a look at it. if you'd like to send it to me "outside", my email is <mamacita-san@hotmail.com>. i usually work in word, and prefer it especially for long documents, but i can also use NeoOffice if i have to. do either of those work for you?

Mamacita (Su)