Viridian Dreams Forum

So yeah,

I'm finally actually really working on a story that I'm actually going to publish. I've considered for awhile where I should ask for someone to act as a beta for me, and quite frankly after reading way more of this forum than any sane person should (I jest), I was hoping someone here might have some interest in this area. My expectations are pretty easygoing. I just need someone to tell me when my writing and plot are shite and point out when I've written myself into cliches and tropes I hadn't meant to use ... and to beat me upside the face if I get lazy. I'm a professional editor, so my needs are more story and plot focused than grammatical in nature.

Additionally, I'm an American and will need help spotting "americanisms" and making sure my colloquialisms are British.

Finally, if this is the wrong place to ask, please just let me know where I ought to look.

Best Regards,
DarkWyndre

I'm willing to look over for Americanisms etc, but I don't know if I'll have time to do a more detailed beta. But good luck with your story anyway! ^^

I'm willing to look over for Americanisms etc, but I don't know if I'll have time to do a more detailed beta. But good luck with your story anyway! ^^

Great! Hopefully someone else will be interested in the other part and it will be all set :)

I would be happy to look over things for you, though I regret to say that I cannot pick out Americanisms very well at all.

I'll read it, I can kind of help with Americanisms as my (Australian) English is closer to British English than American.
I will be perfectly frank, how much I can help with characters/tropes/plot type things will depend on how much I get into it. I'll try but if it turns out to be just 'not my thing' I probably won't be much help.

If you guys would PM me your e-mails (feel free to make new Gmail's if you feel uncomfy at all) I'll add you to a googledocs group where I'll put WIP's and rough drafts.

Thanks for the pm's guys. I am setting up a shared group for google docs, unless anyone has a problem with that format. I can use ff.net if you guys would rather.

I've spent a great deal of time in the last month working on character profiles and outlining growth arcs for my characters. I've also begun to plot chapters and identify the themes and points I want to convey with each chapter. My guess is that the complete basic outline, the character profiles and the first few chapters plotting and rough work will be ready to go within 2-3 weeks, at which point I'll push everything to the google docs group and invite you guys to share.

That should give a lot of things to go through and comment upon and allow me to alternate between fixing the things you guys find and working forward. I've no intention of starting and then leaving folks hanging along the way :)

I realize that it has been ages and ages since I first began working on this, and will understand if you all have grown busy or forgotten about the request. You should find invitations in the next couple hours to access what I've got so far and hopefully help me make sure it's not rubbish.