Panel "Being a Better Beta": Resources roundup

Thank you to everyone who attended the "Being a Better Beta" panel and especially to my co-panelists jlrpuck and yourlibrarian. Several people asked for a collection of resources that were mentioned in the session, so this post will collect those. If you know of anything that I've omitted or that wasn't mentioned, please comment here and I'll update the post to include it. Folks can tag this entry in order to keep up with updates if they choose.

At the bottom of this post I've included the outline I wrote up for the session. You'll notice that a few items on this outline weren't covered. If you have any questions about any items listed, or if you want to start a conversation around any of the items, please feel free to start a comment thread!


Added 5 August: You know what rocks? Discovering I've reinvented the wheel, that's what. This discussion of the beta process over at Dreamwidth, started back in June, covers some of the topics our panel did and some we didn't; it also collects many more beta communities. Check it out.

... and 10 August: The lovely, gracious, and kind Prefers-To-Be-Anonymous offers this resources roundup for writers and betas. There's some overlap with here and a lot of focus on the Stargate 'verses; some cool and fun tools there. Enjoy.


Tools:
Wordle.net: I'm sorry I neglected to write down who suggested this! You can paste a section of text into the tool here to watch for unconscious vocabulary trends.

HTML alt-text: In HTML-enabled environments, you can encode a foreign-language phrase so that a hovering mouse will display the translation. To use this, replace the square brackets in this string with the angle brackets:
[a title="TranslatedText"]ForeignPhrase[/a]

Masking warnings: This post gives instructions for a popular method that is also accessibility-tool-friendly.


Content/general research:
fandom_grammar: This is a good resource to research questions of grammar, punctuation, language, and usage. They seem to accept questions into a moderated queue rather than allowing open posting.

little_details: This is a fantastic forum to ask for help researching pretty much anything. Do your own research first; you're expected to indicate what research and Google searches you've already done when you pose your question.

Jim Macdonald's Emergency Medicine posts contain a wealth of detail about a wide variety of medical content, with writers kept in mind.

Cascade Hospital: "The Cascade Hospital is a resource website designed specifically to help FANFIC and other FICTION WRITERS who want to make their stories more medically authentic." Thanks to donutsweeper for this reference. Originated with Sentinel fandom, as I recall. Hosted on Geocities, which will soon go away; if this gets archived or rehosted elsewhere, please let me know.

donutsweeper also offers Police Jargon: How to Talk Like a Cop.

Along similar lines, ask_a_cop accepts questions for ... wait for it ... cops and other law enforcement personnel. This seems to be US-specific.


Language/regionalisms/internationality
drop_the_u: This community is for any and all questions about American content (locations, regional differences, travel times, idioms, and so on).

dw_britglish: This community is for questions about UK/British content, catering particularly to the "Doctor Who" 'verse.

hp_britglish: This community is for questions about UK/British content, catering particularly to the "Harry Potter" 'verse.

sga_canada_help: This community is for help making true-to-life Canadian characters, intended for SGA fandom. So pretty much as it says on the tin.

betababel: "This community is for language and cultural questions and beta requests for cultures and subcultures you are not familiar with. English-speakers who need details about Russian names, or Germans who are into yaoi, or sysadmins who need information about medical slang, or doulas who need information about offshore oil rigs ... and so on and so forth." (Quoted directly from the userinfo page.)

multilingual: This was recommended by gblvr for research into the correct way to phrase content in other languages. (The comm I originally listed here, linguaphiles, is more directed at language/linguistics questions but may be useful for more esoteric language questions, besides being interesting in its own right.)


Beta clearinghouses/advertising locations:
As always, please check community rules for formats and guidelines.

fandom_betas: This community is for both betas and writers needing them. It's particularly intended for use with new-to-fandom writers who haven't yet found their fandom's preferred beta forum(s). Thanks to saavikam77 for pointing this one out.

batfic_betas: saavikam77 also reports this community, which is for both betas and readers in "Batman" fandom. It's associated to a contest community but accepts non-contest works.

sga_beta: Prospective beta readers for "Stargate: Atlantis" fandom post here, using a designated format. Writers seeking betas use the tagging system to find a suitable beta and then post a comment at the post(s) of matching beta(s).

sg1betas: This community is modeled on sga_beta and appears to use the same conventions, except that it's meant for "Stargate: SG-1". Thanks to community founder/moderator secondalto for this reference.

spn_betas: This community accepts posts by prospective "Supernatural" betas and by writers seeking them, with designated formats for each.

betababel: See the "Language" section for details on this community.

Dreamwidth user origamiflowers, in the beta discussion post mentioned above, lists some of the above as well as the following:
Livejournal
beta_search - multifandom
find_me_a_beta - multifandom
hp_betas - Harry Potter
hp_betas_wanted - Harry Potter
heroes_betas - Heroes
merlin_betas - Merlin
who_beta - Doctor Who
housefic_beta - House M.D.
thequillstation - LOST
originalbeta - original fiction
Dreamwidth
beta_masterlist - multifandom
write_good - a concrit comm
crits_of_the_fantastical - fantasy critique
spn_betas - Supernatural
sg_military_beta - SG1, SGA, SGU military info

Perfect Imagination seems to be a screened beta-matching service. FAQ and instructions at the site. (Added 3 Sept 2009)

There is also simply responding to the requests of friends, of course, or advertising on your own journal/forum. Others …?


Canon/fanon/fandoms:
crack_van, which has a page of Fandom Overviews.

newbieguide, which has a page listing their Master List of Topics/Fandoms.

The Stargate 'verse has a wiki; it also includes transcripts. Transcripts can also be found at Gateworld.

allthat_hopping has Doctor Who transcripts.

Simply Scripts has a collection of TV and movie scripts in pdf format. Thanks to donutsweeper for the reference.

Other fictions! Google!


Original outline:
o Being or becoming a beta
---o When a beta is/isn't needed
---o Setting expectations: Beta specializations and aversions
---o The beta/writer relationship
---o Ways of getting beta work
---o The different degrees of beta review
------o Copyediting: Grammar, punctuation, spelling, syntax, tense, etc.
---------o Maintaining a watch list not covered
---------o Using technology: Spellchecker, find-and-replace, web searches
------o Continuity and reality checks
------o Character voice, characterization, and character authenticity
------o Globalization: Handling discrepancies between writer's and character's nationalities
------o Narrative voice/structure, POV, and tense
------o Plot, story structure, and flow
------o Double-takes: Jarring elements
------o Positive feedback: Calling out what works
------o Others (prompt for suggestions)
o Scheduling, timing, and deadlines not covered
o Ways of providing feedback and notes
o Handling multiples: co-betas, multiple uncoordinated betas, co-writers last item not covered
o Resources
---o Canon (source materials)
---o Reference materials for canon
---o Fandom/communities
---o Other fanfiction (good and bad)
---o Reference materials for fanon
---o Style guides and usage manuals
o Disaster management: Handling writer/beta mismatches and stories needing too much work
o Learning from the experience: How beta work affects writing and vice versa
o Other suggestions and recommendations
o Wrap-up
o Postscript: Beta peeve clearinghouse (as time permits) not covered
---o Apostrophes
---o Plurals
---o Verbs versus nouns
---o Foreign and gendered terms
---o Homonyms and other classics
---o Others


Other content covered:
- Notify the writer of potentially offensive content.
- Notify the writer of similarities to other stories.
- Try to determine what is canon and what is fanon; both are fine but should be clear.