The Importance of Beta's

I sit here watching old reruns of SNL while my hubs dozes in the bean bag chair. Luckily he isn't snoring yet.

What does this have to do with being a beta or fan fiction in general? Nothing really, but its my blog so I'll type what I want to.

A little background on me before I go into my ramblings about beta's.

I was born and raised in beautiful San Diego, Ca. I went to a performing arts high school where there were cliques, but you belonged to more than one. Jocks were theater geeks. Nerds were artists. So forth and so on.

I was an only child raised by two parents who tried their best. I was always a shy and quiet child. My parents took me to church and got me involved in activities there.

I made friends, even best friends....but as I got older, nobody demonstrated how important it was to make the effort to keep friends.

This is something that I had to learn while I live in Missouri for almost 3 years. I made a friend there, my best friend, who doesn't let a day go by where we don't talk in some form. She literally explained to me that in order to maintain the friendship it required effort.

Who knew?

How in the world does this relate to beta's?

A writer/beta relationship is similar. A writer and a beta need to communicate with each other on a regular basis. In my opinion, the ability I have to chat with my beta on a daily basis not only keeps me centered on my work...but she's my friend.

yagalinus0420...she saw the potential an abandoned story had when I had lost all hope. She supports me in my fic out of her usual fandoms, and gets so creative with her ideas when we bounce them back and forth, that it makes me head spin! (In a good way!)

yaggy has become my friend because she opened herself up to me by making herself available. And because she's a true friend, I know I can email her when I need an ear about RL too.

Beta's serve a higher purpose in the world of fan fiction.

They can become friends and friends should always tell you truth. My beta reads my mind before I even know that's what I'm thinking. 

She and I chat online to work out my ideas and keep my stories moving along.

I'd be lost without her.

Unlike my beta for a very specific fan fiction site. She's distant and sort of aloof.

She beta's 15 other stories, so I can understand that she has a lot going on with that. She's also a mom, and I respect the time that is involved with parenting.

But I don't think its too much to ask that I send her all my finished chapters, so all I have to do is wait for her email one back every Sunday.

I think it would be easier, but whatever.

I've read a lot of stories lately that haven't been beta'd and while I would normally complain and be a grammar Nazi....sometimes I wish I didn't have this second beta.

My fan fiction life would be so much easier.