I've been looking for a beta or rather beta's for three of my Harry Potter stories that I have recently started. I did have someone who had declared an interest in doing so a while ago however I soon found out that they were unaware of what a beta reader was meant to do and simply thought it was someone who got the chapter earlier then anyone else and offered no advice on it, after this I have been unable to find another person to help me out.

If anyone is interested I am more then happy to send them the stories so far, one currently has four chapters, another three and the last two which are currently up on another website. Mostly I have been told that my problems are to do with making my paragraphs too long, as well as some grammar and sentence structure.

Thank you

 

Post it in WbA, you'll get criticisms and some ways to improve.

 

To be honest I'm looking for more of a one to one beta, then say posting chapter after chapter on a section of a forum where there would be a lot more people who aren't interested in actually helping out. Also i'm not too sure what WbA is, but the chances are i'll just keep search for one as opposed to groups of different people

 

Well, posting in the WBA will get you more help than you are going to get looking for a beta, because I severely doubt anyone is going to beta a story from a person with no posts and just joined.

 

Post the best story in WbA and see what happens.

Work by author

 

This. My advice to people looking for betas is to at the very least post some examples of their work. Practically no-one will offer for the hell of it - potential betas want to know whether any time they spend on your story is going to be worth it.

As for the value of WbA, OP? It's a section catered towards the writer: there you will find unbiased, honest, straightforward criticisms of your work.

 

Thanks for the advice, I'll probably end up posting something by the end of the week then.

 

It's "betas" not "beta's". There, I helped.

 

Beta = singular. "I have a beta."
Betas = plural. "I have two betas."
Beta's = something that belongs to a Beta. "That beta's tits are huge!"
Betas' (alternate, yet somewhat clumsy: Betas's) = Do I really need to write an example?

See, I helped too.

 

I can see where you're coming from, but I agree with Palindrome. Not many people want to beta a story they know nothing about. After all, your story may contain a pairing they dislike. At the very least, you ought to give a summary.

Even so, you can send me some chapters. I'm not a grammar Nazi and I may just give you an short overview instead of a full review, but I'll give it a try. Not going to guarantee I'll be your beta though.