[Silreth]

I need a beta for one of my stories. If I could work with someone over e-mail that would be great. E-mail me and I will get back to you but please be patient with me because I don't have a home computer.

The story is the girl-falls-back-in-time-to-Middle-Earth type fic. I'd like to claim it isn't the typical one but I'm not going to do that because it probably is. She falls back in time to Middle Earth and lands in Mirkwood sometime before the War of the Ring, not sure how long yet.



Silreth

P.S: I REALLY, REALLY need help!

[NeumeIndil]

I can't take another beta story right now (I've got 3 in the works plus my own writing) but I will offer a couple of suggestions for helping yourself until someone steps in.

First, double check the rules for Mary Sue stories here at OSA and make sure you follow them. They're available here: http://www.openscrolls.net/fanfic/guide.php#SuesOCs

Secondly, spell check and grammar check are your friends, even if you know the story is in very rough form. It's easier for a beta to go through something that's pretty sound grammatically before you send it. Some of us [twitch] get a little edgy when there are too many [twitch] errors.

Thirdly, if you can do your own canon research or translating, try it. If you can't, make sure you ask specifically for someone who knows Sindarin/ Unfinished Tales etc. and let them know you'll want help with those aspects of the story. There are a bunch of online resources for double checking dates, names, family origins, etc.. Other users were kind enough to recommend some good ones when I asked here: http://www.openscrolls.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1892

Fourth and most importantly, be prepared for critique. There are very few betas who are mean just for the sake of being mean (at least I've never run across one here), but most of us are honest when we respond to a story. Be ready to hear some bad things in the feedback. Even the best, most raved about stories were critiqued at one time. More is available on that subject here: http://ljconstantine.com/column9.htm

Also, if you have a few bucks to put toward your fan fic, try searching Amazon or Half.com for books about editing, and I can't recommend Diana Hacker's writing guides enough. I've taught out of them, I use one every time I write or beta and they've really saved my bacon. The website for that is www.dianahacker.com

Hopefully something I've rambled about here will help you progress with your story until a beta becomes available. Much luck to you!

[sofia]

After Neume's wonderful advice, I wouldn't mind beta-ing for you. Just have to point out right now that my evlish is horrible and if you need help in translating for that, I would do a very sucky job.