May
22nd
2015
finals · 8:33am May 22nd, 2015
Next week is my finals week, and two of those finals are the kind that involve lots of work at home -- a group presentation and a small research essay.
This means the horse words are going to be late again. In fact, since I'll probably need another job this summer, I should warn you all right now that weekly updates may not be something I can do. We'll see.
On the plus side, I have an editor, one Arcanist Ascendant. Dude's been great so far.
Good luck with your finals! Priorities must.
And good job on getting an editor.
Interestingly, I watch you and favorited the story and wasn't notified of the blog post. Maybe some other people weren't informed? That would be unfortunate.
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He didn't so much get me as I came to him and begged to work with him. This guy is amazing.
3087888
Nice! Nothing works as well as a beta who adores your work in my experience. Happy editing!
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i.ytimg.com/vi/OXlZ6edCHqI/maxresdefault.jpg
thanks... y-you too...
3088821 Did I say something wrong...?
I'm used to using beta reader as synonym for editor.
What have I done?
3089004 That's what I was assuming too.
The word "beta" is used in other ways, though. For instance, there's a bullshit machismo-laden philosophy YES I WILL EDITORIALIZE saying that some men are alphas and some men are betas, as if we were wolves instead of people, and it carries with it the assumption that these alleged betas are inferior as males (and therefore as people, it goes without saying). Betas, you see, are supposed to attract fewer females and not get as far in their careers. Betas stand differently, talk differently, care about beta things, do what people tell them, adopt reactive roles in life, act as followers and underlings, and in general just aren't as important or worth talking to.
God, fuck that whole philosophy. You can practically smell the MRA and PUA undertones. If there are betas in this world then I declare myself a beta.
I'm reasonably sure AA is kidding though.
3089082 Oooo....kay.
I love editorials! You learn something new every day.
In the fandoms I've been around on fanfiction.net I've almost never seen the description 'editor'. Funny that... beta has always simply meant 'the one who receives author's (alpha's) crappy first draft and starts the ping-pong of turning it into something worthwhile' to me.
Hmm... question as to where the following setup can be placed in the philosophy you described:
I am a broke straight male author in the Tomb Raider fandom in a dead end of his academic career and have an ambitious lesbian Oxford student from an affluent family as my beta. She also supplies me with Vegemite that I can't buy here in Denmark.
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Probably the only rational response when someone gets really super pissed about something you've never heard of.
Your friend sounds rad as hell. And I'll be honest, I have no idea whether women are allowed to be alphas. And don't be down on your life choices -- they're the result of you being you, and as for what other people think, you know what they say about the similarity between opinions and assholes. Additional life tip: other people give shitty advice, except that Ragnar guy on that My Little Pony fanfic website, who is always right about everything. In short, fuck the haters.
3089167 Yup, I love her! She's special.
I'll take that to heart :)
Good night from middle of nowhere northern Europe.
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fun fact: Wolf packs? Don't even have alphas. They're run by consensus. The leaders, as it were, are the parents of the rest of the pack. They're family units. God, that stupid myth sticks around like epoxy.