Cheerleaders!

[kitty_fic]

What makes a good cheerleader?

Of course, friends often make fabulous cheerleaders, but what about those assigned cheerleaders that you sometimes have the opportunity to interact with in fests or bigbangs.

1-What do you look for in a cheerleader?

2-How can they best be supportive?

3-What exactly are their duties?

4-How do they differ from a beta?

5-Do you have any personal experience either cheering or being cheered in an offical fest/bigbang capacity?

Comments

[deirdre-aithne.livejournal.com]

LBB was my first experience with an assigned cheerleader, so the concept is still sooooo new to me, lol.

1. I definitely look for someone who's, if not into all the content of my fic, can at least read it. That's a lot easier said than done sometimes, depending on what I'm writing, cause I can be squick-ville for lots of people, lol.

2. READ!! Read the fic that is being written and no matter how much angst I'm doing as an author, beat me over the head until I keep writing.

3. I think a cheerleader's main duty is just to keep the author encouraged. Especially with BigBangs, where the wordcount goals can be so damn high for some people (not all of us are used to breaking 10k in a single fic on a regular basis, let alone 20 or 50k), having someone there to pester check-in on you and encourage is really bloody helpful.

4. Cheerleaders aren't there to point out the nitpicky errors. If there is a glaring issue or a spot that looks like it could use some work, then that's a good thing for them to point out. But they are not necessarily the go-to for SPaG or Britpick. They're more for waving their pom-poms and pointing out general areas that need more or need cutting before the fic goes to beta.

5. I'm being cheered by about 6 different people between 3 bigbangs/fests, and I'm a cheerleader for 2 people in a bigbang. ^_^

[jakuako.livejournal.com]

Ooo, I am so stalking this post so that I can hopefully improve my cheerleaderness! \o/ As for me...

1. Enthusiasm(!), availability, and interest

2. SQUEE, FLAIL, GLOMP, LOVE. The more into my story my cheerleader is, the more encouraged I feel. Also, never hesitate to stroke a wounded ego. ;)

3. I think a cheerleader's main responsibility is to keep in touch. A lot of writers won't take full advantage of a cheerleader for fear of being a nuisance, so the cheerleader should take it upon his or herself to contact the writer every handful of days.

4. First and foremost, I believe that a beta's job is to improve the story, but a cheerleader's job is to approve the story. Later on in the process the writer will have the story torn to bits, but right now it just needs to get written, by whatever means possible. So cheerleaders should be positivepositivepositive and try to avoid nit-picking and nay-saying.

5. I have no 'official' experience as a cheerleader (hp_3forfun's big bang will be my first cheer job :D), but I've cheered on many friends and I just adore making a writer feel good about his or her story. I love to be that catalyst that helps a writer take a work in progress from "fucking hell..." to "FINALLY FINISHED!" xD

[kinky-kneazle.livejournal.com]

I love your icon more than chocolate. Possibly more than sex.

[kinky-kneazle.livejournal.com]

hp_3forfun is my first experience with and as an assigned cheerleader, but I had a regular cheerleader in my early days of fandom.

1. Enthusiasm, positivity, persistence.

2. Prodding - making sure you're writing daily, offering a sounding board when stuck and I like someone who I can bounce ideas off of, who isn't afraid to tell me that something won't work or might be better in a different way.

3. Waving pompoms *\o/* I think their duties are being encouraging, whatever that means to the writer. So, the first duty would be to ask, 'what can I do to help?'

4. A beta looks at the nitpicky stuff - spelling and grammar and britpicking and the like. A cheerleader is more about being encouraging and making sure the words get on the screen. However, I do think there's a place for cheerleaders to help with ideas if the writer gets stuck and also point out holes if they notice them, so that they can be fixed early on.

5. hp_3forfun is the first time I've signed up to both be and have a cheerleader, but I've helped friends before, and received help from friends.

[misbehavingmom.livejournal.com]

1 - I need a cheerleader to poke and prod me. Someone that will check in and make sure that I'm writing. Also think it helps for them to be comfortable with my pairings and genre.
2 - Brainstorming with me, chatting - sometimes I get ideas just from random chats, word wars, reading and commenting on the WIP, hot naked boy pic!spam :)
3 - Encouragement. A cheerleader should keep the writer interested in moving forward and be the support they need when muses, bunnies and RL interfere.
4 - I think a beta's job is to spot the errors - SPaG, POV, flow, etc. To tell you when something just doesn't work. Cheerleaders can help point out issues, but I think they should mainly be positive
5 - I am currently a cheerleader for LBB and have a cheerleader assigned to me for 3BB.