Hi all!  I’ve been working on a five act longfic for going on two years now and am to the point where I would like to post the first act (a bit over 120k words) during Zutara month.  Though ATLA has been my Special Interest since childhood, I’ve always been a bit of a lurker and not interacted much with other people in the fandom but have been trying to ‘step out of my comfort zone,’ as it were.  I’m not exactly sure what the ‘norm’ is for finding beta readers, but I was hoping to see if there might be one or two people willing to read through it for me. As I’ve been lurking for far longer on this subreddit than in the Zutara discord servers I thought I would ask here first.

It's a post-war ‘Ambassador Katara’ fic.  This is the summary that I plan to use on Ao3:

Nearly a year into her role as the Southern Water Tribe’s ambassador, Katara has accomplished what her counterpart from the North could not:  securing reparations from the Fire Nation court.  But when sabotage, scandal, and colonial unrest threaten the fragile peace of a post-war world, she finds herself pulled deeper and deeper into the viper’s nest of Fire Nation politics…and closer to its ruler.  As rumors swirl and tempers flare between the Ambassador and the Fire Lord, Katara finds a helping hand, and unexpected solace, in the brother of one of her students.  In a nation built on blood and lies, she must decide:  how far is she willing to go to protect those who cannot protect themselves…and what will it cost her?

There is no explicit sexual content in the first act, however, it is definitely an M rated fic.  These are the following content warning tags I will be placing on it:

Psychological Manipulation; Gaslighting; Trauma; Past Torture; Non-Graphic Sexual Coercion (manipulative dynamics, not explicit, not between the FMC and the MMC); Medical Descriptions; Blood and Injury; PTSD; References to Sexual Violence; Power Imbalance; Classism / Racism; Political Corruption; Violence; Threats of Sexual Violence (Chapter 17); Kidnapping (Chapter 17); Jealousy; Possessiveness; Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms (Chapter 15); Propaganda; Mild Alcoholism

The first act is self-contained and the main plot comes to a natural conclusion (though I also include the first chapter of Act 2 which does end on a cliffhanger).  I was going to wait to ask for beta readers until it was fully completed but I have been sitting on my last three ‘to-do’s’ for months and with October just around the corner, I finally accepted that I need to ask for someone to look through it now.  It is 45 chapters long, though I am missing a scene from chapters 38, 43, and the entirety of chapter 44.

I’m looking for someone (or multiple someones) who would be willing to provide me with feedback before October on any of the following:

• General thoughts on the plot, pacing, character development, and my worldbuilding expansions.
• Suggestions on any additional tags and the summary.
• Suggestions for where I might trim my prose (I worry that I am too long winded and that there are sections that drag which readers might find dull).
• Grammar/sentence structure edits.
• And, most importantly, I have read a ton of other Zutara fanfiction in my time, and I know that I have lifted things from other stories.  There are two characters in particular that, while I have probably altered the personalities substantially, I’m fairly certain I got the names from someone else’s story.  Unfortunately, at this point they all blur together in my head and try as I might, I cannot find the stories to credit the original authors.  So ideally, I would like someone who is well versed in Zutara fanfiction to help me credit other authors where appropriate.  I know I could just change the names, and I will if I have to, but I’m quite attached to them.

From my research it seems that Google Docs is a common method for sharing fanfiction for beta reading.  I, unfortunately, despise Google Docs and primarily use Word, but I have uploaded a copy to my Google Drive that I can grant people access to (or if you prefer Word, like me, I can send you a copy).

If you have any questions or need clarification on anything I’ve mentioned here, let me know. I would also be more than happy to do a fic exchange as well!

Thank you!

The reason I'm asking here is because everywhere else I've had little luck. Needed info: - I've got 15,000-ish worth of words done, separated in 4 chapters; - the chapters are not the start of the fic, but I've summarized what you need to know at the start; - the fic is a psychological thriller centered on Katara; - Zuko and Katara have chemistry, but are still friends; - there is one original character, the villain; - nothing NSFW, but there are mature themes Comment if interested. I'll send you the chapters for review, awaiting your feedback here. Thanks!