Beta Readers

Beta Readers. Some authors count them as valuable as editors. Some never use them, relying instead on the editors provided by publishers. In my opinion, having someone else take a look at your manuscript and just point out where the story ‘got confusing’ or where perhaps a bit more description is needed, is enough to get a stubborn story moving again.

If you ask authors at a panel how they make sure a world or a character is believable, the answer is usually “beta readers”. You’ll see ‘thank you’s to beta readers in acknowledgements or afterwords in books.

How do you find a beta reader?

This was one of the questions asked of me at an author question and answer panel at a recent convention. I had to stop and think about this from a new author point of view since some things have changed since I first started trying to find someone willing to read my stories and give me helpful criticism. And some things haven’t changed.

As a young writer starting off at age 14, my first beta reader was my mother. Not precisely the best choice, as she didn't read science fiction, but I didn't feel confident enough to ask my father, who was the other science fiction reader in my family. But after getting feedback of “it was so sad when she left home” when the story was supposed to be on how happy the character was to leave Earth, I moved on to other beta readers. My English teachers approved of the symbolism in my first book (which surprised me since I hadn't put any in), and that was the last time I asked them. I did find a few friends in high school that read fantasy and science fiction and who could be counted on to give good feedback. Nowadays I have friends I've met at conventions, fellow writers, and people who have read and enjoyed my work (and like getting an early look) who I can ask to beta read.

The person asking the question didn't have any local friends who read the genre he was writing. I've got one friend in my town that I can ask to beta read, but the other friends I can ask, depending on their schedules, are all at a distance. Which is not much of a problem in the days of email. The questioner, however, didn't have any writing friends or friends who read in his genre either local or online that he could ask.

So the next question to him was, was he a member of a writing group or organization? I'm a member of both Broad Universe and EPIC, and I've seen the occasional call out in the email and Facebook groups for those writing organizations for a beta reader on a particular genre or topic. There's usually someone willing to give feedback in return for critical comments on their own stories. He decided to check with some of the fan group tables at the convention.

I've even seen the call out on an author's Facebook page for an occasional beta reader or proof reader.

Of course, what do you do once you've found a potential beta reader? If all you get back is “It was good”, then you need to ask detailed questions (and maybe find another beta reader). Jodie Renner had some excellent suggestions recently in “15 Questions for Your Beta Readers”. (She also has some suggestions for finding YA beta readers.) I tend to ask more vague questions like "Did what the character do make sense?"

Take some time to absorb the comments you get back. Sometimes you can see right away how to revise the story and sometimes you’re not actually ready to accept what you hear.

It also helps to have more than one beta reader. If both readers comment on the same thing, then it definitely needs fixing. You might also have a beta reader who just focuses on the technical details or language rather than the overall story.

How have you found your beta readers? Are you a beta reader for another author?

Revising

Winter has gripped the northeast and it's cold outside. The kind of cold that makes you want to stay inside with a blanket and a hot cup of tea and a fireplace if you have one (we have a fake one, it's something at least) and a nice story to revise.

What? Revising a story isn't on your list of preferred winter activities?

I love having a story to revise. The first draft for me is getting to know the story (some people might do that in outline phase, for me it happens in draft form).

But when I revise I get to make sure the story makes sense (always important) and I get to add the levels of detail that I sometimes skip as I rush to get the first draft on paper.

Plus there's the excitement of knowing that soon I can share the story with Beta readers, and sharing a story is even more fun than writing it.

So as the temperatures outside hover in the teens and they predict snow for the coming weekend I'm going to crank up my fake fireplace, have a cup of tea, and dive into this revision.

I Pick things up and Put them Down

Have you seen that commercial? Where the guy, a big beefy guy, walks around the gym (I can't remember the name of the gym), and all he can say is "I pick things up and put them down" in an Ahnold accent?

I don't know why I chose that title - I first wrote "Tearing down and building up again" as the title, but that commercial jumped into my head, so I went with it. Anyway, that's what I'm talking about - revising. Revising is different than editing, different than polishing. More like Rewriting the Whole Dang Book.

About a month ago, I had a conversation with a really great editor at a big NYC house. He had read my WIP, and was giving me suggestions. Other people had told me things like "the voice didn't grab me", or "it just didn't work for me". I had gotten a really detailed agent rejection the week before - which, as rejections go, was like finding gold. And this editor, we talked for half an hour and I had a page full of notes, most of which required me to completely rip the book apart and rebuild it. "It's too old-fashioned." Which has a lot to do, I discovered, with balancing historical accuracy and modern sentiment. That's a whole other blog post.

Which sounds scary. And it was scary. It took me about a week to figure out how I was going to make it work. Parts of the story could stay, there are a few bits that haven't been completely rewritten - most people LOVE the first chapter, so that's stayed, with just a few tiny modifications. These revisions required a complete shift in the focus of the book. Once I found that, though, things seemed to fall into place. I have more action and a darker tone. My female MC is much spunkier. I've taken out what one person called 'the melodramatic slobbering" (and it was too - what WAS I thinking???).

The point is that sometimes you just HAVE to tear it all down and build it up again. The old version of the story was good, in that it was well-written and had a lot going for it. Even the agent who wrote the long rejection said there was a lot to like, and I've tried to keep all those bits. But in th end, it was quieter than I had originally intended, and I just needed a little direction to help me find where I went wrong.

I could have decided to not take any of their suggestions, stuck to my guns and decided that I liked it just the way it was. And I DID like it. There are writers out there who feel that anyone who makes suggestions must be trying to change their voice, or whatever. It's called Golden Word Syndrome, and I've fortunately never suffered from it. Many of those writers that do, well, they keep on stacking up rejections. Not that every editor is right, not that every suggestion is perfect, but it pays to listen and think about the advice, and then decide if it wouldn't be better to change it.

And this is the beauty of computers. I kept the old version, saved a new file, and was brave and tore it all apart and I'm building it up again. You know what?

I like it better now. It's not perfect yet, it'll need a little editing, and some polish, and the advice of some beta readers, before I send it back to that editor, but he'll see a whole new story.

Hope he likes it as much as I do.