So this is a part of my series about the process of writing and publishing. For those who aren’t aware, Beta Readers come from a community of readers and writers, and give feedback on pre-publication versions of novels, varying from grammar and spell checks to technical observations on pacing and characterisation, to very general suggestions and observations. I’d never engaged with this side of the biz before The Raven Sound, but I have to say I found the process invaluable. If you want to follow the route (and I recommend you do), I started my search for my angels of editing via Facebook groups and listing on https://www.goodreads.com/ .
Like the first try for most things, I found it can be a bit hit and miss, and I’ll admit I was naïve and unprepared myself, never considering the most basic question the reviewer would ask me; what do you want me to do? ‘Fix everything but don’t disagree or change my words’ seemed like a big request, and I found different readers were willing to look at different things, some the entire ms, some the opening only for example, so I needed to cut my metaphorical searching cloth accordingly. I wanted honesty, and re-assurance, so settled on “Please beat me, and then tell me that you love me” as my approach, though I may have used more circumspect language.
It was more challenging getting responses back than I’d expected. Of course I was looking for constructive criticism, but it’s still hard to hear your baby is actually quite ugly, despite what your friends have told you. I’m exaggerating slightly of course, and the kind folk who volunteer to perform this wonderful service are trying to improve my writing, so sometimes this means the truth hurts. My natural first instinct was to construct a ‘defence of me’, but I managed to rein that in (mostly) and actually listen, or read anyway, what a genuine stranger thought. I’m so glad I did. I did wonder momentarily whether the title of their role was a mis-spelling, and they were actually described as ‘beater/readers’, but with a deep breath, looked at the comments they made. The best of Beta Readers (and I very happily include mine in this) acknowledge that reading is so subjective, I’m not being ‘corrected’, but am being given an insight into the view of an unbiased reader, and there is no compulsion for me to agree with them. In my case I was ‘corrected’ in places as well, as I came to realise that my proof reading had been truly abysmal, but that is another matter. I was very lucky with the kind souls who gave me feedback for The Raven Sound, and their perspective as ‘blind readers’ was particularly helpful in identifying elements that to me were crystal clear, but apparently I hadn’t included in the actual words on the page. Oops. Having said this, there were numerous things flagged which I didn’t change too, as they would work for my particular target demographic, or which I didn’t agree with, or were deliberate stylistic choices. Even those comments and suggestions were really valuable though, as they pinpointed areas other readers might question or have difficulties with, and forewarned is forearmed. Sometimes a tiny tweak in phrasing made my meaning clearer.
First self-revelation, and something of a shock of course, was that the novel I thought was almost finished needed a hell of a lot of further work. It’s always tempting when you finally finish your opus, and have been through what you think are sufficient drafts and checks for it to be ready to present to the World, to want to rush ahead. A mistake I made was to send out some review copies at this stage, which I wish I hadn’t. The Beta Test (see what I did there?) was really helpful in showing me I hadn’t really been ready at all. It also turned out I’ve been mis-spelling acerbic for forty years without realising. Who knew?
The short conclusion to this is that as a result of ideas that came back to me, The Raven Sound went through five more drafts, including one major one which changed the tense throughout the entire buggering thing, which was a nightmare to undertake but really helped. The finished product is immeasurably better and pacier than the version I sent out. My natural inclination is also to spend quite a lot of time scene-setting in my writing, and while this works if you know my style, it clearly put off the casual reader, so it’s a good thing for me to keep an eye on in future. Until I win the Booker of course, after which I can produce incomprehensible thousand page tomes. I jest. Probably.
So if you haven’t thought about using a Beta Reader before, I’d highly recommend it, but before jumping in, think about what you hope to get back. Is it grammar, spelling and flow, is it pace and characterisation, is it simply a totally impartial external reader. Is it actually a Beta Reader you need at the minute, or do you want to look for listings for ‘Alpha Readers’, if your work isn’t yet at the level of completeness you want, or you want to ask if the plot or characters are working or convincing?
Everyone will have their own process, but hopefully this short piece might chime with you over elements you recognise in your own writing, or maybe you simply hadn’t considered the idea before. I can say with certainty that when I have (genuinely) completed my next novel, I’ll be searching out those Fantastic Beta Readers again.
Stay safe
Kit