Sorry ran a night late on this post. Wasn't feeling 100% on Thursday. But, on to today's topic.
So, you've finished a novel, novella, short story, whatever... now what? Well, just about everyone will yell back, "Edit!" And yes, that's very true. Editing is certainly what follows--a necessary evil for us all. But you want to know what you can do before that if you have friends that you deem trustworthy? You can have it beta'd.
What is a beta? So happy you asked. This is a person, or group of, that you send your writing type thing to for them to read. They then provide you with useful feedback on ways that you were both awesome and sucked terribly. Note, this is not the same as asking your mom or dad to read your stuff. I mean, sure, maybe your mom or your dad is a good, honest beta. But, in most cases, not.
But why do they have to be trustworthy? Well, because you want to keep your work your own, do you not? There was an incident I remember reading about concerning a certain famous author--won't mention names in case I accidentally miss-remember some of the details of this tale--concerning a book she was going to write. It was going to be one in a series she had going that was totally popular. She passed it to some friends for beta reads.
And then it was on the internet. For all to read. Before it was finished, edited, whatever. She was so disheartened, she posted publicly that she had decided to stop writing on the project. It would never be published. To my knowledge, she's held true to her word.
What a real crappy thing to do. You see, myself, I have two--three, on occasion--beta readers who I trust explicitly. I know that all three of them know enough about the publishing world to know that nothing of the work I send their way can be placed on the internet. See, some publishers, they are very picky about what they considered "newly" published. Some consider works published on free websites--like fictionpress--as having already been published once before, despite never getting paid. See where the worries begin? You've got to vet your beta readers.
Next problem, you've gotta make sure they are honest. And I don't mean just in the above regard. You've got to make sure that if they find something sucky in your work... they'll tell you. They don't have to be cruel. They just have to tell you, "Hey, this doesn't work." This is where most of you can't send stuff to your mom and dad, since it is more likely they will just tell you that they liked it whether or not they actually did. I lucked out. My mom always told me when stuff sucked. That sounds mean, but I don't mean it that way. I mean that she pointed out the bad with the good, so I could improve.
To bring up an author I already mentioned in a previous post, I read in an interview with Marissa Meyer that her advice when it came to beta readers' remarks and opinions was to use them. That's my next point. Don't send your stuff off to friends then get offended at every "this doesn't work" you get back your way. Don't huff and ignore them out of spite. You asked them for help. Take it. I just got done editing a novella I'm hoping to submit to a call opening soon, and I had two of my three trusted friends read it. Folks, I used the heck out of their advice. I mean, realistically, you can't use every ounce of what they say--maybe they misunderstood what you were going for, artistically. But I used about 90% of what I was sent back. Maybe more. It's helpful, and a hell of a lot cheaper than hiring a professional editor. If you are going the more traditional publishing route, save that step for when a publisher can use one of their in-house editors.
I feel like I'm rambling. It's very late, and I have a very busy day ahead. But here's my main point: there's a lot of advice out there about writing and publishing. Some of it is crap, romanticized crap. But beta readers? That's not crap. That's pure gold. Otherwise, you may spend most of your time convinced that your stuff is the worst--like I do sometimes. It helps to have fresh, realistic eyes on your words that aren't your own, wearied eyes. It's a nice break so that it doesn't feel like the same old, same old. And... I do believe that's my blog for today. Sorry for the lack of images. I didn't really have any that fit the subject. Let me know what you think about this subject. See you next time--on Thursday, hopefully.
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