McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Beta Readers for Novel-length work
Kali:
Yes, I would like it well before Christmas. I'd like it no later than the middle of October, though honestly I don't know what the "normal" timeframe is for getting critiques back from beta readers.
And er... Yeah, actually, I do mind honest brutality. I need constructive comments, not brutal ones. "This sucks" is brutal, but not helpful. "The character of Ethan is too overpowered for my tastes. I couldn't like him enough to get into his part of the story" is honest and a little more constructive.
۞†Grey Warden†۞:
I was just trying to sound like all the good critics. Sorry, i can be constructive and get it back to you within a week or so.
Enjorous:
If you want me to go over your spelling and grammar with a fine tooth comb a month is pushing it imo. But for everything else it seems doable to me.
jeno:
I can do a beta read - I've got lots of free time on my hands. Not to mention I've been looking for a new UF to read. :D
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Kali on September 14, 2010, 10:11:51 PM ---I'm resurrecting this post 'cause I want to give people who responded before a little reminder that they did, in fact, respond before. And to open the door to anyone else. Check the first post for what I'm looking for in beta readers, and let me know if you want to read! It is right now 82,632 words long, according to MS Word, and is broken up into two unevenly sized documents because Word started freaking out when the first one got too long.
--- End quote ---
What machine are you working on? I've handled novels twice that long in Word and not had any problems.
--- Quote ---I will say that this is done now. 100% done, as long as I can keep my fidgety little fingers out of it. What I might do, what I'm thinking about doing, is making a questionnaire of sorts to send to people. What I'm thinking is you'd read it, send me your comments, and then I'd send you the questions I want specific feedback on. And it would be very specific. Things like, "Did ____ plot point seem contrived, or did it the explanations given satisfy you?" or "Did the conversation where _____ happened work, or was it too much an "As you know, Bob" scene?"
--- End quote ---
This is a good thing to do for getting feedback from betas, definitely; but don;t show them before, however tempting.
--- Quote ---Edit to add: After a comment (thanks Meg), I thought I'd say I'm willing to send you a hard copy if you'd rather have that than an electronic copy.
--- End quote ---
A few hundred pages of manuscript are non-trivial either to post or to afford the ink cartridge for your printer, I'd have thought.
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