The Purpose of a Beta Reader
FOR WRITERS:
The point of a beta reader is not to go through your manuscript with a fine tooth comb and pull up all your mistakes (that's what proof readers are for) although if they do point out one or two big ones here or there it can't hurt. A beta reader is there to be your controlled first impression; they give you feedback on what they thought of the plot and characters, they give you insight as to how your readers might interpret different themes, how they may feel about certain scenes and help you see your story from an outside perspective - they are your test subjects and your book is the experiment - it's a safe way to get an idea of what you can expect from your readership and it is absolutely necessary.
Once you've written your first draft and edited it, it's ready for someone to read (definitely NOT a potential publisher) you should trust these people enough to keep anything you send them to themselves and to give you honest feedback. I say people because feedback from your best friend in the whole world is not enough to gauge what kind of experience your readership is going to have.
Your beta readers need to, ideally, be a part of your genre specific target audience, if you've written a high fantasy novel of 100,000 words, don't expect someone who likes romantic novellas to get through the whole thing, be fair. I gave my first draft of The Chronicles of Jackal and Rabbit to 6 different people, the book is a romantic suspense for new adults, my beta readers comprised of 3 women and 3 men between the ages of 19 and 27. Other than an underlying romance, there is a lot of action that happens in my story and I knew women would love it but I wasn't sure about how guys would take it so I felt it was necessary to get a perspective from both genders, this was a good decision because the feedback I got was so different between the men and woman and yet so helpful for different reasons, I was thus able to adjust elements of my story accordingly which I would not have been able to do without my betas.
My last bit of advice for writers who have betas, and this is something I struggle with, is to be patient; people have lives, they have jobs and families and you need to respect their space, I can be a bit of a slave driver and struggle to curb my enthusiasm when waiting for responses, but if you want them to read for you again then you need to respect the little lab rats.
FOR READERS:
To be a good beta reader you need to not only be willing to read the book as quickly as possible but you need to be willing to give feedback to the writer, and I don't just mean "yeah it was good, I liked it," no, that will earn you a slap on the side of the head with the very heavy manuscript you just handed back, I'm talking about details, a chapter by chapter breakdown of what you love and hate.
This break down should be written (or texted) to your writer who is anxiously awaiting your comments, don't be shy to throw your emotion into your responses, reading is meant to generate an emotional response within people, that's why we do it, and the more visceral the emotion the happier your writer is going to be.
The following is an account of some of the experiences one of my best readers sends to me, she reads about three chapters at a time then sends her feedback for each in the form of her internal monologue, its great, I love reading her responses and she never holds back:
Chapter 7
Well this chapter just upset me
What the fuck are you thinking Rabbit??
That's all I've got to say...
next chapter please... just tell me she's not still gonna be this stupid!
Chapter 8
Man???black suit and tie??? gloved hands???
who the fuck is he??? David???
Jackal a giant oaf??? hahahaha I cant even imagine him pulling that one off...
Dammit my heart is in my throat...what if they get to Rabbit before he does???
FUUUUUCKKKK!!!!
Go Jackal!!! shove another Knife in him just for fun...
you're making my heart happy!!!
KABOOM MOTHERFUCKR!!
okay get the fuck out of there and go find Rabbit...
the suspense is killing me....
Chapter 9
My heart is thumping this chapter has me at the edge of my seat.
I literally feel like a AM Rabbit... THIS IS ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!
Chapter 13
Just seeing his name irritates me "David"
your little plans are long gone you asshole...
She got no one??? hahaha I'm glad you think so you worthless twat...
for fuck sakes he grates my tits
Rene, you are an absolute legend! I adore your responses, they have me laughing all the time!
Do you see what she's done? All I asked for was her genuine feelings to what she was reading, I didn't need a full book report and she gave me exactly that. Some of my other readers wait until the end and then spend some time writing their thoughts on the book as a whole, this is also helpful because while it is nice to have a blow by blow account of the emotional roller-coaster you go on, the book needs to also be viewed as a project in its entirety.
Another perspective from one of my male readers reminded me that it's as common for guys to fall in love with female characters as it is for woman to fall in love with male ones, Tarquin and I had a funny conversation that resulted in the above conclusion:
Tarquin: how long is Black's hair?
Me: Middle back (later added in a better description for this character thanks to this question)
Tarquin: long hair... fur coats... thick russian accent... probs 6'1
m o m m y !
Me: just nearly 6ft
Tarquin: would I be mogged by a cyka Russian princess?
Me: Mogged? And STOP CALLING MY LEAD"S ARCH NEMESIS A PRINCESS!
Tarquin: Mogged = outdone in my height, frame or alphaness.
(sorry i meant "QUEEN)
Me: she would own you, pup.
Tarquin: t-t-t-that would be n-n-n-nice!
Me: can you please stop falling in love with my fictional characters!
Tarquin: Maybe I could convince her and Ailith to have a threesome.
Me: go away.
This conversation although funny was great insight into the young male mind, having conversations with my beta's about my character's is very informative and helpful, and although in this instance he was only teasing (sort of) there were times where we had deep conversations about character motivations, which I cant share here because spoilers.
No matter the kind of report you give out or the conversations you engage in with your author, it needs to be honest, if you think the plot is weak or - heaven forbid - has some major holes that need fixing then you need to say so, if you feel that a certain character is one dimensional then you need to tell your author and if you love or hate the whole thing then you need to explain why.
The point of a beta reader is not to go through your manuscript with a fine tooth comb and pull up all your mistakes (that's what proof readers are for) although if they do point out one or two big ones here or there it can't hurt. A beta reader is there to be your controlled first impression; they give you feedback on what they thought of the plot and characters, they give you insight as to how your readers might interpret different themes, how they may feel about certain scenes and help you see your story from an outside perspective - they are your test subjects and your book is the experiment - it's a safe way to get an idea of what you can expect from your readership and it is absolutely necessary.
Once you've written your first draft and edited it, it's ready for someone to read (definitely NOT a potential publisher) you should trust these people enough to keep anything you send them to themselves and to give you honest feedback. I say people because feedback from your best friend in the whole world is not enough to gauge what kind of experience your readership is going to have.
Your beta readers need to, ideally, be a part of your genre specific target audience, if you've written a high fantasy novel of 100,000 words, don't expect someone who likes romantic novellas to get through the whole thing, be fair. I gave my first draft of The Chronicles of Jackal and Rabbit to 6 different people, the book is a romantic suspense for new adults, my beta readers comprised of 3 women and 3 men between the ages of 19 and 27. Other than an underlying romance, there is a lot of action that happens in my story and I knew women would love it but I wasn't sure about how guys would take it so I felt it was necessary to get a perspective from both genders, this was a good decision because the feedback I got was so different between the men and woman and yet so helpful for different reasons, I was thus able to adjust elements of my story accordingly which I would not have been able to do without my betas.
My last bit of advice for writers who have betas, and this is something I struggle with, is to be patient; people have lives, they have jobs and families and you need to respect their space, I can be a bit of a slave driver and struggle to curb my enthusiasm when waiting for responses, but if you want them to read for you again then you need to respect the little lab rats.
FOR READERS:
To be a good beta reader you need to not only be willing to read the book as quickly as possible but you need to be willing to give feedback to the writer, and I don't just mean "yeah it was good, I liked it," no, that will earn you a slap on the side of the head with the very heavy manuscript you just handed back, I'm talking about details, a chapter by chapter breakdown of what you love and hate.
This break down should be written (or texted) to your writer who is anxiously awaiting your comments, don't be shy to throw your emotion into your responses, reading is meant to generate an emotional response within people, that's why we do it, and the more visceral the emotion the happier your writer is going to be.
The following is an account of some of the experiences one of my best readers sends to me, she reads about three chapters at a time then sends her feedback for each in the form of her internal monologue, its great, I love reading her responses and she never holds back:
Chapter 7
Well this chapter just upset me
What the fuck are you thinking Rabbit??
That's all I've got to say...
next chapter please... just tell me she's not still gonna be this stupid!
Chapter 8
Man???black suit and tie??? gloved hands???
who the fuck is he??? David???
Jackal a giant oaf??? hahahaha I cant even imagine him pulling that one off...
Dammit my heart is in my throat...what if they get to Rabbit before he does???
FUUUUUCKKKK!!!!
Go Jackal!!! shove another Knife in him just for fun...
you're making my heart happy!!!
KABOOM MOTHERFUCKR!!
okay get the fuck out of there and go find Rabbit...
the suspense is killing me....
Chapter 9
My heart is thumping this chapter has me at the edge of my seat.
I literally feel like a AM Rabbit... THIS IS ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!
Chapter 13
Just seeing his name irritates me "David"
your little plans are long gone you asshole...
She got no one??? hahaha I'm glad you think so you worthless twat...
for fuck sakes he grates my tits
Rene, you are an absolute legend! I adore your responses, they have me laughing all the time!
Do you see what she's done? All I asked for was her genuine feelings to what she was reading, I didn't need a full book report and she gave me exactly that. Some of my other readers wait until the end and then spend some time writing their thoughts on the book as a whole, this is also helpful because while it is nice to have a blow by blow account of the emotional roller-coaster you go on, the book needs to also be viewed as a project in its entirety.
Another perspective from one of my male readers reminded me that it's as common for guys to fall in love with female characters as it is for woman to fall in love with male ones, Tarquin and I had a funny conversation that resulted in the above conclusion:
Tarquin: how long is Black's hair?
Me: Middle back (later added in a better description for this character thanks to this question)
Tarquin: long hair... fur coats... thick russian accent... probs 6'1
m o m m y !
Me: just nearly 6ft
Tarquin: would I be mogged by a cyka Russian princess?
Me: Mogged? And STOP CALLING MY LEAD"S ARCH NEMESIS A PRINCESS!
Tarquin: Mogged = outdone in my height, frame or alphaness.
(sorry i meant "QUEEN)
Me: she would own you, pup.
Tarquin: t-t-t-that would be n-n-n-nice!
Me: can you please stop falling in love with my fictional characters!
Tarquin: Maybe I could convince her and Ailith to have a threesome.
Me: go away.
This conversation although funny was great insight into the young male mind, having conversations with my beta's about my character's is very informative and helpful, and although in this instance he was only teasing (sort of) there were times where we had deep conversations about character motivations, which I cant share here because spoilers.
No matter the kind of report you give out or the conversations you engage in with your author, it needs to be honest, if you think the plot is weak or - heaven forbid - has some major holes that need fixing then you need to say so, if you feel that a certain character is one dimensional then you need to tell your author and if you love or hate the whole thing then you need to explain why.
Comments
Post a Comment