IWSG: Best Beta Partner

 It's that time again . . . 

This Month's Question: If you could choose one author, living or dead, to be your beta partner, who would it be and why?

My Answer: First, I'm assuming "beta partner" is equivalent to "beta reader"?? Because a critique partner is someone who helps tear apart early drafts of your manuscript to help improve it, and a beta reader is someone who reads the first "finished" (polished and amazing) draft to give feedback on the overall plots and character arcs. (I would never replace my current critique partners - they're the best ever. So, I feel like this is a trick question.) But if I can keep my critique partners and just have a new beta reader . . . hmm . . .  I would choose Dean Koontz. Yup.

How about you? Who would you want to read your manuscript prior to publication?