Ask a Published Author: “Should I let my friends read my work-in-progress?"

Ari Marmell wrote his first novel while studying at the University of Houston, one that he now charitably calls a “learning experience." Today, Ari works as a novelist and a freelance writer for roleplaying games. He lives in Austin with his wife, George, and two cats.

Do you let other people like friends read your novels while you’re still working on the first draft or before you’ve edited at all? Is it helpful or unhelpful to do so? — Anonymous

This is one of those things that, like outlining, is going to work very differently for different people. In my case, yes. I usually let a couple of people—chosen from a group consisting of my wife, my sister, and a few close, trusted friends—read each chapter as it’s done. It can be a bit nerve-wracking.

Trusting your beta-readers to be honest isn’t enough. You need to trust them to be able to construct their feedback helpfully, and to recognize that this is a rough draft and judge accordingly. And you can ask different things of them: I get better plot feedback from some readers, better feedback about narrative/descriptive flow from others, and so forth.

I’ve gotten a lot of valuable feedback, been made aware of mistakes and plot holes… I recommend you at least give it a shot. If you decide you just don’t like doing so, you can certainly stop, but the rewards are worth the attempt.

Next week’s head counselor will be James R. Strickland, Wrimo, and author of science-fiction and cyberpunk novels, including  Looking Glass .

Ask him your questions here!