A Follow Up on Beta Readers

 

I mentioned that during When Words Collide Kate and I sat on a panel called Beta Readers, Critique Partners, and More. I hope it was informative for those in the audience because it definitely sparked points for me. I also covered Beta Readers in a post in December, which I edited slightly and re-posted here.

I feel like I didn’t get a chance to clarify myself as well as I would have liked during the panel. I still maintain what I said in the posts I linked to, but I have more to add. So here goes in no particular order.

One, beta readers and critique partners can never take the place of a professional edit. And I do believe that a solid edit should be done to each and every piece you write. But I also think the length of your work should factor in here. If you’ve written a full length book –YES, get an editor. A novella –yes, again. A lengthy short story –this depends on you: are you a relatively clean writer and a good self-editor? Even if the answer is yes to both parts of that question, I recommend at least one other set of eyes. Flash fiction and shorter short stories also depend on you, ask yourself that same question.

As far as the type of editor you need, that’s a good question to ask our resident editor! Because there are definitely different types of editors and you may need one more than the other or all of them

Two, it can take years to assemble a critique group or find reliable beta readers. Like many aspects of writing, connecting with people who will provide the feedback you need and want will take trial and error. I do suggest going to online forums and interacting with people. One of my best beta readers is a woman I met online. We connected over our love of reading and many other things we have in common. She’s turned into a good, supportive friend who is willing and excited to give me her time.

Funny story: I sent a story to her and another person who will remain nameless unless they want to name themselves. The nameless person is a writer and avid reader whereas my friend is purely a reader. In the opening of the story, pre-edit, my main character sticks her hands in a pond of acid and then takes a sip. Immediately her esophagus is burned and her clothes. But not her hands. I didn’t see it, neither did the other writer. The reader, however, was baffled by the lack of logic. Once it was pointed out I couldn’t stop laughing, by the way.

This leads me to my third and final point, don’t just use other writers as beta readers. Readers and writers approach stories differently and thus see different things. I use both because I want a comprehensive response. In my story above, writer-friend was looking for writerly things I asked her to look for: parts to cut because the piece was too long, character development, plot, plausible conclusion, and general construction. Reader-friend was there to let me know if the piece was engaging and whether she cared about the people involved. Her engagement made fallacies pop out for her.

Four, you can absolutely write without beta readers and/or critique partners. Your process is 100% up to you. I urge you to explore so that you can figure out what does and doesn’t work for you, but if even one option (aside from the editor) makes you anxious, don’t do it. You want to use just an editor, go for it. If you get a lot out of a critique group, all the power to you. If you want to use beta readers and editors, that’s awesome.

I’ve done those three combinations for various projects. My experience with critique groups is not conventional since mine involved 8-month-long creative writing classes where I didn’t get to select my critique partners. I learned a lot, but I realized this year at WWC that I’m perfectly ok not having a critique group at this point in my life. For starters, they’re time consuming. I also live far away from all the other writers I know. They’re also stressful, in a good way. Yet, they make you extremely accountable and they force you to produce. Plus, giving feedback on other peoples work is ILLUMINATING. I’ve sometimes grown more from reading other people’s rough drafts then I have from hearing feedback from them. Seeing my own bad habits in other’s work brings it home.

Long and short of my personal experience, I’m happy with beta readers and editors right now. I want to amass more beta readers but that’s going to take time. And I’m not in need of an editor’s services right now. Not because I think I don’t need one. I don’t have anything to be edited!

As a side note, I’m going to talk about writing groups at some point. Critique groups and writing groups can be synonymous but they aren’t in my world.

Let me know if I didn’t cover something, you disagree, or have something to add. This is a topic I could talk about for hours.

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