Joy Crain asked Melanie Dickerson:

Hi Melanie, today I just finished what could potentially be my first novel and I'm not quite sure who to go give it to for suggestions. I've read that you shouldn't give it to your family members first. I have a person lined up who is a relative stranger but I'm not sure what to do. What do you think I should do?

Melanie Dickerson Hi, Joy! If I were you, I'd be very cautious who I gave my first book to at this point, for one reason--you don't want someone saying crushing and unhelpful things about your book, discouraging you or perhaps giving you wrong information and bad advice.
To keep that from happening, you would want to give the book only to someone you trust to be helpful and kind. But I really want to emphasize this: You will want to make sure you have revised and edited your book, and read plenty of online articles and books on writing, so that you know how to discern good advice from bad.
I have a list of trusted and helpful blogs and websites, as well as books, that I recommend. I recommend studying the craft of writing by reading these and applying what you learn to your writing, and getting involved in a writers organization like ACFW, American Christian Fiction Writers. Once you have learned what the common, newbie mistakes are, and have read and implemented how to revise and self-edit your work, then I would suggest joining a critique group. This is what I did. I studied writing and how to get published for several years, I joined ACFW, I joined critique groups, and I worked hard--and prayed hard. I had written, and self-edited, four books by the time I got a contract with an agent and then a publisher.
Here are some blogs on my list, which I encourage you to read:

http://seekerville.blogspot.com/

http://www.killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthor...

http://writerunboxed.com/

And here are some great books:
The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman
Goal, Motivation, and Conflict by Debra Dixon
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne and King
Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass
The First 50 Pages by Jeff Gerke
Go Teen Writers by Williamson and Morrill

And there are so many more websites and books, but these are fantastic.
So those are my suggestions based on what I did. I wish you all the best with all your writing endeavors! God bless.

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