Editor's Notes: About Beta Readers

About Beta Readers:

Beta what? the second letter of the Greek alphabet — symbol B or β;   often attributive : a nearly complete prototype of a product (as software) not yet ready for commercial release (from Miriam-Webster.com) 

In a literary sense, beta readers are those who read and provide feedback on your manuscript before you proceed to the layout/printing phase of your book, be it indie or mainstream publishing. Alpha reader? That’s you, the author.

Who are they?

Beta readers can be anyone you like: your friends, your family, people you trust, people whose opinions you respect. Are you too nervous to expose your work to your family and friends? Join a writers association. They can be found everywhere. They exist to build up and support one another and to provided the much-needed feedback writers require to produce a good manuscript. Join a Facebook group focused on your specific genre. Just Google it. You will find more options than you will know what to do with. Many times these groups are far more helpful than your family and friends as they will tell you the truth, not prop up your ego.

Book Review: Ryan Chandler's Legacy

Book:  Ryan Chandler's: Legacy
Author:  Carlos King
Pages:   215
Format:  Kindle/ebook
Publisher:  Amazon Digital Services
Book Source:  Independent Purchase
Category:  Young Adult Fantasy
Style:  Fast-paced, easy reading, coming of age

Synopsis from Amazon:

If you thought your [life] was complicated, try finding out you’re the last descendant of a powerful alien bloodline. Created long ago as a device of warning, the Mayan Calendar has captivated millions around the world with its sophistication and uncanny accuracy to foresee galactic occurrences. What’s even more controversial than the calendar’s complexity is that after five thousand years of activity, it will abruptly expire on December 21, 2012. Sixteen-year-old Ryan learns that the end of the calendar will initiate the beginning stages of Armageddon. Humanity’s only chance for survival relies solely on him discovering the truth about who he really is, who his parents were, and why he’s destined to protect mankind.

My Take:

Ryan Chandler's Legacy is a story produced by a young writer from Indiana who does a good job of writing what he knows.  This tale includes touches of Harry Potter (orphaned in his infancy by parents' archenemy, raised without any knowledge of his past), Superman (rocketed off to an alien planet to be raised in safety), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (meets weird mentor guy whose mission it is to turn him into a super-human at an accelerated pace).

Note to Self: Speaking vs Communicating

A while back I picked up a Regency romance when the author briefly made it a freebie on Amazon.  As I've said previously, I had been attempting to classify My Father's Son and considered Regency Romance a probable genre.  (wrong wrong wrong)  I still haven't finished that book.   More still, I've read no fewer than 23 other books since I downloaded it.

The huge problem with this book (other than totally ignoring several social mores and the egregious consequences of flouting them) is the language.  The writer aims for Austen-esque language and way overshoots the mark.  And, I know it's not just me, because my #3 DIL kept reading passages to me out loud while she perused it on my Android.  (I really did want to know if it was just me being persnickety.)

It's the same problem I've seen in other Regency romances.  People try so hard to sound authentic in their phraseology and vocabulary, dropping topical names and slang and verbage, their words cease to communicate.  They become hurdles for the reader, and, no matter the dexterity of the literary athlete, sooner or later they're going to tire out. I read this book only when I had nothing but my phone in my hands. The plot is interesting, but I just can't take it in large doses before I start tearing out my hair.

The 150,000-Word Question

Recently, my good friends over on the iWriteNetwork Facebook group were tallying up how many words they had finished of their current work in progress.  Some proudly proclaimed thirty- or forty-thousand words, halfway to the acceptable number for the average novel, which is 80,000 words.  Woohoo!  They were on their way.

I got to thinking, hmmm.  I wonder how far I am.  Now, (until I transfer it all over to yWriter5) each chapter of mine is a separate WordPerfect file (the one true word processor and victim of the great apostasy), so I painstakingly cut and past all 25 chapters into one big long document and then hit the word count button.  [drum roll please!]  I about fainted when it topped out at 149,000 words.

This is a problem.  This is a really, really big problem because I'm only halfway finished with this first installment of my series.  Did I mention that the plot of My Father's Son is so complex wrangling it into submission is like making a dozen two-year-olds dance a waltz?  (Sidebar:  it includes all the plot that has absolutely nothing to do with P&P and easily transferred over from The Famous Mrs. Darcy.)

Note to Self: It's the Story, Stupid!

Recently I've been asking myself this vital question:  am I a writer? or a storyteller?  I think the answer at this point is writer.  I want to be a storyteller.  But primarily, I want to be both.  Not all authors are.

One of my favorite adaptations of
Dickens' Oliver Twist

Let's face it.  Some of the best storytellers in the English language were deplorable writers.  Charles Dickens could not structure a sentence properly to save his life.  As an editor, I writhe in agony reading his grammar. I marvel that he got away with structuring his story arcs as he did, writing for periodicals notwithstanding.  But, as a storyteller, he was second to none.  He knew how to captivate, to compel, to reach into a person's gut, grab hold and twist—and leave them begging for more.

Note to Self: Somebody Always Notices

The Fatal Flaw

I read a book once with an interesting plot line (familiar premise but with plenty of originality in the treatment), likable characters, and wonderfully flawed protagonists with plenty of room for improvement.  The writer's style is fluid and very readable.  I have a terrible habit of picking apart grammar skills if the story fails to engage me.  However, this book drew me in and I escaped the plague of terminal editing.

Book Reviews: Elephants of Style and Lapsing into a Comma by Bill Walsh

Book:  Elephants of Style: A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary English Author:  Bill Walsh Pages:  238 Format: Paperback Publisher:  McGraw-Hill Book Source:  Independent Purchase Category:  Language Arts/Reference Style:  Funny, smart & eminently readable

Book:  Lapsing Into a Comma:  A Curmudgeon's Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print—and How To Avoid  Them Author:  Bill Walsh Pages:  256 Format: Paperback Publisher:  McGraw-Hill Book Source:  Independent Purchase Category:  Language Arts/Reference Style:  Funny, smart & readable

Okay.  I can hear you already.  You think I've lost my mind in calling a book funny that's about the do's and don't's of Style (meaning, where to underline titles, where to italicize them, how and when to use acronyms, etc., etc., etc.).  I can't really say that I disagree.  It is crazy.  But, Mr. Walsh manages to pull it off.

As a stickler for correctness and very old school when it comes to dangling participles and split infinitives, not to mention the whole issue of constantly morphing comma usage, I find myself wandering through mine fields of doubt when writing in a contemporary voice.  American English is not what it was fifty or even thirty years ago when I was diagramming sentences in sophomore English.  We've loosened up.  We've accommodated change.  Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is a matter for debate, but it is so, and so we adapt or become obsolete.