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.

Guest Post: Showing Emotion In Dialogue-heavy Scenes

I decided I wanted my first guest post to be a special one, so I invited Angela Ackerman, author and blogger full of all sorts of of wonderful tips and tricks to bring life to your writing to grace these pages.  (Note:  I was going to scatter this excellent article with images of Collin Firth doing his silent-but-oh-so-expressive Darcy best, but then thought Angela's excellent words should to the talking.)  Enjoy! 

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Showing Emotion In Dialogue-heavy Scenes

Very few things pull people in like conversation. After all, when someone speaks, they are making themselves vulnerable to others. How? Because words are steeped in thoughts, beliefs and emotions. They have meaning. Power.

When I talk to someone, what I’m really doing is sharing a piece of myself with them. And they in turn listen, weigh my words, and then judge me by what I say. It’s a bit intimidating when you think about it, which is why most people think carefully about what to share, and what to hold back. Protecting ourselves from feeling exposed is instinctive, because it is tied to survival.

This creates a big problem for writers trying to form realistic dialogue scenes. Our goal is for readers to pick up on the thought process and emotions of a character so they can understand motives. But if dialogue is too honest, and characters share too much about what they feel, the conversation will ring false. Add this to the complication of Point of View (where the reader is not always privy to a character’s direct thoughts) and suddenly showing emotion becomes extra challenging!

So how do we show readers what a character is really feeling when they don’t say it in dialogue?

The answer of course, is body language.

Editor's Notes: The Who, What and Why of Producing A Book

NOTE: With my new position as editor-in-chief at Xchyler Publishing, I've found myself writing a lot of correspondence, explanations, and outlines of the procedures required to create a book. One memo in particular that went out to employees and authors consumed far too much of my day, and since it's pertinent to this blog, I thought I'd make the most of the effort and post it here as well.  Double-duty? Sure. Wise utilization of resources? Absolutely.

The College Interns, the Gatekeepers:

Euphemistically called "editorial assistants", these screeners are very important for lots of reasons, but especially because they may mean failure or success for both author and publishing house. Consider the first eleven editorial assistants swamped under slush piles who rejected J.K. Rowling's query for Harry Potter. You can be dang sure they've been kicking themselves for almost twenty years. (It's kind of scary, actually, to think of our fates in the hands of unpaid college interns).

Interns screen the initial query letters sent by authors, which usually contain a short jacket-flap blurb, an overall outline usually 1-2 pages long, and the first 10,000 words or three chapters of the manuscript. Hopefully, with much guidance and mentoring, the interns decide to either ask for the full or partial manuscript, send them a rejection notice, or invite them to revise and resubmit. For R&Rs, the publisher does not agree to publish but will reconsider the manuscript if the author brings their skills up a notch or three.

Marketing:

If the manuscript shows promise, Marketing and Editorial then get together and decide if there is a market for the book. If positive, the author is presented with an offer, then a contract, and everything goes into action. Working with the author, they will also decide on a release date for the book. Several factors will influence this, including but not limited to seasonal trends and genre. Books need fresh releases when people who buy them are in the mood to spend.

Fun Flash Fic Free-for-all

Although I spent my childhood hundreds of miles away from them, some of my fondest memories center on my grandmothers. Each summer when we traveled from southern California to Utah to visit my father and stepmother, in addition to sleepovers with my father's mother, Carol Haskell, we would spend a night or two with Mary Neves, my stepfather's mother who accepted us as unconditionally as did he.  Both women had that special knack of spreading joy and emanating sunshine, going overboard to spoil us, and making each grandchild feel like their favorite.  For each, music helped define their soul and they, in turned, endowed their grandchildren with the same gift.

My Grandma Haskell could play on the piano anything you asked her.  She always shared a wealth of wonderful old-timey tunes full of plucky harmonies and jaunty rhythm—the popular tunes of the 1920s and 1930s that evoke flat straw hats, beaver coats and old jalopies in my heart.  Self-taught, she played by ear.  I think I remember her telling me she couldn't read a note of music, but that's probably muddled because I can't imagine her not tackling anything she set her mind to.  But, then again, perhaps she didn't set her mind to it because she could play by ear so well.  

Always, always she sang along in her big, lusty voice, unabashedly sharing the talents with which she was blessed.  Met with joyful strains of organ music and hearty vocals spilling from the house, we'd hurry inside because we knew Grandma came over, whether or not her big old whatever-it-was (an Impala?) stood in the drive.

My Grandma Neves' style of music differed from my Grandma Haskell as much as did their personalities.  She had been more classically trained, but like Grandma Haskell, provided the foundation of a stage band at various points in their lives.  They were natural born entertainers.

Grandma Neves also could play on the piano anything asked of her.  More still, she kept us rambunctious, unruly hellions occupied with a particular game we loved.  She would sit at the piano and the child would plunk out three notes.  Then, Grandma would compose on the fly, using those three sequential notes as the theme to her music.  Even as I write, I hear her jaunty tunes and see her hands bouncing up and down the keyboard, the wry smile on her face when she eyed us as she played, as if saying, "You'll have to do better than that to stump me."  (Sorry.  I just can't make my Grandma Neves say "Is that all you got?!")  Even when we'd jump all over the keyboard with our note selections, Grandma came through.  Some of her funnest music came as a result of her grandchildren's discordance.

There is actually a literary point to this little excursion down memory lane,  besides to tell the world how wondrous my grandmothers were.  I'm learning to love flash fiction as an important exercise in writing only the bare essentials.  My goal is to be confident enough to submit my stuff to FridayFlash.org, a writing community that shares and encourages flash fiction.  The problem is, I can't come up with anything to write about.  So, I thought I'd take a lesson from my grandma's theory book, but I'll need your help.

It goes like this:  in the comments below or on my Facebook page, give me three words, a noun, a verb, and a place.  If you like, toss in an inanimate object and a adjective, e.g. rushed or harried.  Then, I'll take your words and create a story comprising of 250-750 words and leave them as a response.  Then, if you're really inspired, try writing a bit of flash fic for others' comments.  I'll publish the best on Flash Fiction Friday.  Here's a fun link I just found to provide even more inspiration.

So, dive in!  Here's where you can leave a comment with absolutely nothing to say.  Pull the words out the either or a random pointer in a book or a web page.  Sounds like fun to me.  Don't forget to follow the the comments to see if you have stumped me.

Note to Self: Never Underestimate the Value of a Good Editor

D2 (my #2 son) has accomplished something I never have.  He's received a rejection letter.  He wrote a very original piece of speculative fiction that I've never before seen treated, with some great ideas and choice humor.  Okay.  To be fair, I thought it was choice, as did his wife, Lynda.  His brother and sister-in-law thought not so much, but then, they don't "get" him like we do.  (Okay.  Nobody gets him like we do).  Still, D2's book was so him.  It was funny.  And thought-provoking.  And original.

But, it wasn't ready for publication or even a query letter, and he knows it.  He hasn't let the rejection from Thor discourage him.  He's considering rewriting it from scratch now that he's older and wiser.  He's just been too busy being a husband, father, and full-time post-graduate student to devote any time to his passion, writing.

Being his mother as I am, I want him to succeed.  I want the entire world to know how brilliant he is.  (Did I mention he's halfway through a second book that is absolutely fabulous?)  While I was driving to Austin with him a couple weeks back, we had a discussion about self-publishing.  It went something like this:

iWriteNetwork

This morning while trolling around for something to write about, I wandered on over to iWriteNetwork and listened to Canda Mortensen interview Tamara Hart Heiner about her books Perilous and soon-to-be-released Altercation.  They used BlogTalkRadio, which is a spiffy setup and a great way to draw participants to your blog.

iWriteNetwork is an online community of writers, primarily women; its board members living along the Wasatch Front in Utah.  The membership is still relatively small (under 200), but seems to be growing quickly.

In addition to BlogTalkRadio, it has lots of features to add interest, such as user pages, forums, photos, videos, groups, and live chat.  Members control privacy by making and approving friend requests which limit access to their personal page.  The subjects of discussion groups range from romance/women's fiction to inspirational to personal memoirs.

Besides being a good place to network with other writers, I find the community helpful for bouncing ideas, asking questions, receiving guidance, and making friends.  The chat room provides real-time contact and interchange.   iWriteNetwork also provides lots of information on what is going on in the writing world, including activities, competitions, seminars, and writing conferences.

Membership is free, the atmosphere warm and supportive, but, like any specialized community, you have to learn some unique vernacular.  A Facebook group provides an additional platform for interaction.  For fledgling writers just getting their feet wet, it's a comfy little pond to strike out into. 

—A Chaotic Mind

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.