Beta readers are the first people,
other than yourself, to read your work. Typically, these are people
you trust. You give them your completed manuscript and a deadline,
and they return it to you with comments.
This is harder than it sounds, for a
large number of reasons.
The first time I sent my work to
beta-readers, I sent it to six people, and asked for feedback in four
months. Two got it back to me on time, one got it back to me a month
late, and the other three didn't return it at all.
This is an issue; if you're counting on
six views, and you only get three, it can be a problem. More is
better, to a point. This can be more or less a problem depending on
who you send your work to
and what sort of
environment you're sending it to them in.
If
you're sending it to a writer in a critique group used to giving
critiques, you'll probably get it back on time. If you're sending it
to your friend who does fanfiction, it's a bit more iffy. If you're
sending it to someone whose aunt has cancer, who just lost their job,
who... I think you get the idea. When you send your work out, try to
know the people you're sending it to for their ability to get it
back. No point in sending it out and never getting it back.
When
you send your work to beta-readers, you want people whose opinions
you trust, but who you can ignore safely.
Four
years ago, I let my family read my writing. They had been bothering
me about it regularly for years, and I figured that would shut them
up. I told them, very specifically, that it was an old story I was no
longer working on. I did not need comments about it. And yet, my
father criticized the subject matter, my mother told me she got
confused at every third chapter, and to this day my sister still
brings up how she
would have written that plot. They are very difficult to ignore.
Now,
some people's parents and relatives will be great beta-readers;
they'll be able to shut up. But if your parents are like mine, or if
your mother's going to do nothing but gush about how wonderful it
is... you may want to pass.
Most
of my beta-readers are fellow writers from an online writer's group.
I have known all of them for over a year, and have read their
writing, so I know their comments will be accurate, and I trust what
they say. One beta-reader I had once suggested that the story would
be better if I changed it from 'Woman finds lost child' to 'Zombie
Apocalypse'. Not helpful; they don't beta-read for me any more, and I
don't trust their opinion one bit.
You
always want more than one beta-reader, but quantity is not always
better than quality.
Here's
the thing: by the time you send this out to people, it should already
be edited. You'll want to argue with their comments. No, I'm not
talking about spelling errors, I'm saying someone might find the love
interest a bore. When this is published, you can't follow the reader
around, yelling at them that they just don't get it, but it's easy to
ignore the advice of one person.
If
you have two beta-readers, and one of them loves the love interest,
and the other finds him a bore, you can ignore the advice... but if
they agree that it's stupid for him to turn into a mouse after his
first kiss, listen. These are people you trust, remember. Agreeing.
If
you have three people, and the third doesn't make any comment at all
on the love interest, but also finds the mouse thing stupid, you
really need to fix it.
And,
of course, all of them will find at least one problem that the others
missed.
The
thing is, after a point, too many views can be confusing. Most of my
beta-readers put their comments right into the computer document and
send them back to me; I've compiled-- sometimes by hand-- all their
comments into one document to read simultaneously. When two people
disagreed on the very first sentence, I spent at least an hour trying
to figure out if I should fix it, and if I should, whose advice I
should agree with-- they both wanted it changed, but in different
ways. The third didn't comment on that. If I had four comments on
that sentence, all disagreeing, would it be easier? How about six?
Eight? Sometimes, less is more.
There
are more reasons for good beta-readers, but those are the first to
come to mind for me. You'll find more as you go.
Happy
Writing,
-Alaina
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