Category: writing

Beta Readers–Yes, You Need Them

Beta Readers are Your Friends

Last week, I posted about the importance of finding a critique group. This week I want to discuss a related item–getting beta readers for your work.

A beta reader improves your writing in many ways:

  • They can tell you “what’s working” and “what needs improvement”
  • They catch spelling and grammar mistakes
  • They can catch plot holes and logical inconsistencies that you’re “invisible” to
  • They may catch inadvertent racism, sexism, ableism, etc.

If you’re a new writer, you’ll find that there is always a slight disconnect between what you think you’ve written or intend, and what readers will glean.

In the Eye of the Beholder

You may write what you think is the perfect fight scene. Perhaps you love fight scenes in books, and have read hundreds.

Once you give that scene to beta readers, you may find it’s not so perfect after all. One reader may tell you it sounds clichéd. Another may have weapons experience, and tell you that there’s no way your protagonist would have that kind of firearm on them. Another may note that the human body could not do the moves you described.

It is important that you be open to any feedback you receive. It doesn’t mean you have to take all of it, but you need to learn to put your ego aside and accept that your beta readers are picking up on things other readers might as well.

Finding Beta Readers

You will find that most people feel honored to be asked to beta read your work. Ask members of your household, classmates, friends. If you are a member of a writers’ group you have built-in beta readers there. You could also ask in a Facebook group devoted to your genre, if you belong to one.

Ideally, you’ll want another writer to read your work, along with one or two people who like the genre you write. Having an editor or grammar nerd is also helpful.

Now, go forth and write!

 

Necessary Writing Tools

I meant to post this on November 1, when NaNoWriMo–National Novel Writing Month–began. NaNoWriMo leads writers through a month of intensive creation, culminating with a draft novel, or 50,000 words spread across other projects.

I’m not participating in NaNoWriMo per se–I’ve tried in the past and I always fall short, and it gives me the sads 🙁   I’ve been trying to write more, though, in between my editing gig.

When I have my writing tools, I’m more successful. My primary writing space is a three-season porch, which creates some difficulties beginning around November:

  • It’s cold
  • I get cold easily
  • The wood-burning stove is in the living room’
  • Did I mention I get cold?

Despite its lack of perfection, I love the porch because it’s sunny and it’s filled with my stuff. If I’m surrounded by the right tools, I find I can still manage to write out here fairly well.

isis_computer
Necessary writing tool. (This is Isis–her littermate, Anubis, was sitting on the back of my chair with his head in my neck.)

The things on my must-have list for writing out here include:

  • Coffee warmer, to keep the coffee hot (or other hot beverage of your choice.  The writer’s fuel. )
  • Portable heater, pretty self-explanatory. Someday I’ll have more money and maybe I’ll get a faux fireplace out here…
  • Cats.
  • Not pictured because not pulled out yet–fingerless gloves and thick wool socks.

The most important thing you can do is find what works for you!

 

 

Acceptances!

I wanted to give a brief update on some recent work I’ve had accepted.

My poem “That Witch We Dread” will be part of the New England Horror Writers Upcoming Anthology, Wicked Witches. The anthology release date is (when else?) on October 31, 2016.

I’ve just signed the contact for my horror short story, Traitorous, Lying, Little Star, to be reprinted by Digital Fiction Publishing. I don’t have the ETA on that yet.

In writing news… I’m STILL revising my horror/scifi novelette, Vegetables, and I have a cat-themed short story in progress for an anthology by Pole to Pole Publishing.

Lots of good stuff happening… 🙂

 

I’ll be a Panelist at Ro-Con This Weekend

Those of you who follow me on Facebook know it’s been a dicey week… but I’m happy to say that after fearing I might not be able to go to Ro-Con after all, all lights are green!

I’m now cramming a week’s worth of preparation into a 24-hour period, so this post will be brief!

Ro-Con, “Celebrating All Things Geek and Wonderful,” is taking place this weekend, July 22-24, in Mystic, CT. (Register here if you’re interested in attending, onsite registrations accepted as well.)

Here’s my panel schedule:

 

9pm Friday

Feminism: What’s It All About Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert, Dee Carter, Kate Kaynak

10am, Saturday

How to Be a Good Panelist Chion Wolf, Justine Graykin, Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert, roberta Rogow

11am Sunday

Scifi/Fantasy as Religion Kate Kaynak, Jeff Mach, Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert

Normally, I’d be participating in the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading (happening Saturday at noon) but I am headed out of the con for a few hours for a mini family reunion also happening on Saturday. If you’re at the con, definitely go check out the reading 🙂

My husband Ari is a panelist as well, and he’ll be on “How Can They Believe That?” and “SF/F/H TV in the 70s and 80s.”

There will also be a variety of workshops on topics such as self-defensive, submitting your writing and other writing workshops, costuming, and science-related roundtables. And there will be some gaming throughout.

I hope to see you there! I can be shy at cons, but if you see me don’t hesitate to reach out and say “hi.” Oh, and I’ll have some of my books with me for sale 🙂

 

Doors Close, Doors Open

About a week and a half ago I wrote a blog post in which I pretty much laid myself bare. I was brutally honest about several things–some pertaining to me and some that speak more to the experience of being a middle-aged woman.

The response to that post was amazing. I linked to it on Facebook, and the comments were affirming and heartwarming. At least a half-dozen people privately messaged me to share their own thoughts and experiences.  One person messaged me to ask if he could share the post with his wife, who teaches a Women’s Studies course (I said yes.) Although some of my family members did not react completely positively to the post, and it was scary as hell for me to be that honest, all in all it was a positive experience. It really caused me to turn a corner I’d been needing to turn.

I’d certainly peeked around the corner several times, but had never fully stepped out. That post was my stepping out. That post was the moment I really embraced the label writer and decided I was going to stop being so afraid to fail at the writing thing.* Although the post was about other things as well (finding myself without paid work, being middle-aged and overweight and knowing how society views that), at a deep, personal level I shifted. I shifted from hoping I could be a writer to deciding I would be one.

It feels good.

As a result of that post, another amazing thing happened. I was offered an editing gig. It’s part-time for now, and I’m technically a contractor (which is how I’ve been employed for my last several jobs anyway, minus the Barnes & Noble stint.) But I’ve been wanting to do real editing work for many years, and I love the idea of helping other authors achieve their dreams. I’m really excited about this! It will also inform my own writing, and show me more of the publishing cycle.

I’ll be editing for Tulip Romance, currently a small start up. The owner previously owned another press, however, so she knows her stuff!

I hope you’ll visit occasionally to see where this road takes me 🙂

* I will also be blogging more frequently. Some of it will be the keeping-it-real type stuff like last time, and some will be humorous. I’ll post periodic updates on my own writing as well.

 

 

Despair

This is a science fiction short story, still in progress.

 

On March 11, at 1:18 pm EST, ghostly apparitions of humans appeared at power plants, transformer stations, and random substations all over the planet. CNN was the first major news outlet to report the occurrences, although people took to Facebook, twitter, Friendster, Orkut, and Renren to report the sightings about thirteen minutes earlier than CNN.

People quickly discovered that photos didn’t capture the spectral bodies, so Instagram was largely useless in spreading the news.

Monica was sitting in her home office in Boston, fighting with a new WordPress template for a client’s blog when her cell phone buzzed. Caller ID indicated it was ex-boyfriend-turned-best-friend, Li Qiang, who preferred to go by the name “Lee.” They’d met in Boston five years ago when she was at Emerson studying journalism and he MIT. He’d moved to California about two years ago, but they remained close.

“Monica! Did you hear? Isn’t this amazing? Me and the guys, er—and gals, are having quite a party here, trying to figure out what’s going on. Wanna watch? Open a page to our webcam.”

“Of course I know! You know me… always connected to the Internet.” Monica struggled to keep her phone from slipping out between her head and shoulder. Why hadn’t she just put Lee on speakerphone? Her fingers danced across her keyboard as she retweeted several tweets, then opened up yet another browser window and clicked the bookmarked URL to Lee’s webcam at Caltech, where he worked in the Physics department as an experimental physicist. “Gottcha,” she said as the page opened and she picked up the live view of one of Lee’s colleagues talking about the multiverse.

“So, what’s the ‘net saying?” Lee asked. We’re pretty focused on a scientific explanation here.”

“So far we have astral projection, ghosts, and aliens.”

“The expected fare… well listen, I have to run, but you know I’ll keep you posted.”

“And me you,” Monica said as a tweet caught her attention, “talk to you soon.”