For the un-agented writer, beta readers are huge (linking again to Sherrie's posts all about betas). For the agented and even published writer, well, they use beta readers, too. And I've learned from that. At the moment, I'm waist deep in reading a friend's soulful, sexy and sometimes heartbreaking book. Totally obvious why an agent snatched it up. Also, totally obvious that the work doesn't end just because someone has said, "I love this book. I can sell it." I've appreciated watching my friends with agents (and even editors) push themselves harder and keep on revising until they're sure their work represents their very best effort. Their example is a gift to me.
But in exchange for the 240,000 words I've read and critiqued since 2011 began, I've also been given the gift of people reading MY work. These writers have sifted through various drafts of my manuscript, pulled weedy words, typed happy faces into the margins, or given me notes like, "Totally not buying this!" They confirmed that I needed to cut pages from the beginning, rewrite the murky middle, "hotten up" the romance and intensify the emotional plot. In short, they've been brutally honest and incredibly generous.
I didn't post goals for 2011, but I've got them: dig deeper, work harder, read more. I haven't been around the blog-o-sphere much because, well, see the photos; you'll get that I've been working on these goals. I have, however, happily discovered a few amazing things via the Internet and blogging friends. One is Darcy Pattison's Shrunken Manuscript revision technique. Another was the third Save the Cat Book and the last is the book, The Hero Within, by Carol S. Pearson, Ph.D. Hopefully, it'll be helpful in learning about character archetypes. I found this book via R.L. LaFever's blog. I've mentioned before that LaFever's posts are a gold mine for writers. PURE GOLD. Dig around over there. Happy Writing and Happy Living, friends.
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| My entire novel to review using the "Shrunken Manuscript" technique. |
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| All Marked Up! The middle section needed to be rewritten, so seeing what would go where was super helpful. And, I think, by Jove, I got it. |
12 comments:
Whenever I write a love letter, I get a Cease And Desist Order in the mail.
Sincerely,
Romantically Challenged
Love my alpha - An on-line crit partner and I have agreed to give each other a chapter a week - and it's helping me to keep writing as I work on my rough draft.
That shrunken manuscript idea is interesting, but if you have the font so small how do you read it to know what's where. Do you mark things before you print?
Romantically Challenged,
I see a jilted lover story in your future. Or a crime novel. Gulp. :)
Mary,
I used a magnifying glass if I wanted to read in detail, but could read the print enough (and the chapter headings) to see where things were. Then, I wrote my notes in big letters and created an outline of what happened in every scene. It was good in terms of seeing where I had talking head dialog (broken up w/no action), one character on the page too much, etc. Highly recommend it!
You're mark-ups are tidy. My mark-ups look like a red-pen went wacko on the page.
Sincerely,
Jilted Java
oooh Lori I really love this post. Thanks for the technique!
And Mary already asked the question I was going to ask. I'm almost legally blind and my writing career is probably coming at a detriment to my retinas.
Thanks, Sophia! I was in a crit. group with a legally blind writer. Thank goodness for advances in technology; but something to stave off carpal tunnel would be nice.
Seriously? You've read a quarter of a million words this year already? I'm actually kind of scared to tally mine...!
Love the clever title of this post! I, too, am very, very grateful for beta readers -- and feel lucky my words were among the lucky 240,000:-)
Kristen: I was the lucky one there! Actually, all of the books I read I would have paid money for.
Sherrie: You rock as a beta reader. I'm sure people seek you out. I do!
I'm a Delta reader.
Sincerely,
Δ
I love the shrunken manuscript technique! One thing I do with it is color-code my subplots by drawing lines beside each scene with colored markers. That way I can see which subplots get abandoned for too long and which ones get too much airplay.
Thanks for stopping by, Helen. Great idea for the subplots. For this version, I wish I'd photographed it with the middle covered over because I cut 15,000 words!
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