Beta Reading At The Writers Bloc Part 2

Sam van Zweden, the editor at The Writers Bloc, asked me to write a check list to help readers workshop writing. Late last month the first of two articles, Beta Reading as Translation, went up. Today, the companion piece, A Practical Guide to Beta Reading, is live.

The last few months with the Magic Puppies (yes, my writing is group’s name is abbreviated to ‘magic puppies’) has given me new insights into beta reading. Even so, these articles have been the hardest non-fiction I’ve written in some time: trying to quantify, qualify and then articulate what is often a gut feeling informed by time, experience and the story at hand.

Today’s article covers etiquette, basics, a six-point frame of focus for looking at problem areas and an extended list of questions that can be used by beta readers as a guide for deeper deconstruction of work or for authors to assist in constructing a beta reading brief.

From A Practical Guide to Beta Reading:

Beta reading is the truthful evaluation of a story’s effectiveness.

• Beta reading is a request from an author for assistance to improve their story.
• It provides the author with an overview of what is working and not working in the story.
• It is framed as an opinion and is only one of many on the story. Adding a caveat at the bottom will reinforce this.
• Opinion is always influenced by taste and experience. Biases need to be transparent.
• There is no place for ego gratification or back-slapping.

You can read the full article and get the extended downloadable question guide here.

Writing Around The Block

I have an article up at The Writer’s Bloc today, the first non-fiction piece I’ve written in a long time.

Editor, Samantha van Zweden asked me several months ago if I would be interested in writing about collaborative partnerships, given that not many authors did it and I’d been neck deep in them for a while.

I go through a little of what’s good, bad and potentially ugly. And there’s a couple of photos of what it looks like to work collaboratively (it’s all about the feet, hands and random bits of paper!)

Many thanks to Adam and Rus who helped me brain storm the initial dot points and looked over early drafts of it. Thanks also to Stacey who gave me the nod to talk about our work-in-progress.

Have you ever considered a collaborative writing partnership? If not, why not?