beta reading and editing

A Progress Report

beta reading and editing, new books, Status Update Leave a comment

I want to update friends and family to the status of my current project, the novel All the Bodies Do. Since the story begins in Las Vegas, my wife wisely suggested we take a trip there for research. It was a wonderful idea because it lent more authenticity to my descriptions of the city and the surrounding desert. The picture above is the so-called “bathtub ring” around Lake Mead, left as the lake receded to its lowest level ever because of the megadrought here in the West. It’s white because of the calcium carbonate in the waters of the Colorado River.

By spring of 2022, water levels had dropped 176 feet, exposing the skeletal remains of bodies on shorelines that had previously been underwater. The most famous is “Hemenway Harbor Doe,” a dead body found in a fifty-gallon drum near the Hemenway boat launch and marina. As if being found in a barrel wasn’t enough to get it labeled as a homicide, there was a bullet hole in its skull! Below is a picture of Boulder Basin, the area where it was found.

This photo was taken from the Lake Mead Overlook outside of Boulder City, a place where tour buses and visitors stop. It was fun to watch people pose for pictures in front of this background. Since no mention is made of “Hemenway Harbor Doe” on the information posted here, my guess is that most didn’t know they were posing in front of a crime scene!

Finally, I took the picture below from our hotel room. That’s the famous Sphere, which just opened last Friday with a concert by U2. The Ferris wheel is called the High Roller, and it had been the highest in the world until 2021, when it was surpassed by one in Dubai.

The protagonist of my book, the investigative journalist Kate Temperance, will discover the identities of the bodies in Lake Mead—or die trying. Her adversary, Sofia Gemelli, owns the (fictional) Florentine Hotel and Casino on Las Vegas Boulevard. Kate’s investigation will take her from the Vegas Strip and the Nevada desert to the lush vineyards of the Willamette Valley in Oregon. My hope is that the twists and turns of the story will keep readers guessing and keep them turning pages long past their bed time!

The manuscript has had a thorough editing by my beta readers, and now that I’ve added my notes from our Las Vegas trip, I’ve begun to query agents to see if I can get it traditionally published. If I can’t connect with an agent within the next 8-10 months, I’ll go ahead and publish it independently. I’ll keep you apprised of this writer’s journey!

Blog 2 From Joyce Reynolds-Ward

beta reading and editing, essays View all 2 comments

 

 

 

Self-Editing, Grammar, and Beta Readers:

Dos and Don’ts

 

This is the second in a six-week blog tour series for the Northwest Independent Writers’ Association

 

Getting the words down right is the big challenge for every writer, whether you’re independently publishing or traditionally published. At some point every writer has to switch from writer to editor and make certain that the words they’ve written are correct. This search for correctness goes beyond the simple nuances of grammar to the choices of specific words, the flow of sentence phrasing, and more.

 

Two things to keep in mind: first of all, be aware of the difference between detail work and a broader perspective. Every writer can self-edit to some degree in a broad sense. But not every writer is able to perform the meticulous level of edits needed to prepare a work for publication, which leads to the second thing to remember: the more eyes on a final manuscript, the better. In this post I’m focusing on the broader level of editing.

 

First of all, let’s look at grammar in the context of self-editing. I’m not talking about the fiddly bits of word choice and whether you should use lie or lay. Those differences can be easily sussed out using Word’s grammar editor (note: use with caution as Word is not always correct) or a dedicated grammar editor. Rather, I’m talking about sentences that don’t flow for specific grammatical reasons. The big stuff. Clauses and subordinate clauses. The use of minimizing or what I call “weasel words” which soften the impact of your writing.

 

So let’s start with the biggest offender I’ve seen as editor, coach, and teacher, which is leading a sentence off with a subordinate clause. What is a subordinate clause? Basically, it is a group of words that has a verb but is not a complete sentence. One example of a subordinate clause appears in the sentence, “She answered the phone when it rang.” “When it rang” is the subordinate clause, and it’s incomplete as a sentence. Now, think about a whole string of sentences such as “When it rang, she answered the phone.” This is an example of leading your sentence with the subordinate clause. Read both examples aloud, then think about how this sentence flows as opposed to the original. This particular offense can be easily fixed by reading your work aloud, and keep in mind that an occasional case of leading with a subordinate clause is all right. It’s when most sentences on a page lead with a subordinate clause that it becomes tiresome.

 

“Weasel words” tend to modify strong verbs. Did you see what I did in that sentence? Take out the “tend to” and see how the sentence meaning shifts slightly. I am as much of an offender in the “weasel word” category as anyone else. I qualify what should be a strong statement by chucking a few weasel words into the mix. I do it when I’m uncertain about the statement I’m making, either consciously or unconsciously. Weasel words can be used to some effect as a characterization device. But use them carefully and with intent.

 

So. Grammar. Big Don’ts:

  • Don’t lead with subordinate clauses
  • Chop out as many weasel words as possible.

 

Big Do’s:

  • Be mindful in your use of weasel words—use them carefully and with intent.

 

Now that I’ve hit my two big points on self-editing and grammar, let’s take a look at self-editing and beta readers.

 

The ability to self-edit effectively varies between writers. Some writers can do an excellent job; others simply can’t. Often we don’t see the flaws in our language choices in early drafts, or we can spot the errors of language but not the gaping hole in our plot reasoning, or the unintended irregular behavior of our characters. This is where a set of good beta readers becomes effective, as a useful tool for revision.

 

When I speak of “beta readers,” I refer to outside readers who review a draft form of your work that you plan to revise. Some writers prefer to call them first readers or alpha readers, but “beta” is the most common phrasing. Unlike a critique group, betas read and report individually, rather than as part of a group. Reciprocal reading may or may not be involved. The beta does not provide line edits, copy edits, or any sort of detailed work that will be appropriate later on in book production. Rather, the beta reader’s job is to provide feedback about early revisions as to whether the language flows, the plot makes sense, and the characters are believable. A good beta flags those places in the early draft where a reader trips over something.

 

Where do you find beta readers? Just about anywhere. Some writers depend on spouses or close friends. Others organize beta teams from their fans. Betas can be readers or writers. What you are looking for is that other eye that finds the problems that you as the writer are too close to the story to see. But the beta also needs to be someone tolerant of the roughness of early book drafts, because most of us do not turn out pretty early drafts.

 

One thing to be concerned about, though, is a beta that starts rewriting your words. A good beta recommends a revision but leaves the actual work of the revision to the writer. Good betas also don’t get bogged down in line editing or copy editing details. That’s what you pay a good editor to do for you. The beta reader is assessing the story from a reader’s perspective.

 

Most beta edits are done either through friendship or the desire to read an early draft from a favorite author. More substantive detail edits should be paid, either in cold hard cash or bartering of services. Beta editing is not and should not be a substitute for final prepublication edits. It is a tool to aid the author during the revision process.

 

Learning to edit yourself is a crucial task for any writer, no matter where you are in the writing process, and it goes far beyond grammar to the way that your words flow in the final draft. Following these simple suggestions will help improve your writing skill. Good luck!

 

Other posts in this series by Joyce Reynolds-Ward (note: each website owner will post at some point during the week listed).

March 29-April 4th—Organizing Your Plot http://www.joycereynoldsward.com

April 5-11—Self-editing, grammar, and beta readers https://authorwilliamcook.com/blog/

April 12-18—Genre and cross-genre https://tanstaaflpress.com/news

April 19-25—My Approach to the writing process https://varidapr.com

April 26-May 2—Reading to Impact your writing http://www.conniejjasperson.com

May 3-9—Advice for new writers https://lecatts.wordpress.com

 

 

Joyce Reynolds-Ward is a speculative fiction writer from Enterprise, Oregon. Her short stories include appearances in Well…It’s Your Cow, Children of a Different Sky, Allegory, River, and Fantasy Scroll Magazine. Her agripunk thriller trilogy, The Ruby Project: Origins, The Ruby Project: Ascendant, The Ruby Project: Realization, are due for release in November, 2020. Her books include Shadow Harvest, Choices of Honor, Judgment of Honor, and Klone’s Stronghold. Joyce has edited two anthologies, Pulling Up Stakes (2018), and Whimsical Beasts (2019). Besides writing, Joyce enjoys reading, quilting, horses, and hiking, and is a member of Soroptimist International of Wallowa County.

Beta Reading and Editing

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I was introduced to the idea of using “beta readers” through the Northwest Independent Writers Association and Willamette Writers. Essentially, you request someone whose judgement you trust to read your manuscript and give you honest feedback about it. In a way, it’s a kind of informal editing, and usually it’s not something you pay for. Most often, it doesn’t look to format editing (punctuation, spelling, grammar), so much as developmental issues (Does the story work?). It helps when you focus your beta reader’s attention on specific questions, such as:

Is my story arc sound? Does it ring true? Did it hold your attention throughout or did it lag in places? Did it build as it should have? Was there a good hook at the beginning, a solid middle, and a satisfying ending?

Are there holes in the plot? Logical inconsistencies? Problems with time frames?

Are my characters believable? Do the descriptions of them work?

Do the conversations sound like the way people really talk?

Obviously, you’re asking a lot of your friend and she has to feel that you want honesty, not affirmations. Be prepared to have some wind let out of your sails. When your beta reader tells you that your favorite chapter is a dud, it can hurt.

So be kind to your beta reader. Don’t hand him a first draft. Hand him a second draft, after you have already spent time reworking and polishing your manuscript.

Do you believe everything a beta reader tells you? Obviously not, but beware of “the forest for the trees syndrome.” You may be too close to your “baby” to really make an accurate assessment. Your beta reader came in from the cold, refreshed, without preconceptions, without all the internal dialogue that’s been keeping you up at night. Listen to her. Take her opinions seriously. The success of your book may depend upon it.

In the end, all my colleagues recommend hiring a professional editor for the final product. That can be very expensive, but I have yet to hear anyone tell me it wasn’t worth it.