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I think I’d be a different kind of reader, @RichardB, if I’d been a more instinctive writer. It took me a lot of patience and many disappointing surprises to learn how fiction works, and how my own writing didn’t make the grade. I still have a way to go. Having been quite good at academic writing – though a plodding academic for the short period…[Read more]

Will see what I can do between now and the deadline, Libby 😊✨

I write like Margaret Atwood apparently 😄

This is a really great thread! The checklist and things-to-consider offered up so far are treasure. I’ve only beta read twice, and the fact that the writers are gorgeous at their writing probably made it easy for me to gush feedback and even get critical (mostly just asking questions for my own clarity, and hopefully theirs as well) without…[Read more]

I’ve found beta reading an excellent way to learn. I think it’s easier to see crafting mistakes in others work, and then I try to carry that knowledge across to my own writing. Easier said than done.

I always jot margin notes as I read to record my initial reactions. It’s harder on a reread to see the parts that jolt me, and you only get one…[Read more]

A quick reminder to anyone interested in this month’s competition that we are half way through the month. Here’s a repost of the details:

The other day I discovered that sabulous means sandy or gritty. For this month’s competition please use sand and/or grit as a prompt for a piece of fiction or non-fiction, word range 100 – 500. You can use the…[Read more]

I don’t reckon myself as much of a beta reader either. Partly it may be lack of confidence in my own opinions, but mostly I think it’s because I seem to have trouble thinking analytically about writing, including my own. Years ago when I did the S-E Course, I repeatedly had the experience of Debi, or one of the others, telling me I’d been clever…[Read more]

Libby and Jane have come up with some excellent questions and I can’t add much except for:

Does the writer have any specific questions? This might be something that’s crucial to whether the story works or not, e.g. Did you work out whodunit? If so, when?

Did you notice any discrepancies / inconsistencies in the story?

Were you conscious of…[Read more]

Why do you say you’re a terrible beta reader?

It’s a bit like when I had to read books for exams at school. It was no reflection on the work itself and I’ve read many of the books since with great pleasure. Something about picking up a book for a purpose (a meta-purpose if you like) that isn’t simply pleasure, idle curiosity, whatever, and my…[Read more]

Wow. So so much interesting and useful stuff, @Libby ! It would make a brilliant checklist for anyone. It will take me a bit of time to assimilate it all. I will say though, with my ‘Being betaread’ hat on, that I wouldn’t expect a beta reader of a whole novel to cover all that for me in one go if anyone is feeling a bit daunted.

@athelstone Why…[Read more]

Beta reading other people’s writing has taught me all sorts of things. I wouldn’t want to be without it. It’s satisfying too, that link with someone else’s thought processes and their ambitions for their work.

I can come back with my experiences of being beta read but in the meantime, as Jane says: ‘my experience of the book as a reader.’

Y…[Read more]

Thanks for the topic. May I add that I’m a terrible beta reader. I would like to be more useful and hope to pick up some tips if this discussion develops and hopefully turns into something more.

Yes, in my first passage my MC was being smitten at his first sight of a young lady, and in the second someone was getting blasted with a shotgun. Hmm, content…

James Joyce!

I’ll try with a more lyrical section… watch this space.

Ha ha! I write like Stephen King! I think Libby is right though and the program looks at content mostly as this was a particularly horror full section!