My beta readers—I love them. They run the range of family (Hi, Mom!) to professional writers to former colleagues to teenagers to people I met at church.
Mom always finishes first. The woman, bless her, loves every word I write—so I got that going for me. At least I can hear her “I loved it!” ringing in my head when all the other feedback starts coming in. I especially cherish the time she said, “It would be a shame to change any of it.”
For everyone else, I’ve developed a list to keep in mind as they read. (I never make Mom do this—would ruin the buzz.)
- Overarching comments on the main premise and the story and characters.
- Pacing: when things moved too slow, or when things happened too quickly.
- Any confusion on names or places, even momentary, that causes a blip in the reading.
- Moments that seem like a digression rather than adding to the story.
- Holes in the story, either plot holes or places where information seems to be missing, i.e., a jump is made to new information without proper precedent.
- Ever bored? Mind wandered? Exactly where?
- Any section you had to read twice?
- What made you laugh?
- What parts moved you?
- Any parts you thought were cool or sexy?
- Any parts you thought were interesting or you liked?
- Where did the writing get awkward?
- Spots in the telling that could use more description, or less description.
- Any words/phrases/images I use too much.
- Anything you didn’t believe (besides all of it—it is fiction)?
- Anything you’re still wondering about?
My amazing readers give me great insights. Some even develop symbols, like “LOL” or “Awk” or “Sexy,” or a little drawing of a cat face (not sure what that one means).
What this gives me is data. Priceless, precious data. I mean, I wonder if Charles Dickens ever watched people read his books and made them say where the paragraphs got just a little too long? Did Jane Austen ever have anyone note in the margins where they laughed out loud? (If anyone has an Austen manuscript like that, I want it!)
Not that it means I’m going to make every change or be able to satisfy the diverse needs of every reader I ever encounter. But if readers stumble or get bored or scrawl “awk” in the same margin, that tells me something. And it’s wildly gratifying to see the “LOL”s and the “Sexy!” by scenes that I love and know I can leave them as is. The feedback always jumpstarts my next edit, giving me tasks to accomplish and warming me up to the process.
And I enter the editing phase knowing, if nothing else, I’ve made Mom happy. Which is nice.
Your turn
What questions do you ask your beta readers? Share in the comments!
(Note: Bonus points if you caught the two references to Caddyshack in this post.)
{ 4 comments }
Loved your advice. I’m asking a group of beta readers from a book club to review my manuscript this month. I used all of your questions. They were GREAT!! The only other thing I could think of for you was how they liked my title and my chapter titles and if I thought they correlated with my content well enough.
Thanks, Kristin, glad it helped, and asking about chapter titles and the title ‘s a terrific addition. Keep writing!
Laura
Great list. Thanks for putting it up here.
Interesting trivia: I read in a writer’s magazine a couple of years ago that one of Dickens’s beta readers was Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton. Yes, the same man who wrote the infamous, “It was a dark and stormy night.” He actually gave Dickens some insightful edits that Dickens followed.
Love the list…I can’t think of anything else that I ask.
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