Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing

Another Canberra author Nicole Murphy has agreed to be interviewed on how she uses beta readers to assist in her writing process. I have beta read for Nicole in the past, which was a lot of fun. Nicole had her Dream of Asarlai Trilogy published by HarperCollins Voyager imprint. Nicole and I are also co-chairing Conflux 9, the Australian National Science Fiction Convention in 2013. Link is here. We are also heading off to the Romance Writers of Australia Conference in the Gold Coast in August. The link is here.

If you want to know more about Nicole and her books, her website is here.

1. How many beta readers do you have and how long have you used beta readers in your writing process?

I’ve got LOTS of beta readers – I’m constantly picking up new people to read for me, because I write so fast I don’t want to keep bugging the same folks. I think at the moment, I can safely say I’ve got about a dozen people who I can ask to read for me, and there’s probably more that I’ve not been game to ask.

I started using beta readers in 2007. What turned me onto the value of having some external eyes look at a piece was putting Secret Ones through the first CSFG novel crit group. I had four people go over it and very lovingly tear it to shreds. It helped a lot because I do find it hard to be objective about my writing (It’s brilliant! I’m a frickin’ genius!). When I sold Dream of Asarlai to Harpercollins, there wasn’t a crit group to get the other books through and so I called on friends (such as yourself) that I knew I could count on to give me a fair reckoning of the good and the bad in the story. Nowadays, I wouldn’t dream of submitting a novel to a publisher without it being beta-read first.

2. In what ways do beta readers assist you in developing your novel for publication?

Firstly, they assure me that what I’ve written is worth pursuing. Plotting has long been a difficult point for me and so their feedback on whether it makes sense and whether things are following along properly and have I tested the characters well enough or not is really important. The other great thing beta readers do is by asking questions (would she really react like that? Why do those rules apply to only those people?) it makes me think more deeply about characterisation and worldbuilding and enables me to add extra depth to the story.

3. Do all your beta readers pick up the same points?

Not at all. I’ve had some wildly differing views from people. For example, in my long contemporary romance, one reader said I let on what the baddie was up too to easily, the other said not. One said sex scenes were great, other said not as good at the Dream of Asarlai ones. With the SF romance one that I’m getting results back on at the moment, only one has so far questioned the worldbuilding and interestingly, she’s the one with the science fiction reading background. This is why it’s important to have readers from a variety of backgrounds, because they’ll all pick up different things.

4. Do you sometimes target your beta readers to particular areas based on the experience you had with them in the past? For example, one reader is good at plot holes, another reader is good at grammatical issues and another might be good at style. Or do you take what comes?

Kinda. There are some readers that have more experience with one genre than another, and so I might only give them books in that genre. But then, from time to time, it’s interesting to hear the POV of a person who doesn’t normally read that genre on the readability of your book.

I tend to get beta-readers for big picture stuff. Sure, there’s some stuff that they pick up on in terms of grammar and such (such as you, the great de-justifier!) but generally, I’m not getting the books beta-read for that level. Maybe I should, because I know I’m not the greatest grammarian in the world and my use of words is something I try constantly to improve, but that feels more a personal thing to me. Plus, my style is quite a simple one and so tends not to need too much tweaking to make readable.

5. Do you always want the same thing from the beta reader for each novel? For example, when you have deadlines and only have time for high-level feedback?

Overall, I’m sending to the beta-readers when I’m at the point of revisions in saying “I think I’ve got a pretty good hold on the story now, the worldbuilding, the characterisation, so lets find out what’s working and what’s not so I can tweak it”. I tend not to ask more from the readers than that.

6. How hard is it to find a good beta reader?

I don’t think it’s too hard. You can probably train people into it, by giving them questions to consider as they read. And making sure they understand you WANT to hear the bad as well as the good.

I think recognising a good versus a bad beta reader FOR YOU is important. Some people just aren’t the right reader for you – what they look for in a story, what appeals to them, what they believe is right isn’t what you do. For example, people who like a more literary style of writing, who want beautiful words as well as good story, aren’t going to get as much out of my books and I’m not going to get as much out of their critiques because we’re focussed on achieving different things with our writing and that’s cool.

7. Do you have any advice for readers who want to be beta readers or even editors in the long run? For example, what type of commentary do you prefer?

Beta-reading is about being analytical. Ascertaining not only what’s not working and why, but what IS working and why. Because sometimes, the what is working will give the author the clue as to how to fix the what is not working.

When you’re beta-reading, the aim is to give the author feedback to improve the book. “I liked this” isnt’ helpful. “I just wasn’t warming to Character X – they came across as too selfish to be the lead in a romance novel” is.

Thank you very much Nicole. A very interesting point of view to add to the discussion. I find it interesting that you don’t find it hard to find beta readers and that you have so many. You must be breeding them somewhere in a dark corner of your office.

Donna