Hi folks! Me again, with a note to those folks who are currently beta reading A New Horizon.
First: I have analytics tracking enabled on this site, so I can see that you’re reading (and what you’re re-reading). Thank you! So much! I very much appreciate the time you’ve taken to help me out.
Second: At the top of my most recent chapter, I noted that I’d gotten almost no feedback. That got me a long, frustrated response from someone. While I won’t pretend I liked hearing it, it definitely brought up a number of things I needed to hear.
I have a couple of responses to this:
- Some of you have not worked with me as a writer before, so you may not be aware that I’ve been writing fan fiction for over thirty years. I’ve long since learned how to divorce “criticism of the story” from “criticism of you.” In fact, at the beta stage, I sometimes find criticism to be more useful than praise!
So, I wanted to reassure you: if the criticism you have is about the story, I’m not going to get upset about it or mad at you. In fact, I’m going to appreciate it. Which means that if you’ve been being quiet because you haven’t wanted to say anything negative — please don’t hold back. Chances are that negative is something I need to hear, and I promise I won’t get mad at you about it.
- Also, in that same spirit, I took a good hard look at the entire project so far and I’ve made some updates to it. This afternoon I have updated the following chapters:
- Amanda: Twenty-Two D (Chapter 1)
- Lee: Claustrophobia (Chapter 2)
- Amanda: Temporary (Chapter 3)
- Amanda: The Embassy (Chapter 5)
- Jamie: Gray (Chapter 7)
- Amanda: Taking Bearings (Chapter 14 — and one of the things I updated was the chapter title)
- Jamie: Pieces (Chapter 15)
While those updates are relatively minor, I hope their cumulative effect will address something that was noted in that frustrated comment. I also want to highlight that the Chapter 14 update contains a new bit of information you, as the reader, should find out about.
Third: The comment did suggest the reader wasn’t sure what I wanted feedback about. Just so you’re aware, I have a list of questions if you need some to get started. That said, at this point, I’ll accept any relevant feedback about the story.
I’m a teacher’s kid. More than that, I’m an elementary school teacher’s kid. I grew up constantly having my grammar, word choice, spelling, etc., corrected — even when I wasn’t actually at school. That doesn’t mean I’m perfect in that area (I definitely am not) and I welcome corrections to those. But it does mean that my first drafts tend to come out fairly grammatically correct. It’s a weird little quirk rooted in my personal background.
But mostly-naturally getting the grammar and mechanics right absolutely does not mean I’m getting the story right. If I’ve been piling on too hard, I need to know about it. If something seems implausible or out of character, I need to know about that too. Even if you just want to throw the book across the room or you’re ready to give up, that’s something I need to hear! So please, please, please don’t hesitate to speak up if you have something to say.
Thanks again. I so, so, so very much appreciate each and every one of you.
(And for those who are interested in beta reading: just drop me a line. The more, the merrier!)