{"id":439,"date":"2013-06-24T15:11:18","date_gmt":"2013-06-24T14:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/outofthedarkness.info\/blog\/?p=439"},"modified":"2013-06-24T15:26:20","modified_gmt":"2013-06-24T14:26:20","slug":"out-of-the-darkness-receives-its-first-beta-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outofthedarkness.info\/blog\/out-of-the-darkness-receives-its-first-beta-read\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Out of the Darkness’ Receives its First Beta-Read"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The title is a little misleading as only the first half has had its first beta-read, but now the disclaimer is out of the way I can explain what a beta-read is to non-writers. Oh, actually no, I can’t because Out of the Darkness<\/em> is still in its alpha draft stage. This isn’t going well, is it? Let’s start again.<\/p>\n

Beta-reading is having a reasonably polished draft of your manuscript read through by a reader whose opinion you value. They<\/a>\u00a0then offer feedback and ideas for improving aspects of the story and, sometimes, your writing style. It’s relatively unusual to send out a completely unpolished first draft for someone to read, hence ‘alpha-reader’ not being a term in everyday use. However,\u00a0I decided getting some early feedback could be very useful.\u00a0If I was wide of the mark I’d rather find out sooner and avoid rewriting whole swathes of the story.\u00a0Having found a willing masochist to trawl through my tortured first draft, I attached a copy of my .doc file to an email and waited nervously for a reply. I got one back surprisingly quickly.<\/p>\n

Beta-reading can be exciting – someone finally gets to read your work – but it leaves me, and I suspect many other writers, feeling vulnerable. There is a writer’s care, time, creativity, and personality in anything that we produce. Any manuscript that isn’t rattled off in an afternoon has a lot of emotional investment in it. What others think of\u00a0Out of the Darkness<\/em> certainly matters to me. Below is, word for word, what I got back in the email. *Holding my breath<\/em>*.<\/i><\/p>\n

The Feedback<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘All in all I think you have a pretty good story going. No “but’s” either.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘As a still-in-process first draft, there are some rough spots you’ll work over and refine later. Nothing major wrong with the story.<\/em><\/p>\n