Benefits of Beta Readers

I hosted a book launch party to celebrate the publishing of “Other People’s Problems.” The venue had a maximum occupancy of 50, so that’s how many people I invited. The gathering was mostly women around my age, my readers, but a few husbands tagged along… perhaps for the free appetizers and wine. Following the event, I received this email from one of those husbands.

Marion, I was very impressed with your presentation… not just for how you included all those who had helped you along the way, but how you made it so personal in just a few carefully chosen words. But more than anything I wanted to comment on your description of the process you used for gathering and evaluating the input of all your "helpers". Maybe it is the mostly male environment of my work experience that did not usually have the openness to seek critical evaluation and then to make changes to initial drafts. When I heard how you sought out the comments of many friends and then made changes, it really caught my attention.

 This stunned me. I’ve always taken it for granted that writing is a collaborative process and that to achieve my best work I benefit from the feedback of teachers, peers and friends. If you’re a writer and do not engage in an interactive process, here’s a description of how “Other People’s Problems” came to be. I encourage you to engage in accepting, and in-return offering, constructive input. Here’s a portion of my remarks from the book launch.

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 We’re here today to celebrate “Other People’s Problems”… I don’t mean that we’re happy that other people have problems, I’m talking about my new book, which is titled “Other People’s Problems.” I had 40 stories that I felt were worthy of sharing. Almost twice as many as my first book. Perhaps my ego has grown that much.

The subject matter was random, except for the fact that they were all about people who were facing some issue. It occurred to me that some people, no one in this room of course, but some people like to gossip about problems others are having. So… that is what tied the collection together.

My devoted husband, and today you friendly bartender, has shared his life with me for over half a century. Good lord, whatever did he do to deserve that fate? Tom is the draft reader. He’s the one who sees the story before it’s fully formed. Or sometimes he tolerates me talking through a scenario while were driving somewhere and he is unable to escape. When I can’t find an ending, I ask Tom. Sometimes he has the solution, and sometimes he talks me through it so I find the answer. There’s a story in this book about Mel, who goes to a high-end restaurant to meet his accomplished daughter for a midday meal. It was originally titled Late Lunch which offers a double meaning and has nice alliteration. When Tom read the draft, he suggested the title Failure to Lunch. It’s a brilliant upgrade. Now that Tom has become a playwright, I can return this service in some small way.

For this book I had five Beta Readers. It’s a hugely valuable process to have fresh eyes look at the work. It results in corrections, elaborations, restructuring and, sometimes, welcome positive reinforcement. It’s interesting to see where all five agree, and where they have opposing views.

Let me introduce you to the Beta Readers.

Barb is a pal from both the bridge club and aquafit. She’s one of these people that will read all the Giller Prize nominees prior to the announcement of the winner. To prepare for reading “Other People’s Problems”, she read my two previous books. She even offered an edit for “Café Conversations” which had gone to press three years ago. I knew I could count on Barb to be brutally honest.

Laurel is a neighbour who has read one of my previous books and told me she enjoyed it. That pretty much makes her a friend for life. On her feedback form Laurel said that she was, “Glad to be part of the book’s journey,” and it is just that. A process.
Cathy is a new friend through a shared love for bridge and a common background as high school English teachers. She too was candid with her comments, saying that some endings needed to be pumped up. Cathy also thought that my characters smirked too much, so I toned that down.

Chris is a neighbour, retired teacher and friend from a former life. We worked at a middle school in Bramalea before Tom and I had children. She can attest to the fact that we were once young, slim and full of energy. Chris’ edits did an excellent job of feeding my ego. She said, “You’re a very clever and talented writer. I enjoyed reading these wonderful stories.” Seriously, she wrote that down. I especially love that Chris marked places where she laughed out loud.

Richard is the wildcard Beta Reader and may seem highly conspicuous here among this gathering of mainly women. He’s a poet and we are Open Mic colleagues. When I met Richard, he was putting the final polish on his book and… arrogantly thinking that I always have something to offer everyone… I said I’d be happy to proof read the manuscript. I did the full English teacher on him and Richard handled the feedback extremely well. His book “Insights for you that fell out of my head,” was published a few months ago. When he heard my book was at the feedback stage, he offered to repay the service, or get back at me, it depends on your point of view. I told Richard that he’s not my target audience, and he said that’s all the more reason to let him read it. He was right.

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So, those are the people I engaged in the process. Yes, I picked individuals that I knew would be supportive of my writing. It would be pointless for me to seek input from someone who only reads fantasy or autobiographies. But at the same time, I knew these people had the ability and confidence to point out weaknesses. The following is some of what they offered.

Because this collection does not have a chronological order, like my previous books do, I asked for comments on story sequence. A story titled Feedback was unanimously picked as the opening story. It’s about a writer talking to her publisher and everyone loved it.  The story Unseen is a short piece and perhaps the most poignant. All the readers agreed that it should close the show. Everyone felt it was sad to some degree, but noted that the character showed how some people make a lasting impact, while also blending in.

In some cases, the readers took opposite stances, such as with the story Dog People. This is a term I regularly use in judgement. I’ve been on walking trails that have a leash requirement where a free running canine has come barreling towards me. I stand with hands up to indicate my lack of desire to interact with the canine and the dog parent inevitably says, “What’s the problem? He’s just being friendly,” as the animal shoves its snout into my crotch. I found out that Cathy loves dogs, in fact she’s a dog trainer, and so she didn’t care for the bad vibes in this tale. But Chris encouraged me to take it up a notch pointing out the trend for people to give dog’s a human name. Hence, the annoying dog that was called Bongo, became Tyson.

The story Authority was originally titled The Hair Band. I changed it because I tried to make all the titles relate to what the problem is, and in this case, it was not the actual hair band that was the problem, but the issue was a power struggle. This one is a true story. It happened to me when I was teacher Writers’ Craft at Lourdes. It was reinforcing to have readers comment that it felt very real.

There are a group of stories with darker themes. Served, Gutterball, Overlooked and Getting Away are intentionally edgy. Barb said the depiction of revenge was excellent because she didn’t see it coming and neither did the victim. Cathy liked the placement of subtle clues.

Chris bought into the murder vibe of one, and said “Yikes” about another because it was creepy throughout. Richard also liked the twist endings, enjoyed seeking clues like a mini mystery. In one case he felt the conclusion came out of left field and encouraged me to plant more foreshadowing. So, I did. Laurel noted the danger of deception, and saw how revenge offers closure. I must remember to stay on her good side.

There was one story that Barb loved, but no one else did. Four out of five said I should cut it. I won’t tell you the title. It was a short piece that had lots of room to expand. So, I added another scene, fleshed out the characters and sent the manuscript to the editor with it included. Maggie Morris is an awesome editor. Not only does she catch every technical error, she hates that I don’t space my ellipses properly, but she also analyses where the peak of each story is, the themes and targets problematic references. When I gave her the manuscript, I told her that one story was on the chopping block. I did not, however, tell her which story it was. She did find a story that needed to be removed. The one she identified was NOT the story that Barb loved and I had fixed. I dumped the one Maggie flagged, but the revised version of the first questionable story made the final cut.

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 I own lots of instructional books on writing. One common piece of advice is to write for yourself, for your own satisfaction. That’s sounds nice, but if you want your work to be enjoyed and valued by others, you really should consider them in the crafting of the work. That’s what the Beta Reader process brings to the table. It lets me see what works, and what needs to be fixed. It’s important to be open to revision, not arrogant about keeping the prose you thought was perfected. Keep writing, it helps process your experience and will keep you sane. Never throw away anything. File it, because when you re visit it later you may be able to bring it to life.

 Best wishes,

Marion