Editors Canada | Doorway Between Worlds

Hi everyone,

I can’t believe it’s been almost three months since I posted about finishing the draft of my first novel. There’s been a lot going on, but the most important experience for me has been working with beta readers for the first time.

As much as I looked forward to bringing more people into my story world, I made sure to set aside my story for about a month (so I could have some distance when I looked at it again) and then wrote some changes to fill in gaps and tighten my sentences. Finally, I sent the whole mess over the fence, because there comes a time when you can no longer see your story, and you need other people to tell you where you’ve gone wrong (and hopefully where you’ve gone right).

It was a nail-biting moment, because it was my precious book baby going out into the world, but I also knew I was going to get great feedback because I was fortunate to have so many lovely people volunteer to read it who could come at it from different perspectives. I had a mix of

Professional editors (I’m soooo glad right now to be a member of Editors Canada, where I have met so many fantastic editing peeps)
Readers who love urban fantasy (my target market)
Readers who could comment on the accuracy of my character portrayals
Readers whose first language is not English
Readers who are not my target market but love fiction

The feedback is still coming in, but I wanted to share what I’ve learned so far, in case anyone else is thinking of going through this process.

First off: Beta readers are the best people. Hands down. They are volunteering to take time out of their busy lives to read your work, not knowing if it’s going to be boring or poorly written, and then they are carefully writing diplomatic feedback on the places where they think you need to change your story. (There’s a reason why I didn’t ask for feedback from my family. Even if they could be thorough and objective and not just say “I love it,” I knew I wouldn’t find it easy to take any criticism from my folks, no matter how well intentioned.)

I knew it would help my readers if I was clear about what I was hoping to get out of this process. So I made sure to tell everyone that my story was going to be sent for a professional stylistic/copy edit in February, and that I was only looking for story feedback at this point. Otherwise I knew people might focus on typos and spelling and sentence construction and all of those other things I’ll be dealing with later. I also sent them some specific questions—the items I was the most interested in knowing about so I could improve my story:

What did you like best about the story?
Did the opening chapters intrigue you and make you want to keep reading? If not, why?
Who was your favourite character? Are there any characters who seemed flat or unrealistic? Why?
Is there anything you’d like to see changed about the dialogue of any of the characters?
Were there any places where the story felt slow or boring?
Did the plot make sense? Were there any places that could use more explanation?
Were there any words, phrases or scenes that pulled you out of the story?
Was there any place where you would have liked to see more description?
Did you like the ending?
Is there anything else that you think could help make this a better story?

I admit I was kind of sneaky when I made this list.

For one thing, I made sure my first question asked about what my readers liked best, partly because it’s good to know your strengths, but mostly because I would be able to bask in some kind words rather than inhaling chocolate after learning about all the changes I needed to make.

I also put my most important question in the middle—whether there was enough description.

I mentioned in my previous post that I write lean. I’m always worried that I’m not describing things enough, because I’m not a visual person. So I was bracing myself for lots of feedback on how I needed to add more words to character and setting descriptions. I figured that would be where most of my comments came from.

What actually happened?

I had one reader tell me she loved the words I used because they helped her see everything.

I had another reader tell me that I focus a lot on hair as an identifying characteristic and that I could maybe mix that up a little.

Everyone else (so far) has said they could picture everything just fine. People who have never experienced life in a Canadian lakeside town in late November said they felt the damp cold as they were reading.

It just goes to show we’re not very good at identifying where we need help, which is why we need beta readers before we send our stories to a wider audience.

The good news: So far, everyone loves my characters, the setting, and the overall plot. This is beyond excellent, because it means I don’t have to rip up all my pages in a dramatic gesture and lock myself in my basement.

Instead, I have received thoughtful and detailed comments on individual scenes, plot points, and character actions where things could be tightened, clarified, or made more real or exciting. Some of my readers have commented on the same things and some have not, but I can already see that even without a consensus at least 90% of this feedback is going to be used as I make changes to my story.

And I am thrilled! I find myself going “Yes!” and “Of course!” and “Why didn’t I see that?” and “Oooh…what if I also did X?” I’m not feeling negative about any of this in the least. Instead, I’m feeling energetic as I look at diving into some rewrites to make this the best story I can. So in between holidays and spending time with my family, I’ll be in front of my computer over the next two months honouring the feedback I have received.

Then we’ll see how much more my editor will catch. 😉

Cheers, and thanks for reading.

All of you.

Sue

P.S. Have any of you used beta readers or given feedback on someone else’s writing? What has been your experience? Did you enjoy it, or find it stressful?

Hi everyone,

In August, I talked about my progress in writing my urban fantasy novel and my plans to self-publish it by May 2020. At the time, I was at 46,000 words, and I was optimistic I’d get through my draft sometime in the fall, but I knew I’d need to carve out more time to focus on my writing.

Today, I am thrilled to be able to say I have already finished it! At 69,000 words, I have written my very first novel! I can’t believe it. (I’ve been doing happy dances all day.)

It helped me a lot to know that my alpha reader was patiently waiting to receive the final section of the manuscript after I’d mercilessly left her at a cliffhanger. (Sorry about that, Suzanne!)

For some reason, the last few chapters kept flowing—probably because there were exciting scenes for me to write, and I couldn’t wait to get into that desk chair so I could follow my characters to the final showdown.

Coming in at 69,000 words was also wonderful because I’d targeted for 70,000 words. So close! I’d like to have a final version that’s around 80,000, and that shouldn’t be a problem. One of my discoveries as I’ve gone through this process is that I write lean. Every time I tackle a new scene, I start with reviewing and editing the scene from my previous writing session, and every time I did this, I found I was adding more words rather than taking them away. This surprised me at first, because most of the writers I know tell me they have the opposite problem—they keep needing to cut things out. It turns out I have a tendency to focus on character, dialogue, and plot, while some of the nuances of setting and description are things I fill in later. (I know there will be some cutting during my self-edit, though—including all the flabby verbs and unnecessary words I have inevitably written. There’s a reason why Anne Lamott calls it the “shitty first draft” in her excellent book Bird by Bird.)

So…I’ve written a novel now. (And eaten some chocolate to celebrate, of course.) Now what?

It would be so lovely if writing a draft meant you were done. (Ha!) It’s only the beginning. I outlined this story fairly thoroughly, so I feel like it’s in relatively decent shape, but I want it to be the best I can make it rather than rushing it out the door. So I’m setting it aside for a little bit, and then I’m going to do some self-editing before sending it on to some beta readers sometime in November. I’ve already lined up a couple of folks who love the urban fantasy genre, but I’m hoping to get more readers, so I can get a broad set of opinions from my main target audience. I also have a sensitivity reader on board. My novel is set in a fictionalized Canadian lakeside town that’s modeled after the diverse communities I’ve lived in, and I want to make sure I’m doing a good job of representing some of the characters who have experiences that are different than mine.

Then it’s on to professional editing! One of the nice things about being a member of Editors Canada is that I already know a lot of super friendly, highly qualified editors, and I’ve already booked a stylistic/copy edit in February with someone I admire who edits a lot in this genre. I’ve also reached out to another of my fantastic colleagues (who is a Certified Professional Editor with the association) for final proofreading in April. The best editors have a tendency to get booked up, so I wanted to be sure to grab them early!

The other key action I’m working on is booking a cover designer, since it’s a critical aspect of a self-published book. It’s amazing to think about seeing my main character on a cover next year!

Is that all that’s left to do? Nope!

Sometime between now and when I publish, I’ll need to work out the logistical details, including setting up a publisher name, grabbing some ISBNs (which are free for Canadian publishers, hurrah!), figuring out distributors, and so on.

Oh, and I also need to settle on the final title!

Right now I’m not finding this intimidating at all. Well, except for maybe the title thing. (Although I may have changed my mind in a few months!) Instead, I’m looking forward to exploring the entire process and joining my indie clients and friends in self-publishing my work. I know this is the right approach for me, and I also think it will be a fantastic learning experience.

Thanks, everyone, for listening to me babble on about my book. I hope this summer has treated you well, and I wish you all the best on your personal projects, whatever they may be! I’ll be sure to keep you posted on how things are going as I get further along. (And if you happen to feel like beta reading an urban fantasy set in a small lakeside town that features a musician and her best friend, family challenges, quirky local characters, Buffy-like banter, and a ton of magical mayhem, then just drop me a line!)

Cheers,

Sue