The Office of Letters and Light Blog

So You Want to Be a Good Beta Reader: A How-to

Editing is the part of writing that new writers don’t like to think about: after all, shouldn’t we all be geniuses whose work springs fully-formed from their heads, complete with the helmet of fresh metaphor and the spear of insightful prose?

Except that the birth of Athena is a myth, and writing is more like actual birth—a more painful undertaking than most people want to think about, and one that can’t be accomplished alone. Here then is the beta reader’s manual: a guide to helping your critique group members reach their full writing potential.

Bear in mind the author’s intended audience.

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Facing Your Literary Mosquitoes

Throughout January and February, we’ve been focusing on perfecting those first drafts we wrote in November. Folks like Susan Bell, Marissa Meyer, and Hugh Howey have provided tomes of revision and publishing advice. As Camp NaNoWriMo’s April session approaches, we’re wrapping up our first-ever “Now What?” Months with our founder, Chris Baty:

Dear Novelists,

Once upon a time, there was a Panama Canal.

This is probably not the Panama Canal you’re thinking of. This was the first Panama Canal, attempted by the French in the late 1800s.

It was the most ambitious project the world had ever seen—not quite as tough as novel revision, but pretty close. France had just finished the Suez Canal, the Eiffel Tower dwarfed every structure on Earth, and French engineers had earned a reputation as bad-ass rock stars who could pull off the impossible.

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Deductive Editing: Revising Like a Master Detective

The “Now What?” Months have focused on guiding you through editing and pursuing publication for your NaNo-novel during January and February. Though February’s ending soon, Susan Bell, editor and author of The Artful Edit, encourages you to continue revising, and to think of it as unraveling the mystery of your manuscript:

Dear NaNoWriMo Author,

Last night, I began this letter seven times in seven different ways, and by the fifth attempt, my mind’s voice began to mutter, “Forget it, I can’t write a pep talk as clever and charming as the others on the NaNoWriMo website.” In despair, I went to bed. This morning, I woke up with a new idea, and knew it was the one I’d use; suddenly, life felt possible.

Writing anything, it turns out, is demanding. Your first idea and expression are rarely your finished work. So to achieve what you want as a novelist, remember the following truth: to write is to edit. 

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Occupy Steve: How to Flesh Out Your Characters

Are you revising your novel during our “Now What?” months? One of the toughest summits to climb can be breathing life into a character; Elizabeth Lyon, a longtime book editor, tells us how to fill their lungs:

Within the mass of pages you produced, some passages are breathtaking in how well they are written, even more have “potential,” and a number are destined for replacement. The prospect of revision may feel as though you’re anticipating a brutal climb up Mt. Everest without rope, ice axe, or map.

Sherpa guide Elizabeth Lyon at your service. First, breathe. Second, remember that you won’t be facing the terror of the blank page. Third, characterization is everything. Begin revision here. In the beginning, your characters were actors reading their lines. By the end of revision, they must become so real that your readers will love them, or fear to run into them on the street.

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Nora Zelevansky: Be Kind to Yourself While You Edit

Nora Zelevansky is no stranger to revision. A longtime journalist, editing has been a mandate from the very beginning. Still, revising her first novel, Semi-Charmed Life  was no walk in the park. As our “Now What?” Months begin to wind down, Nora tells revisors to cut themselves a break:

Dear Writers,

There is a long-standing debate among us about which is more daunting: a blank page or a rough draft. Historically, I consider myself a stalwart of the former camp; something seems preferable to nothing. At least, I thought I felt that way until I recently finished the first draft of a new manuscript, stared into the editing abyss, and promptly developed a case of vertigo.

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Self-Publishing vs. Publishing: How to Choose Your Path

Lynn Viehl is a New York Times bestselling author, who last wrote for us about how committing to your craziest ideas can lead to rediscovering the joy of writing. For the “Now What?” Months, she walks us through the biggest choice in publishing:

Once you’ve written a book there are many things to consider, including how to pursue publication for it. The two primary choices are

• traditional via a publisher, or
• independent via self-publishing

You’ve probably heard the slurs slung at both options (Legacy! Vanity! House Slaves! Wannabes!) but I’m not here to sneer. As a professional writer I’ve published both ways, so I know the merits and the drawbacks of each option. Also, my mama taught me never to name-call. 

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Straight-Talk from the Literary Agents at New Leaf

For our “Now What?” months, we wanted to be sure to get the perspectives of some very elusive publishing types: agents. Who are these mysterious creatures, and what are they looking for in your books? We recently held a chat on Twitter with the awesome folks of New Leaf Literary—Joanna Volpe, Kathleen Ortiz, and Suzie Townsend—about queries, publishing, and their best author advice for 2013: 

What are your tips for a great author query?

“Get someone who hasn’t read your manuscript to read your query and give feedback. They should be intrigued and want to read more.” – Suzie (@sztownsend81)

“I love to see a good hook. What makes your story different from others? What makes it awesome? Like, super-awesome? Hook me in and get me to the sample pages. Query goal = accomplished.” – Kathleen (@KOrtizzle)

“There are a ton of query resources online. Check out Query Shark to start!” – Joanna (@JoSVolpe)

“In queries, I want to know the main character and the main plotline without anything weighing it down or confusing me. With queries, concise, well-edited, and professional is always best.” – Suzie

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Valentines to Your NaNo-Novel

Happy Valentine’s Day, Writers! Today, @NaNoWriMo asked our followers to write a Valentine to their NaNo-novel. We got a flood of poems, some of them hilarious, some loving, all of them heartfelt:

I Love You… I May Have to Kill You.

I hate you, you’ve ruined my life… time to write more and cause my characters strife. @bqdfantasy

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Hugh Howey: How NaNoWriMo Trained Me to Be a Professional Author

Just a few years ago, Hugh Howey couldn’t have anticipated his current well-deserved success. A three-time NaNoWriMo winner, he self-published Wool, only to see its momentum explode. A New York Times bestseller, it’s been optioned for a film by Ridley Scott, and will be published in hardback this March. For our “Now What?” Months, he’ll join Sarra Cannon for a self-publishing webinar next Monday, and tells us just how NaNoWriMo prepared him for a career:

Nobody has ever been so well-prepared for National Novel Writing Month success as I was in 2011. It was my third NaNoWriMo in a row. The previous two years had been wonderful successes. This time was going to be even better; I was going in with confidence and a game plan. For the first time ever, I’d actually outlined what I was going to write. I was champing at the bit to get started!

But then October happened.

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Be Brave: Why You Should Let Others Read Your Novel

The “Now What?” Months continue with Kim Votry, Young Writers Program educator & author of My Own Magic. Sharing your novel can be scary, but Kim shares just why fortune favors the bold writer:

Although much is said about the solitary lives of writers, most writers I know enjoy community, and thrive on the exchange of ideas that happens when we get together. I know my students do! I teach a year-long novel-writing class to kids in grades 4-8 and the workshop-style critique has become vital to our revision process.

I’ve heard many authors advise against seeking feedback until a complete first draft is produced. But that advice is only right for a certain kind of writer.

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Sarra Cannon: The 6 Self-Publishing Tips That Nabbed Her 100,000 Readers

I have no idea! Okay, so that’s not entirely true. While there is some mystery to how people found my books in the first place, I do have an idea of what helped most when I was getting started:

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Marissa Meyer: Slowing Down to Let Lightning Strike Twice

Marissa Meyer is one of our favorite folks ever: not only is she a NYT bestselling author, who’s published three of her NaNo-novels, she’s also an all-around excellent person. And we’re thrilled that today, as she releases her new novel, Scarlet, she’s taken the time to send some pep to all you writers deep in revision during the “Now What?” Months.

Stars above, Fellow Novelist, you did it!

Whether you tackled the 50K challenge last November or have spent the past five years plugging away at your first draft, you now stand among the few, the proud, the somewhat mad. You wrote a novel.

Now you’re ready to tackle whatever comes next. Which is, naturally, the process of revision. There is a lot that can be said about revision. Countless magazine articles and blog posts and even entire books* have been written on this very topic.

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