PF As The Easter Bunny
First, a follow-up to last week’s WW about Skinny the Thrasher. The day after I wrote about Skinny’s rivalry with PF the Cottontail Rabbit for access to the bird block, we spotted them both eating from the block at the same time. If we see them again, we’ll try for a picture. In the meantime, as we lead into Easter, here’s a picture of PF as the Easter Bunny!
As some of you already know, last week a short post on my FB and Twitter feeds accidentally triggered something I feel is only courteous to address in more than a few sentences.
When I posted a brief comment about how I’d just realized that I’d forgotten to put chapter breaks into the manuscript of Wolf’s Search that I’d sent to my secret beta readers, I expected to be teased about my forgetfulness. What I didn’t expect was the outpouring of requests for information about how to become one of my beta readers. Some requests were from people I recognized as long-time readers, but others were from people for whom this was the first time I remembered seeing a comment.
When these requests continued, even after I’d responded in the Comments, I decided I’d better explain.
Here’s the short answer. You probably cannot become a beta reader for me. Unlike some authors, I don’t solicit comments about my work from the general readership. I never have. I am not likely to change. My first reader has always been my husband. After Jim, I usually ask a few friends for feedback. Who these are varies widely, according to the project.
(If you’re still interested in why I work this way, read on…)
For example, one of the people I asked to read the manuscript of Asphodel was Alan Robson, with whom I collaborated on the Thursday Tangents for close to seven years. From our many discussions, public and not, I knew that Asphodel was the sort of book Alan didn’t usually read. When he read it and liked it, my feeling that I had something special in Asphodel was reinforced.
For Wolf’s Search, you’d probably be surprised to learn that none of my secret beta readers were fanatical about the series. One hadn’t even read the last several books. This was because I wanted to make sure that Wolf’s Search could serve as a “gateway book” into the series. (Admittedly one with some spoilers, but still more a stand-alone novel than otherwise.)
Yes. I do know some authors regularly send out copies to beta readers who are strangers or rabid fans of the series. For some authors, especially those writing long series with long, long books, this helps them to catch continuity errors so they can focus on the new material. For others, I am sad to say (based on hearing them say this), soliciting beta readers is merely a marketing ploy – an attempt to make readers feel they have been part of the writing process, even if they have not.
Maybe my attitude toward showing a book before it is polished was influenced by my relationship early in my writing career with Roger Zelazny. Roger generally didn’t share his completed manuscripts with anyone except his editor. When he did, he usually had a specific reason, up to and including impulsiveness. (Full disclosure: I read the manuscripts of his last several novels well before publication.) Roger also didn’t belong to any writers groups. Hard as it is to believe in these days when social media makes it seem as if every writer shares everything, including deleted scenes and false starts, there are many writers who want their readers to see only the finished story.
More likely my choice then and now to keep unfinished drafts to myself is simply one of the many ways that Roger and I were alike. Writing for me is not a collaborative process. I don’t belong to writers’ groups because comments on a work in progress would stall me, not encourage me. Even Jim doesn’t hear much about a story until it has been completed. And after the work is completed, a very few readers are all I need to assure me that I haven’t missed some really obvious error.
Writers are very different in what they need. I am the type of writer I am. I hope you will not be offended if I continue as I have for these twenty-five or so years that I have been offering you my stories and unveil my works only when they are complete.
Jane Lindskold: Wednesday Wanderings 