Karen Collum">Australian Children's Author

I posted a while back about how nervous I was when I sent my manuscript off to my lovely group of beta-readers. It’s the first time I’ve gotten to this stage with a novel and I must say, it was quite scary knowing people were going to be reading and critiquing my work. I wanted them to read it, but I also was terrified that they wouldn’t like it. I’ve now got manuscripts back from two of my beta-readers and I know two more are in the mail. I get to hear feedback in person from four others next week when I meet with my critique group from Year of the Edit. And I have to say after reading responses from two beta-readers, I am blown away with the amount of work these readers have put into my manuscript and also the beautiful words of praise they have sent my way. Sure, there are things that they questioned (and rightly so) but there are also things they loved.

As a writer, there is something so powerful in knowing that I have moved my reader emotionally. Both readers thus far have written that they were compelled to keep on reading, even though they had other things to do. They have also noted where they needed to reach for a box of tissues. Interestingly, this was in different parts of the manuscript for both of them. They have indicated the times when they were confused and the times when they wondered how it would possibly all come together in the end. All of this feedback is invaluable, and it is certainly affirming, however there is the potential to be overwhelmed and not know where to begin in making the final round of changes. So, in typical me style, I’ve come up with a process.

1. Create a Master List of Feedback

I’ve created a large table in Word with page numbers running down the left-hand side. For me, that means there are 277 rows in my table. As I’m reading through the manuscripts that beta-readers have scribbled over, I’m writing their comments in the appropriate row. I’m also using a different colour font for each reader. That way, I can see at a glance if four people cried at the same place or three people were confused on the same page. I’m not including minor things like typos in this table; rather, it’s a master list of high-level concepts that I can refer to. I’m hoping that once I have compiled all of the feedback I’ll be able to see at a glance which scenes/chapters need the most work and which ones work really well as they are.

2. Transfer editing to my master copy

I have a master copy of my manuscript that is still in pristine, unmarked condition. I am going to transfer all of the little editing notes regarding typos, auto-correct errors or spelling errors onto that master copy. My intention is that I will end up with a marked version of my manuscript that includes all the little bits and pieces that my beta-readers picked up on and it will save me checking through my Word document again and again, only to discover I’ve already corrected the misspelling of that word.

3. Allow the joy to sink in

It’s really easy to just focus on the negatives, but I’m consciously allowing myself to experience the joy of knowing I made someone cry (in the nicest possible way) or I made someone keep turning the page, in spite of their best intentions for an early night. As I’ve said before, writing is plain hard work with a splash of awesome thrown in. Hanging onto those positive comments is important in keeping me focussed, motivated and ready to put the hard work in to getting my novel ready for submission. I’m not ignoring the suggestions and the issues, but the time will come to deal with them. Right now, I’m wallowing in the joy of having finished a novel that people have enjoyed reading.

I can’t begin to thank my beta-readers enough. They have been insightful, kind and honest in their feedback and have given me a confidence in my work I otherwise would not have had. They have also made me realise that I have a pool of ‘experts’ at my disposal. One beta-reader picked up on the fact I have a fruit growing in a climate that is unlikely; another is a nurse and addressed some of the issues surrounding my diabetic characters. Their combined knowledge and experience enables me to write a book that is both authentic and accurate.

The beta-reading process was daunting but it has been so worthwhile. I can’t wait to collate the rest of the feedback over the coming weeks and do the final work on my novel before The Great Submission Process begins. Happy writing :)