"Beta Reading"

So I'm a writer. Naturally, that means my friends are writers too, right?

Well, okay, it's not that simple, by any means. But I do talk to lots of writers on a daily basis. Besides the fact that being social is just fun, it helps me sort of team up for better writing. The more people that look at something, the better.

Of course, as stated in the first post of this blog, things can't always be about me. So about a week ago, I, too, volunteered my services to look at someone else's work, to critique and review it. I put myself out there on the Absolute Write forums (amazing place by the way) as what they call a "Beta Reader."

Within a matter of hours, someone had sent me a message in response. She knew that her story was definitely not something I'd normally read. But she sent it to me anyway because she was confident in the results. How can I say no to that kind of guts? Even though I wasn't sure what to expect, I accepted anyway. Turns out it was at least half-romance. My worst subject. Only the tension and suspense that are in the story keep me reading more.

In fact, where I failed to make comments on the document for a stretch, I can't seem to make myself go back and find things to comment on. I just can't reread it. It wasn't till the end when I had all my comments done and I was giving a more general review that I had any confidence at all in my ability to help. My comments on that document are basically useless, but I sent them anyway. Still, I think my review was very helpful in contrast.

It was a long and hard process, but really, it only took me one week to receive, read, comment, review, and finally send everything back. It was 64,000 words long, almost three times the length of my own novel's first draft. That's crazy. I didn't really think it was possible to do that. On the other hand, it was such tiring work that I hope I don't get my next assignment for a few more days.

Here's an idea of how hard it was. Over the last week, if you haven't talked to me, you missed me moaning and groaning about this project and how I didn't want to do it. I didn't mind homework or any of that other stuff because it gave me an excuse not to work on it. I'm not quite the complainer I used to be, but really the fact that I didn't think of anything else as a problem during that time probably says a lot.

I'm probably being really longwinded and dramatic about this. I just want people to understand how hard it actually is to do this. If you are asking someone to give you feedback on your work (like I currently am, actually), then realize that it's no small favor. Same goes for agents and editors and anyone else who has to read it. This is not "Oh hey this book looks cool I'm going to read it and it will be great" time. Forgive me for using the phrase, but it's serious business.