Some people go to their friends for advice, and inevitably get flowery words of kindness that don't really help improve anything. Others look up professional editors, forking over the cash for it. There are writer's workshops as well, but it's tough to get much on more than a piece of your work. What we really need is a fellow writer who's willing to give honest feedback from start to finish.
So, across the internet, there are many places where we can ask for this (my personal favorite being the Absolute Write forums). But the funny thing is, it's just as important the other way too--if you need this help, so do the rest of us. Offering to look through and give someone an honest, thorough opinion is a great way to make friends in the writing community.
One of my fellow authors, Kat Mellon, just made a blog post on some of the best ways to band together with other writers. It's packed full of great information. She gives at least six valuable tips--all I have is this one, but it's definitely my favorite way of interacting with other writers.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have quite a few projects to go read and comment on.
If you need a beta reader, let me know. I don't sugar-coat my critiques! (Also, thanks for the mention!) I seriously can't post my writing on a big writing forum like that. I get too nervous. I feel much better when I grab beta readers from facebook and through my blog!
ReplyDeleteOh, I don't actually post it there. They have a whole list of people there that are willing to do beta reads, complete with the types of work they typically do. It's handy to find beta readers for myself, and putting myself on there draws in a lot of interested authors really quickly, too.
DeleteI'm not short on readers now, but I like all the feedback I can get. If you don't mind a certain degree of darkness in the story, I'll be glad to arrange something with you.
I try not to go easy and be overly kind when draft-reading, but I've never thought of myself as too good at giving advice on stuffs either way.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, the other acquaintance I asked to look over my novel never does flowery language and is so straight-up and honest that you have to remember he's helping you to not think you've been insulted! He's a busy guy, though, so he probably doesn't do it too often.