Forum: Story Discussion and Feedback

Looking for Beta Readers.

Dominion's Son 🚫

I haven't stopped working on my two in progress stories, but over the holidays, I had a new idea that is more of a complete story. I plan to finish this one before posting it.

Given the suggestion by Crumbly Writer to use beta readers, I am putting out an open call for beta readers.

I am looking for comments on plot/story development, not proof reading. I have a proof reader already.

The story is high fantasy, except with furies instead of the traditional fantasy races.

There will be some sex with BDSM and other fetish elements.

Story Synopsis
MC starts out as a human male on Earth. He and a friend accidentally step into a interdimensional gate to another world in a universe where magic exists. The MC arrives only to discover that he is not human after all. He is an anthropomorphic tiger. Also, the Earth end of the gate is spatially unstable, the whole gate it temporally unstable, and his friend who entered the gate with him arrived ten years earlier. The MC embarks on a quest which will take him half way around the world while he fights off evil cultists. In the end, he learns that his people, the Tiger Clans got involved in a war with an evil cult that they just barely won. To save his life, he was sent to earth as an infant. The evil cult has prophecies that the lost child will return and stop the next coming of their evil god, so they are trying to kill him first. The story ends when he discovers his full story and returns to his homeland.

A possible sequel will involve the confrontation between him and the next coming of the evil god.

Vincent Berg 🚫

Just a note, but I wouldn't request beta readers before you begin writing. Just as you don't notify editors before the story is ready, you don't line up beta-readers because they'll lose interest waiting for you to write it.

Most people use friends and family they trust to tell them honestly what works and what doesn't. Others use readers who respond (partially as a reward for taking an active interest).

The key is having someone who'll read the story, before it's published, who'll point out issues you haven't envisioned in the story (like unsympathetic characters, hollow 2-dimentional characters, and plot holes which don't make much sense).

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@Vincent Berg

Just a note, but I wouldn't request beta readers before you begin writing.

I have begun writing. I have around 63 pages written so far.

As to friends and family, I don't have anyone who would be open to a story with the kind of content listed.

Replies: Switch Blayde

Switch Blayde 🚫

@Dominions Son

I have begun writing. I have around 63 pages written so far.

A Beta reader represents your target reader. The first thing you want to know from them is if they liked it. Then what they liked and of course what they didn't like. Also, what they found boring or confusing.

Think of you asking your friend if they liked a book they just finished.

I had a Beta reader tell me she skimmed a chapter, not because it was boring, but because I did something the chapter before that piqued her interest so much that's all she was interested in. To avoid that, I didn't leave it as much a mystery in the previous chapter.

I never heard of a Beta reader being used for a partial story.

Replies: Dominions Son Vincent Berg

Dominions Son 🚫

@Switch Blayde

I never heard of a Beta reader being used for a partial story.

I don't know how long it will actually take to find any. So I figure, start earlier, rather than later.

Replies: Switch Blayde

Switch Blayde 🚫

@Dominions Son

how long it will actually take to find any

One good source is your SOL blog. Ask there. Those are people who follow you.

Vincent Berg 🚫

@Switch Blayde

A Beta reader represents your target reader. The first thing you want to know from them is if they liked it. Then what they liked and of course what they didn't like. Also, what they found boring or confusing.

I use my brother, sister-in-law, and 84-year-old mother. They'll point out things they didn't like the story, though with my mother (whose written almost everything I've written (she lost her place in my 6-book Catalyst series) if I'm having trouble I'll actually watch her read. Everytime she puts the book down, I'll ask where she was. Putting a book down if often an indication that the reader has an issue with the story. It's not possible to watch every single beta-reader, but that's what you're looking for. Anything that makes them uncomfortable, put the book down or skip a chapter/story segment. They'll also point out any plot holes ("wild bores don't do that").

As Switch suggests, readers are often your best source, though you'll learn who gives you the best feedback. Some people have a feel for it, others don't (my mother, bless her heart, just can't put her objections into words). Luckily, one of my editors has a great eye for plot holes. He's saved me many times!

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Forum: Story Discussion and Feedback

Looking for Beta Readers.

WARNING! ADULT CONTENT...