Before I get into the details, I want to express my heartfelt appreciation for your assistance in completing my first novel.
What is a beta reader? Someone who assists the author by reviewing a pre-release version on a book.
What do I expect? I expect you to be harsh! Tell me what you are really thinking as you are reading. “I wonder why the character didn’t…” or “What the Hell? That came outta nowhere” or “This part seems really confusing.”
I am sure you will find typos, grammar errors and missing words. Please mark those so I can clean them up.
But I don’t want that to be your focus. I especially want your feedback on big picture items, like:
- Does the story engage you?
- Is the pacing proper?
- Are there sections that drag?
- Do the characters seem real?
- Do they behave and talk in a consistent manner?
- Did I leave too many clues so that you figured out the ending well in advance?
- Or did I not leave enough, making you feel like I pulled a fast one at the end? (If I did it right, you should be able to look back and think I should have seen that coming.)
I have completely rewritten the story a dozen times, tearing it apart, shuffling scenes, deleting and inserting characters and tweaking the plot. The story has also gone through one round of objective developmental editing. Now I need to know what readers think!
I am worried there may be plot inconsistencies or characters who know things they shouldn’t know until later. So please let me know if you find any of these issues.
Most of all, I want you to enjoy the read!
