As I developed and honed my novel Rules
for Giving, there came a point when I wanted to take the manuscript outside
of my critique group and expose it to a wider audience. Not that I did not trust
my
critique group. It is a strong one, and I have been told this by people who
have moved away and emailed me about critique groups in their new location. One
fellow specifically, who has an MFA, wrote back and said I should consider
myself fortunate.
But still, there is a point that you want to leave the fold and see if your novel has legs. Here is some advice as you choose readers and what your expectations should be:
- Have an agenda--sometimes. When you ask someone to read your novel, do so with a specific purpose. I have several gay characters in my novel. I asked a lesbian friend to read it with an eye towards whether I represented that culture properly. For the most part I did (I have a number of gay and lesbian friends) but there were a few inconsistencies that she pointed out.
- Realize that not everyone is the obsessive reader fool that you are. There are people out there, some even your good friends, who will ask to read the novel, and then they don’t. I quickly found this out and learned not to bug people about it. One reader even got a little upset at me when she learned I asked a neighbor, but did not ask her. I gave her a manuscript, but I am sure she has not read it. Also remember that just because you polish off a 400-page novel in a day-and-a-half, not everyone else does.
- Not everyone sees the world as you do. I have experience with alcoholics and addicts, probably more than the average person. The disease is rife in my family. One reader made some very good observations about many parts of the novel, but she had problems understanding the logic of a drinker (or, in reality, the lack of logic, because addicts, alcoholics or problem drinkers often act against their own self-interest). I quickly figured out that I needed to consider this when she questioned motives in my novel that were fueled by alcohol or drugs.
- Don’t think that everyone will find all the typos. This does not happen. My wife has an extraordinary eye for proofreading, and still there were some obvious typos that flew right past her. I can take my manuscript out right now to a reader and they will find a typo that several other people, experienced readers all, missed.
- In the end, it is your call. There are some readers who will have serious objections to parts of your writing. When they tell you, you will look at that passage again and realize they are absolutely right. Other times you will disagree. It’s your call. Here’s a rule to go by: If one only person points it out, you might consider ignoring them. If two or more people point in out, you might consider rewriting it.
Take a look at this blog post by literary agent Rachelle Gardner for some additional advice. More good info.
See ya’ later.
WhatIfYouCouldNotFail.com by Tim Sunderland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Image by Deutsche Fotothek [CC-BY-SA-3.0-de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons
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