Beta Reading Team - New Feature (Patreon)

I've been experimenting with new offerings to add for our deciders. 

Talking over the last few months with various deciders, I thought we would do a trial on a Beta-Reading Team. I know there has been some desire from some to proofread pages for Open Trade, unfortunately production schedules don't work well for that. But there are always new projects in the process. 

That is where the Beta Reading Team comes in. This is an opportunity to watch and participate through the creative process. End of each month, I'll post the current project being worked on for your feedback. You'll get to see outlines, pitches, and scripts while they are being written. You'll be allowed to leave comments on the document as you see fit. There is also a new section in our discord for discussion as well. 

Let me know story elements you like. Story elements you don't like. I will ultimately go I think is best, but I appreciate feedback big and small. Sometimes I need a read because I have an idea that I'm worried is off on tone, or too extreme. 

Get to see how stories shape and mold into their final form. And get to see sneak artwork from me or other artists as they shift from script to final products. 

We are starting off with a story I'm writing for a secret anthology. It's a fairy tale. No title for it yet, but you can look at the story in-progresshere - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ATCqW12D7mnNEuBYvVl4qBGlcmDHBwcOHqiH5oEMGN4/edit?usp=sharing

If you not already on discord, be sure to join us there as well -  https://discord.gg/vcUz6Nxh9n

Ultimately, I thought this could be a fun experience. If you don't want to be spoiled, no worries. Don't click on the links, and I don't post any spoilers in this monthly updates. I'll also look into making a role on Discord to protect people from spoilers as well. 

Who knows maybe ultimately sometime down the road this has to end up being a new tier, but I think it fits perfectly as a perk for the deciders.

Now for some boring stuff to put stuff on the safe side...
Please don't share stuff from the stories with others outside the the Beta Reading Team. We want to make sure outside readers are still surprised.
Also, when suggesting feedback, know that I cannot accept full story pitches and that feedback doesn't give co-authorship or ownship. I just want to hear your opinions and share the process with you. 

Since this is new for all of us, I went looking around for some Beta Reader resources and I found this information interesting. 

GUIDELINES FOR BETA READERS

Many of the drafts shown will be first draft material and has not been edited for grammar, prose, or character development. At this stage of the writing process, all plot points and sentence structures are subject to change and have not been crafted to their full potential. Therefore, remarks on fine-tuning craft elements or grammar will most likely be irrelevant until after the draft has gone through revision. There will likely be a later version that will be marked appropiately for a grammer and more finite revisions. 

The kind of feedback that will be most helpful at this point is marking anything that isn’t explained well, confuses you, or something that you think is really cool/well done (so I know to try and not scrap it during revisions). Think big picture stuff.

There are a couple levels of interaction from you that would most benefit me in the revision process. Please feel free to follow one or more of these strategies as you read through my writing.

Interaction Level I: Spur of the Moment Comments

You are welcome to leave comments in the document as thoughts come to you, but please don’t feel obliged to this level of reader interaction. Comment on things that you enjoyed, made you laugh, frustrated you, bored you, scared you…whatever!

Interaction Level II: Chapter Responses

At the end of each chapter, answer these four questions before moving on to read the next chapter:

1. What works well in this chapter? What did you enjoy most about this chapter, or what gave you the strongest personal reaction?
2. What didn’t work in this chapter? What was confusing, misplaced, or otherwise felt “off” to you? Did you wish to learn more about any particular topic?
3. Have any predictions? Based on what you just read, what do you think will happen next? (This was suggested in my findings, and I'm mixed on it's inclusion. I do really like knowing where you all think the story is going. I do normally have a path in my head. But knowing your guesses is not to steal ideas, but helps me stear the train better so I don't mislead or set up false expectations on where the story is going)
4. Were the characters realistic? Were the characters believable, relatable, and consistent unto themselves? If not, what do you think was missing to make them so?