Beta Reading Team - Feb 2022 Update (Patreon)

It's some slow growth for this new feature this month. Unfortunately, I did not get as much time to write as I would have liked. As it turns out, I've spent most of the month working on buying a townhome! Not so much an excuse, but definitely a life event worth sharing. And one that takes a lot of time and energy over the last few weeks as we work to get everything squared away. 

Anyways, on to the more story focused stuff here...

Once again a link to the story that is currently being working on. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ATCqW12D7mnNEuBYvVl4qBGlcmDHBwcOHqiH5oEMGN4/edit?usp=sharing

If you look inside you can see some smaller additions and well as notes starting to appear from past me to future me. I'm starting to worry if the story structure works as intended and if I'll get it all into the limited page count. So there is a lot of staring at the screen and trying to think things out on that side of the writing process. 

But normally, I find the best thing do to in that area is the press through. Get the ideas down on the page. Then circle back. Organize & Cut. 

You can see a bit of this tactic starting to form as some panels will have way too much text. I'm trying to think out what I'm trying to say and they will likely be cut into multiple panels later on. 

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?