Bookmark Monday!
Two articles today. The first one offers some helpful tips for BETA readers while the second discusses the difficulties of killing off a hero your audience loves too much.
Some good tips for BETA readers on how to make good notes and what to leave out of their notes. Also some tips for authors on how to work with BETA readers.
Apart from being a writer’s best friend, beta readers provide a cross between edits and a critique. A beta reader does not edit a manuscript, but will note the errors for the author to fix. Advice and critiques are other services a beta may perform.
Lessons from Sherlock Holmes: How do you kill a hero?
The expectations of readers versus what the author has in mind for their story.
When you highlight your genre ahead of time—however you’ve chosen to do so—you have to remain faithful to the parameters you set—or risk the wrath and black armbands of your loyal fan base. When you betray the expectations of the genre, it’s like pulling the rug out from your audience. It’s a far worse crime than if you’d not set any expectations to begin with.