My last prompt for this month on editing is to ask–writers, what’s your best editing tip?
Mine would be that when you have finished all your big picture edits–smoothing out the character developments, plugging the plot holes, filling in logic gaps–to edit your chapters out of order.
If you read each chapter like it’s a short story, you can pay better attention to the details. When you read in order, you often pay attention to the big picture items, such as how does the end of chapter four flow into the beginning of chapter five. Treating each chapter as its own little story makes you zero in on problems in dialogue or description or pacing. Writers, I’d love to hear from you. What’s your best editing tip?
As we wrap up this month on editing, I want to write about beta readers, the secret key to editing. When I seriously began to pursue publishing, I didn’t realize how valuable they are in shaping a story.
Who Are Beta Readers?
Beta readers are readers who test drive your manuscript. Their job is to point out big picture problems with your story. They aren’t proofreaders or line editors. And I don’t think, in most cases, they should be writers. Writers read differently from other readers because we work in this art.
How to Choose a Beta Reader
Not just anyone can be a beta reader. First, they must be someone who enjoys reading for pleasure and likes the genre you are writing. Don’t ask a devoted reader of narrative nonfiction to critique your romance. Second, they must be willing to take the time to read the manuscript critically. To help them, I prepare a list of questions. Below are the ones I created for the beta readers of A Storm of Doubt, a teen Christian mystery.
Do I describe the characters well enough so you can imagine them?
Were the characters believable?
Do the family trees and the roster at the beginning of the book help keep the characters straight?
Was the dialogue believable? Did characters sound different from each other?
Do I describe the settings well enough so you can imagine them?
Did the beginning catch your attention?
Did the story hold your interest all the way through? If your interest lagged, where?
Does the mystery make sense—do the clues allow the reader to solve it?
Did the ending surprise you? How?
Were there any parts you found confusing, that you had to reread? Where?
I know the novel is too long. What recommendations do you have of where I can cut?
Third, they must be able to criticize kindly. I want to know what doesn’t work in the story, but I also don’t want to be savaged. I will listen to criticism couched in kindness much more readily than criticism that hits me like a flamer thrower.
3-5 beta readers are the ideal numbers. More than that, and you may be overwhelmed with opinions, having equal numbers of people liking and disliking the same chapter or character or whatever. I went with 4 for A Storm of Doubts.
My youngest sister, who reads lots of cozy mysteries
A friend, who is retired judge. He is wonderful at spotting logic problems.
My teenage niece, who loves mysteries
A writer friend. Yes, I know I said don’t use writers but this writer friend and I call each other once a month to encourage and help each other, so I wanted her to read it.
Once I get all the questions sheets returned, I look for patterns. If 2 people find a character annoying, I take a serious look at that character. For A Storm, I wasn’t sure if I’d described the settings in enough detail. All of my beta readers said I described them well enough for them to imagine the scenes. So my worries were unfounded, and I didn’t change that part of the book. My sister said one subplot just didn’t make sense to her. As I conducted a whole book edit, I realized she was right and eliminated it. Beta readers are invaluable for spotting problems writers miss because we are so close to the story.
Please use the photo above as prompt for a winter poem. I chose the photo after I got to thinking about how stark the black and white of a winter landscape are. Here my inspiration:
So excited to reveal the cover of my upcoming mystery in this book trailer my 17-year-old niece created for me. She did an amazing job! It took us 2 hours to edit together the videos, photos, music, and text to create 43-second trailer. Click the link below.
If you enjoyed the previous Rae Riley mysteries, you’ll love A Storm of Doubts as Rae and Mal’s relationship encounters its first, real test, a shady relative returns home, and a family friend deals with the drama surrounding his ex-wife.
Here’s the back cover blurb:
Her dad said nothing could changer their relationship. But what if he wasn’t her dad?
Summer gets off to a rocky start for twenty-year-old Rae Riley when the ex-wife of family friend Jason Carlisle claims their youngest child isn’t his and Rae’s con man uncle Troy returns to Marlin County, Ohio. Rae is already at odds with her father, Sheriff Walter “Mal” Malinowski, over her desire to help people in trouble. When she extends that help to Uncle Troy and Jason’s ex-wife, she and Mal clash even more.
Then the ex-wife disappears, and Jason and his brother Rick are two of the main suspects. As Rae and her Aunt Carrie, a private investigator hired to protect Jason’s kids, work to discover what really happened, Rae wrestles with Troy’s insinuations that she may be calling the wrong Malinowski “Dad.”
Your first novel, Jessie’s Hope, is a clean romance. Your new release is YA speculative fiction. Why did you change genres?
Jennifer: I’ve enjoyed YA and middle-grade fiction for as long as I can remember. I read a wide variety of genres but have always been drawn to speculative fiction. Reed’s story in Smoking Flax started as a writing prompt short story challenge in our group: the Lawrence County Writers Guild. When I decided to turn it into a novel, I bogged down in the middle. And it was 2020. I called on writing coach and award-winning author, James L. Rubart for some coaching lessons. We really dug into who I was vs. what others wrote. My favorite books, movies, and television shows are all speculative so I thought I would take the leap into a new adventure.
What was your biggest challenge in changing genres? Your greatest reward?
Jennifer: My biggest challenge has been believing I could write in this imaginative genre. Time travel or what I call Southern time-shifting was difficult to explain in a way my readers could understand. Writing speculative stretched my imagination to its limit. The greatest reward has been hearing my Beta readers say they got the story and it made sense. I can’t tell you what a relief that was.
I know exactly what you mean. I have to write out a whole mystery novel before I can let anyone seeit. If it doesn’t make sense, I’ve got a ton of work to do.
You’ve also made a big change in main characters. In Jessie’s Hope, the main character is a young woman about to be married. In Smoking Flax, the main character, Reed Anderson, is male and almost nineteen. Why the switch in genders? Did writing from a male POV bring extra obstacles?
Jennifer: For me, I don’t pick the main characters or their gender or even the time setting. I follow where the story leads. Smoking Flax begins in 1984, looks back to 1978, then forward to 1984. While Reed is nineteen in the beginning, a good majority of the reader’s time is spent looking back at his thirteenth summer. A coming-of-age story. I loved writing from a teenage point of view. I have six grandchildren; four are between 12 and 16. I asked them lots of questions and received advice from friends about what a young man would think, say, or act in given situations.
Both your books have southern settings. Why?
Jennifer: I’m Southern, through and through, living most of my life in Alabama. I love my culture and sharing it with others. I tried to dig past the cliches and misunderstandings people have about this great region and find the truth.
I think adding our backgrounds to our stories gives them unique spins.
What kind of world-building did you have to create for Smoking Flax?
Jennifer: I had to study Louisiana where part of the story takes place and talk to people about the region, weather, culture, etc. Alabama in 1978 is strongly set in my mind from my youth. The real difficulty was adding the speculative element so it would be genuine and fit. Adding speculative elements to a real place takes careful planning.
What was your greatest surprise while writing Smoking Flax?
Jennifer: Definitely the direction the story took after I accepted the challenge from James L. Rubart to see if the story could be speculative. I prayed and asked God to help me see it that way. Ideas flowed after that point and I actually dreamed the ending. I remember waking up and the feeling of surprise as I jotted down pages of notes.
That is an amazing way to receive inspiration!
What advice do you have for writers interested inwriting either clean romance or speculative fiction?
Jennifer: Pray through. Instead of writing what is popular or expected, ask God what direction He wants your writing to take. It might just surprise you. And if you take the speculative road, be prepared to work. Smoking Flax has been the hardest writing I’ve ever done.
God does surprise us when He takes the lead. The mystery series I’m writing now came as a great surprise. And a great gift.
Now for some personal questions …which do you prefer? Tea or coffee?
Jennifer: At home, English Breakfast tea with honey. In town, vanilla lattes. 😊
I’m a tea person too. Where’s your favorite place to write?
Jennifer: Either in my study at the desk or in the recliner in the living room.
What’s your favorite season?
Jennifer: Fall, hands down. I love the colors, football, fall festivals, and our church activities. Whenever we can, we drive to the Smokey Mountains in October or November and enjoy the beauty.
Thank you for stopping by and best wishes on Smoking Flax!
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Almost nineteen-year-old Read Anderson wants to belong in a world where he hasn’t always fit. Three days after graduation, he decides to ride a bus back to Louisiana and deals with the events of his thirteenth summer once and for all. Back then, he’d stood up to his abusive Pa, protecting Momma and his sister, taking control of his life. But who was the faded image of the child he saw that day? Aunt Lula predicted his life would shift and change. Something about space-time-continum and the fourth dimesion. He tucks her words in his heart. If he survives the shift, this could be his chance to start over. But the ghost child haunts his dreams. Even though six years have passed, does he want to confront the lies he’s always believed?
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Jennifer Hallmark writes Southern fiction with a twist. Her website and newsletter focus on her books, love of the South, and favorite fiction. She loves reading and streaming science fiction, fantasy, and mysteries or her favorite subject—time travel.
Her latest novel, Smoking Flax, was released on January 16th with Elk Lake Publishing. She creates stories with unforgettable characters–her stories are a little eerie and otherworldly but with a positive turn. Connect with her at the sites below.
