by Guest Blogger |
What exactly is a Beta Reader, and why should you care? The term ‘beta’ is borrowed from the software industry, meaning the beta ‘tests’ (reads) your full, finished manuscript to help you eliminate ‘bugs’ (problems) before it’s published. Here’s a more official online definition I like: “An alpha reader or beta reader, also a pre-reader or critiquer, is a non-professional reader who reads a written work, generally fiction, with the intent of looking over material to find and improve elements such as grammar and spelling, as well as suggestion to improve the story, its characters, or its setting.”
All true, but they left out the most important benefit.
Beta readers are invaluable to your writing. Here’s why…
by Pamela Fernuik |
This is where I admit I am a fool and I tell you that I wrote my story at midnight the night before my column on The Write Practice was due.
If you want to set up your writing for failure, I know how.
by Emily Wenstrom |
We know how to become better writers. As with anything in life, the way to get better is to practice.
That said, there’s two kinds of practice. There’s the competitively oriented kind where you run drills to improve, like soccer.
And then there’s the process-oriented kind, where you mindfully return to it over and over, for the sake of the experience itself, like yoga.
If you want to be a better writer, you have to practice like you practice yoga.
by Guest Blogger |
When asked why he wrote horror stories, Stephen King once said that he wrote about the things that scared him the most.
He went on to say, writing horror stories was therapeutic in a way; a method to overcome his own insecurities and phobias.
by Ruthanne Reid |
Here’s the thing about creative energy: it can dry up.
Writing is an amazing act of courage and creation, and it takes a lot out of us. All too often, we run out of steam, and usually at the worst possible moments—when we have a deadline, a story to finish, a publisher breathing down our necks, or even just our own internal editor’s demands.
The good news: it happens to us all.
The better news: there’s a way out. Read on.
by Monica M. Clark |
Have you ever felt like you needed help with your writing process, but didn’t know where to turn? Perhaps you’re new to this writing thing, or you’ve been too scared to tell anyone what you’re working on.
Or, if you’re like me, you’ve spent so much time in the writing process, so much time writing, editing, pitching, and educating yourself on the process that you truly believe you’ve done all you can possibly do on your own.
What should you do now?
