The Blessing (and the Curse) of the Alpha Reader

Hi, I'm Denise and I use alpha readers.

Now some of you are saying "What? What is she talking about? WTF is an alpha reader?" and others are now looking down your nose with contempt. No real writer uses alpha readers.

And a few of you, some who are too ashamed to admit it, are nodding your head and whispering "I do too."

What is an alpha reader?

An alpha reader is a person who reads your book while it's in first draft.

Okay, I'm going to let a few of you get yourselves back together before I continue on, because some of you would rather face a firing squad than show people your first draft. And guess what? That's okay.

Just like some people use detailed outlines, snowflake methods, or whatever else people use to intricately plot out their books, others just "pants" it and go. I fall somewhere in the middle, which if I had to guess, I think most writers do too. If someone tried to force me to use an an outline you would find me laying on the floor next to my computer throwing a temper tantrum in frustration. The rigidness of an outline is like a cork to my creativity. It forces it into a one way trickle and my imagination doesn't work that way. Some of my best writing, both technique and plot, comes from knowing where the scene starts and a "hope" of where it ends. I set my characters in their places and let them go.

If you told an outliner to do this, they'd probably break out into a spontaneous case of Ebola.

So now you're saying, "Yeah, that's awesome Denise, but I thought this was about alpha readers." And you would be so right.

It's widely accepted that people write in different ways (see above) so why is it so hard to accept that writers have readers at different stages?

I use alpha readers, in the very beginning to see what they think. Do they like the characters? Do they like the set up? Basically, it's to give me positive (or negative) reinforcement. Nothing spurs you on like someone telling you that they love what you just wrote.

Towards the middle, the alpha reader needs to be flexible and unafraid to raise concerns. Its not unusual for me to send out chapters to alpha readers with notes like:*

• Oh yeah, I'm introducing a new character named Jeb three chapters back when the velociraptor jumps out of the jungle, but not until I do revisions. He's a hunter with some magical skills and a mysterious past. So when you see Jeb mentioned, you'll know it's him.

• You know how that vampire kicked Jessica's ass? Well, I'm changing it so that Marcus rushes in and saves her. But I'll fix that in revisions.

• This whole subplot with Marlena trying to infiltrate the werewolf lair isn't working out so well, I'm going to take it out in revisions, so I won't mention it in the rest of the book.

* Actual plot notes not used. Feel free to borrow.

Notice a trend here? I'm often throwing changes at my readers and telling them to deal with it. (And also putting it off until revisions.) Your alpha reader needs to be able to handle this kind of "stress."

Your alpha reader needs to be honest, because if they aren't honest, they are worthless to you. (Yes, that deserved italics AND bold and possibly repeating.)

**If your alpha readers aren't honest they are WORTHLESS.**

There, I feel better.

In Chosen, I had Will figuring out details sooner than I wanted but I didn't want him to look stupid; he was a smart guy, so I wrote him figuring out clues. But my alpha reader Brandy pointed out that it was too big a leap for him, she didn't see it happening. Her comment saved me some MAJOR rewrites because she was right. It was too big of a leap for him. When I am writing first draft, I usually have trouble turning the story off in my head. It's always there. (Which explains the daze you will often find me in.) I am living this story 24/7 and it's all so obvious to me. It helps to get that outside opinion.

In Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes, I have a plot and two subplots. I was constantly asking my alpha readers if they felt something was lacking, if things were working. Did something need to appear sooner?

At the end, I was asking things like Is this too big an info dump? Do you have enough information about fill in the blank? Was the end too long? Too short? Satisfying? Boring?

I finished Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes on a Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday morning I sent them a long email with concerns I had, my thoughts about those concerns and asked for their input. When I start editing in a few weeks, I'll be several steps ahead of the game.

Now you're thinking, "Wow! Who wouldn't want an alpha reader?"

Here's where I explain the curse. Your readers are sometimes reading utter crap. This weekend I sent a chapter with the header "the last half of this chapter isn't working" I knew it, they knew it, some had suggestions about what wasn't working, Kristi simply said "I wasn't feeling it." Even though it's tough to get criticism, it's also good to get confirmation that it really isn't working.

This weekend I wrote dialogue explaining information about the mystery. I struggled with what to expose, if it was enough or too soon. I wrote and rewrote, so by the end I mostly had straight dialogue, very few tags. Why put those tags in if I was changing it five minutes later? My alpha readers end up reading this "script," without the tags, because I wanted my alpha readers opinions: Did this work? You are sometimes sending sub par writing just to make sure you are getting the plot.

Which brings me to the main reason I use alpha readers. I tell my alphas that there will be times my writing SUCKS, ignore that, as hard as it is to send. And some days it's HARD. The only thing that let's me press send is knowing that they know I am capable of writing; they're just not seeing it in this email. Their job is to look at story, plot and characters. And to tell me that they love it.

But only if they mean it.

Do YOU use alpha readers? Had you ever heard of them before?

OMG Stick a Fork in My WIP-- It's Done!

On Monday June 28, I started a test project that didn't have a title for and the barest of ideas, created mere days before. I decided to write and see what happened.

What happened is short of amazing, to me anyway. I ended up with a 102,000 word manuscript that not only had a plot, but two subplots, all well woven in a funny, sentimental and thrilling mystery with twists and turns my alpha readers never saw coming. Some I didn't even see myself until I wrote them.

What I experienced the last 30 days is nothing short of magical. I never forced it, rarely planned much, had a general idea of where things were going (knew the mystery and details in my head, let them come out where necessary) and just let it go. I sat down and the words FLEW out of my fingers.

And I never had more fun writing.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "Wow, 102,000 words in thirty days? That must be a lot of CRAP!" But at least six hours a day of those thirty days, if not more (probably twelve on Saturday when you take into account I wrote until 4 a.m.), were spent writing. And granted it is a first draft, but I had something going for me, something I did on PURPOSE. My main character Rose is southern, and I wrote in first person, so I was CONSTANTLY forced to think of creative ways for her to say things, perfect SHOW not TELL. And honestly, a good part of cleaning up Chosen was making it more show. I still have tell in Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes, but it looks a whole lot easier to clean up than Chosen did.

And I'll even say this: I love Chosen, Chosen is my baby and I hope to get it published, but the love I have for Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes eclipses Chosen. Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes seems so ME-- a perfect fit of my family blog humor, my love for mystery/thrillers and a touch of mystical/paranormal. And it's not just my opinion: my four alpha readers all read and loved Chosen too, in fact Kristi became an alpha reader because she loved Chosen so much and was disappointed I wasn't writing it's sequel, but they love this one more.

Which brings me to the topic of my next blog post: Alpha readers. The controversial reader.

Stay tuned.

Wordle of Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes

Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes first draft is halfway complete at 46,000 words in only 20 days! (And 5 of those days I didn't write!!!) To celebrate I created a Wordle! You plug in your manuscript and it prints out your most used words, biggest to smallest. I'm not sure how helpful it actually is, but is sure is pretty!

I am LOVING my exclamation point tonight!!!!

Yeah, my trim job sucks. Deal.

Something New

I have started a new project. Hot on the heels of the rejection of my full of CHOSEN, and facing the possibility that CHOSEN might be unsellable in the current market, I thought it best to stop writing the sequel and start something new.

Its a daunting task, starting something new. For one thing, you need an idea. Lots of authors keep notebooks and scraps of papers filled with potential story ideas. I don't. Maybe its because I can only let my mind loose on one idea at a time, although its safe to say I currently have three WIPs in various states of progress, so maybe that *law* doesn't apply to me anymore.

ANYWAY, I was about 33K into the sequel to CHOSEN when I got that rejection and honestly, I was floundering a bit, unsure I was taking it in the right direction. So I decided what I really needed was a fresh start. Something new. This was on a Saturday night, June 26.

I. Had. Nothing.

Although on the Thursday before, I had gone to the DMV with my son and mentioned to him that a job working at the DMV would be a cool for main character because of all the strange people you were bound to see. His response was to roll his eyes. (I get that a lot from my six kids.)

That was it. All I had.

So the rusty, creaky wheels started churning and I began the "What If" game based purely on a young woman who worked at the DMV. And ideas began pouring in, first at a trickle, then a steady flow and I thought I had the makings of a good story, although the genre was unclear. (typical for me) This was Sunday afternoon, less than twenty four hours after I decided to write a new book.

When I start a new project, I always tell myself to write the first chapter, that's all I commit to and see if its a good fit. Do I like it? Do I want to commit many months to it? For me, the first chapter is like a date before becoming engaged. But what I hadn't foreseen with this project, was how hard it was to let my other characters go. I felt like I was cheating on Emma and Will by writing about Rose. But it had to be done.

So, I on Sunday afternoon I wrote a blurb about what my new WIP would be about, to help keep me on track. I emailed it to my friends, asked them what they thought and got their blessings. It looked fun.

So last Monday, ten days ago, I began. I took off running out of the starting gate and I have't stopped sprinting. I currently have 28,000 words written, almost one third of the book in nine days. NINE DAYS! My fingers literally cannot keep up with my mind. And I am loving it. Rose is quirky, innocent and southern, written in first person, and she says all kinds of fun, quirky things.

I am having so much fun.

I'm posting the blurb I wrote, which I've tweaked a bit as I go and see things changing as I write (yes, I'm a pantser with a general plan, that I usually change) I plan on sharing parts of it as I go.

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TWENTY-EIGHT AND A HALF WISHES

Rose Gardner has been weird as long as she can remember. She sees things no one else can, always about other people. Usually insignificant things like someone’s toilet is going to overflow or their baby is going to have an ear infection but more rarely something bigger like their husband is sleeping with their best friend.

One day at her suckfest DMV job she processes the paperwork for new license plates and she sees her dead body bleeding on her mother’s favorite sofa. Since she never sees things for herself, she realizes she is seeing the future of the man whose paperwork she is processing. Before she can blurt out that he is going to kill her, she faints, but his suspicions are raised over her reaction.

Rose still lives at home with her domineering mother and is considered a prime suspect when her momma winds up murdered, especially since a rolling pin with her finger prints all over it was used as the murder weapon.

After living for twenty four years under her mother’s iron clad rule, Rose creates a list, her Wish List, of twenty eight things she wants to accomplish in her life, leaving the last spot, number twenty nine empty. Rose feels a freedom she never imagined as she works her way through the list, bringing even more suspicion upon her. In her new zest for life, she actually talks to the single neighbor next door, as a friend of course, and finds herself amazed that she can actually have a friendship, with a man. But HE has secrets of his own. As Rose gets a taste of the life she's always wanted, she realizes waiting to get arrested isn't the biggest thing she has to worry about; it's the people who want to kill her.