Beta Reading and Editing
Beta reading and editing are VERY important, and I can't stress this enough! I see so many people skip this step, and I've definitely skipped out on beta reading in the past. If you'd like me to beta read for you, click here.
Some general advice:
Read lots of books and study the grammar as you're reading. That's how I actually learned a lot about sentence structure and punctuation! (Also, don't overuse exclamation points...)
Have a stronger vocabulary, so you're not repeating words again and again (like "jumped" can be replaced with "pounced" or "bounded"). This is the same for repeating "said" (which happened a lot in Harry Potter); you can instead use words like "murmured" and "retorted" to mix things up.
Some general advice:
Read lots of books and study the grammar as you're reading. That's how I actually learned a lot about sentence structure and punctuation! (Also, don't overuse exclamation points...)
Have a stronger vocabulary, so you're not repeating words again and again (like "jumped" can be replaced with "pounced" or "bounded"). This is the same for repeating "said" (which happened a lot in Harry Potter); you can instead use words like "murmured" and "retorted" to mix things up.
Beta Reading
Why is beta reading vital for your success? Well, it gives you feedback, for one! After you've written your story, you're probably eager to get it out into the world--or maybe you're scared to put it out there for others to read. Either way, if you want to improve your writing, you'll have to get someone else to look at it eventually. This can be a friend, another writer, a teacher...
These people will take a look at your story and tell you what parts they enjoyed, and which parts need more work. Perhaps the pacing is off in one area, and the story just seemed to drag. Or there was a big plot hole that you didn't even notice! Maybe a character's motivations seemed off. Your story might make sense to you, but it might not to others. This is why feedback is so important, whether your beta reader is a family member who knows nothing about plotting or an experienced teacher who sees everything "wrong" with your story.
Criticism can definitely be a bit hard to take. I had a friend who always slammed my stories, and it always made me feel terrible afterwards. But you NEED these people! You need people to be honest with you about the wonky parts of your story, so you know what has to be changed. This is how you find your weak points.
I never used to have other people read my stories. The result? They were complete trash, especially when looking back on them. I also used to never write more than one draft. The result was that my plots would change a bit, or we'd be jumping from one thing to the next. When I got beta readers, my story became much more structured, plot points were tied up, and I made sure that the story was engaging the whole time.
So how do you get feedback from beta readers, once you've found some? You can ask them for chapter-by-chapter feedback (especially if you write longer chapters, this is recommended), or maybe even do two or three chapters at a time. I recommend you get feedback per chapter, that way your beta reader is focusing on each part at any given time, rather than reading the whole thing in one go and forgetting stuff. However, if someone is excited to read your book in one go--let them. Then have them read it again, chapter-by-chapter, so they can give you even more detailed feedback now that they know where the story is going.
What do you want your beta readers to look for? The obvious stuff, like plot holes, pacing issues, character motivation, character development, world-building, spelling/grammar, writing style... You can also have them tell you what they personally think of characters, or how they reacted in certain parts of the book. This helps you to gage if you're getting the correct emotions across to your audience. Another thing that I'll ask my readers to look for is if I'm writing enough descriptions for settings, as I don't describe locations that well sometimes. Since I know this is one of my weak points, I have my betas specifically on the search for where I can be more descriptive.
I personally have my betas go chapter-by-chapter, then fill out an overall "end" form to let me know how I did with the book as a whole. An example of the type of form I'd use is below.
Once you gain feedback from a beta reader, you'll be going back to structuring your story. Perhaps scenes need to be rearranged, or scrapped altogether if they serve no purpose. Once you know what sort of structure you have, you just restart with the next draft. You can of course keep some scenes the same, or just tweak them a bit as needed--don't make more work for yourself where it's not necessary! But you're definitely going to want to rewrite scenes, or add in new scenes altogether. After you have your next draft done, send it out to beta readers and repeat the process until you have a draft that you're satisfied with and all issues seem to be covered.
Of course, you don't have to have beta readers every single time between drafts. If you're writing a draft and don't like where it's going, you can scrap it and restart. Or if you finish your first draft, but KNOW where you had issues, you can address these issues in the next draft without having others look at it. You can write five drafts before you even get a beta reader! The important thing here is that you DO eventually get beta readers.
You should also consider getting "sensitivity readers" for your story. These readers are usually a minority, reading your story to make sure you're not representing a particular culture, identity, mental illness, etc. incorrectly. Remember: Some stories just aren't yours to tell, especially if you have not done strenuous research on particular subjects first. Your stories can hurt others if you have improper representation and/or handling of topics.
Why is beta reading vital for your success? Well, it gives you feedback, for one! After you've written your story, you're probably eager to get it out into the world--or maybe you're scared to put it out there for others to read. Either way, if you want to improve your writing, you'll have to get someone else to look at it eventually. This can be a friend, another writer, a teacher...
These people will take a look at your story and tell you what parts they enjoyed, and which parts need more work. Perhaps the pacing is off in one area, and the story just seemed to drag. Or there was a big plot hole that you didn't even notice! Maybe a character's motivations seemed off. Your story might make sense to you, but it might not to others. This is why feedback is so important, whether your beta reader is a family member who knows nothing about plotting or an experienced teacher who sees everything "wrong" with your story.
Criticism can definitely be a bit hard to take. I had a friend who always slammed my stories, and it always made me feel terrible afterwards. But you NEED these people! You need people to be honest with you about the wonky parts of your story, so you know what has to be changed. This is how you find your weak points.
I never used to have other people read my stories. The result? They were complete trash, especially when looking back on them. I also used to never write more than one draft. The result was that my plots would change a bit, or we'd be jumping from one thing to the next. When I got beta readers, my story became much more structured, plot points were tied up, and I made sure that the story was engaging the whole time.
So how do you get feedback from beta readers, once you've found some? You can ask them for chapter-by-chapter feedback (especially if you write longer chapters, this is recommended), or maybe even do two or three chapters at a time. I recommend you get feedback per chapter, that way your beta reader is focusing on each part at any given time, rather than reading the whole thing in one go and forgetting stuff. However, if someone is excited to read your book in one go--let them. Then have them read it again, chapter-by-chapter, so they can give you even more detailed feedback now that they know where the story is going.
What do you want your beta readers to look for? The obvious stuff, like plot holes, pacing issues, character motivation, character development, world-building, spelling/grammar, writing style... You can also have them tell you what they personally think of characters, or how they reacted in certain parts of the book. This helps you to gage if you're getting the correct emotions across to your audience. Another thing that I'll ask my readers to look for is if I'm writing enough descriptions for settings, as I don't describe locations that well sometimes. Since I know this is one of my weak points, I have my betas specifically on the search for where I can be more descriptive.
I personally have my betas go chapter-by-chapter, then fill out an overall "end" form to let me know how I did with the book as a whole. An example of the type of form I'd use is below.
Once you gain feedback from a beta reader, you'll be going back to structuring your story. Perhaps scenes need to be rearranged, or scrapped altogether if they serve no purpose. Once you know what sort of structure you have, you just restart with the next draft. You can of course keep some scenes the same, or just tweak them a bit as needed--don't make more work for yourself where it's not necessary! But you're definitely going to want to rewrite scenes, or add in new scenes altogether. After you have your next draft done, send it out to beta readers and repeat the process until you have a draft that you're satisfied with and all issues seem to be covered.
Of course, you don't have to have beta readers every single time between drafts. If you're writing a draft and don't like where it's going, you can scrap it and restart. Or if you finish your first draft, but KNOW where you had issues, you can address these issues in the next draft without having others look at it. You can write five drafts before you even get a beta reader! The important thing here is that you DO eventually get beta readers.
You should also consider getting "sensitivity readers" for your story. These readers are usually a minority, reading your story to make sure you're not representing a particular culture, identity, mental illness, etc. incorrectly. Remember: Some stories just aren't yours to tell, especially if you have not done strenuous research on particular subjects first. Your stories can hurt others if you have improper representation and/or handling of topics.
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Editing
Editing is another crucial aspect of story-telling, especially if you're planning to publish your book. Even if you think your English is 100% perfect--even if you've got a degree in English!--you better get an editor. Editors are so helpful in not just correcting your spelling and grammar, but telling you which scenes to cut and which should be tweaked. Editors help you remove the "fluff" and make your story readable. I can't tell you how many indie books I've read that lack editing...and it's truly a nightmare trying to read these books.
If you can't afford paying an editor, you can always ask a friend or teacher who has a great understanding of the English language to look over your story for you. Some editing is better than no editing, after all. If you're an artist and you have a writer friend, offer to do an art trade with them; you draw something for them and they edit for you. There are ways to go about getting editing services.
I personally edit my books before I hand them out to others for editing. I have several edits that I put my book through first, to try and make sure I've got all bases covered. The first edits I do are literally just searching my document. I've misspelled words in the past, so I make note of these words on a different document, then I search my manuscript document for the misspelled version. For example, the words "unite" and "untie" could be easily confused. I therefore search the document for the word "untie" and change it to "unite" (if it's supposed to be "unite"). The other document-search I do is the document's own spelling/grammar check BUT I don't always accept the suggestions. Sometimes the document is entirely wrong, thinking it should be "their" instead of "they're" when it makes no sense. So don't just accept every suggestion!
Note that if you made up a bunch of words (like character names) for your fantasy, you can add these words to your dictionary; this makes the red underline disappear, so you know if you DO actually misspell the word by mistake. It also saves you tons of time when you're doing the document search.
The next edit I do is just a read-through. I read the story, adjusting sentences as I go, especially if they're unclear. After I finish my read-through edit, I do ANOTHER read-through. But this time, I read the dialogue only, and I read it aloud. This helps me figure out if a character needs more of a unique way of speaking, or if information is being repeated. You can do the read-aloud edit of the entire book as well (or even have the computer read it to you). But I definitely recommend reading JUST the dialogue, to ensure that scenes are flowing and responses make sense.
It's usually after these edits that I give my book to someone else to edit. After they give me feedback, usually on grammar or scenes that don't make sense, I go in and adjust it. Once they finish their edit, I put the book through another read-through edit myself. If I change a scene, I typically resend it to my editor, to make sure it's still clear and grammatically-correct.
After that, I put the book through one last edit. You can never do enough editing, after all.
Editing is another crucial aspect of story-telling, especially if you're planning to publish your book. Even if you think your English is 100% perfect--even if you've got a degree in English!--you better get an editor. Editors are so helpful in not just correcting your spelling and grammar, but telling you which scenes to cut and which should be tweaked. Editors help you remove the "fluff" and make your story readable. I can't tell you how many indie books I've read that lack editing...and it's truly a nightmare trying to read these books.
If you can't afford paying an editor, you can always ask a friend or teacher who has a great understanding of the English language to look over your story for you. Some editing is better than no editing, after all. If you're an artist and you have a writer friend, offer to do an art trade with them; you draw something for them and they edit for you. There are ways to go about getting editing services.
I personally edit my books before I hand them out to others for editing. I have several edits that I put my book through first, to try and make sure I've got all bases covered. The first edits I do are literally just searching my document. I've misspelled words in the past, so I make note of these words on a different document, then I search my manuscript document for the misspelled version. For example, the words "unite" and "untie" could be easily confused. I therefore search the document for the word "untie" and change it to "unite" (if it's supposed to be "unite"). The other document-search I do is the document's own spelling/grammar check BUT I don't always accept the suggestions. Sometimes the document is entirely wrong, thinking it should be "their" instead of "they're" when it makes no sense. So don't just accept every suggestion!
Note that if you made up a bunch of words (like character names) for your fantasy, you can add these words to your dictionary; this makes the red underline disappear, so you know if you DO actually misspell the word by mistake. It also saves you tons of time when you're doing the document search.
The next edit I do is just a read-through. I read the story, adjusting sentences as I go, especially if they're unclear. After I finish my read-through edit, I do ANOTHER read-through. But this time, I read the dialogue only, and I read it aloud. This helps me figure out if a character needs more of a unique way of speaking, or if information is being repeated. You can do the read-aloud edit of the entire book as well (or even have the computer read it to you). But I definitely recommend reading JUST the dialogue, to ensure that scenes are flowing and responses make sense.
It's usually after these edits that I give my book to someone else to edit. After they give me feedback, usually on grammar or scenes that don't make sense, I go in and adjust it. Once they finish their edit, I put the book through another read-through edit myself. If I change a scene, I typically resend it to my editor, to make sure it's still clear and grammatically-correct.
After that, I put the book through one last edit. You can never do enough editing, after all.