Somewhere Over the Rainbow #32 With Prats in our hearts - Page 7

Hello and Good afternoon Rainbow Friends😊

Yesterday did not come to Cc, went to farm house and spent a few hours there. It was late night when we came back.

Very happy to see Avi back after facing storm. Hope life is settling there slowly. Take care and precations dear.

As Vibha said another week passed with all the necessary and unnecessary caous. Hope we hear some good news in the coming days in any form to live without fear of virus.

Good day all of you🤗

Good morning!

So happy Padma that you had a change by going to your farm house, a change of scene is always invigorating. Hope you plants and trees are all in good shape.

How is everyone else? Take care all, be blessed always!

Good morning friends. Have a nice day.🤗

A prayer for all of our wellbeing....

Padma , happy to know that you've enjoyed at your farmhouse amidst beautiful surroundings. 🤗 Good morning . 🤗

Good morning Vibha. Hope your city is dry and clean now, a respite from the rains. 🤗Have a warm and wonderful day.❤️

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Dear friends...

You are all well-established authors in the IF, your selection as a Beta Reader itself shows it. Congratulations and welcome to the group.

Managing the inflow of FFs, OS, and other write-ups to the new FF site has been a bit enervating recently, because of the unimaginable quantity of flooding into the new FF site.

The only light in this situation that is visible to us on the horizon is Beta Reader!

We are about to delve into everything you need to know about the BR process!

Beta readers are readers that the authors ask to read their work with the intention of providing general feedback on different aspects of the work including ----- Plot --- Character development ---- Setting---- Structure and Writing style. This may sound very similar to an editor’s job, but there is a thin line between the two jobs.

A key difference is that BR's feedback is provided from a reader’s perspective, whereas an editor critiques the submitted work with a different mindset, a more professional, ‘publishing-focused’ perspective. A writer will get a reader’s perspective on her story from a BR before it’s exposed to ‘real’ readers.

If you’re beta reading your friend's work, there is the potential for tension or awkwardness if you disagree on certain aspects of their submitted work. However, if you keep things mature, civilized, and semi-professional, there shouldn’t be any concerns.

Generally, beta readers give their opinions commonly known as manuscript appraisals or assessments. Beta reading is an agreed-upon voluntary arrangement provided in a non-professional capacity. Please note this.

Be clear and specific in your feedback----

Try not to include too many vague statements like ‘I enjoyed this part’ or ‘This section didn’t really work for me’. Always explain why you feel something is or isn’t working, and if possible, provide suggestions for improvement.

Remember that you’re beta reading, not editing----

If you’re an editor, it might be hard to resist pointing out every typo or misplaced semicolon you come across. However, this kind of thing isn’t your main focus as a beta reader. Try to focus on the big-picture stuff instead.

If you notice recurring grammar or punctuation issues, write a general note about them in your report so that the author can read it in her/ his next self-assessment.

Please, don’t be tempted to give false praise---

Being a beta reader can be a hard job, especially if you’re friends with the author!! But no matter how much you like them, you should never give false praise in your beta reader report. Honesty is always the best policy when it comes to being a beta reader.

Writing is labour intensive, that we all know! Some confusions and disarray thoughts are quite natural to every writer, to ward off those dilemmas and perplexities, we all need someone to support, correct, to show the right path to move forward, that special person is you, i.e, BR.

Then the starting of the interaction between the creative angel and the BR guide!!

You are given the chance to pour out your thoughts into form and then present them to the world to consume, as a writer till now. However, when you are tasked with Beta Reading, the shift from creative writer to scrutinizing BR is no simple feat, we all know that.

First, let us understand the writers' mindset, and the attachment she /he developed towards their work!

The BR angel has to convince the writer that every word that they aren’t putting forth is an idea wasted. On the completion of the first draft ...which would understandably contain errors, the stage is set for the BR to step in, which compels you to ruthlessly strike out all the unnecessary matter and poorly-constructed sentences. Needless to say, correcting and redress the submitted copy is challenging. However, here are a few tips by which our corrective BR and the creative angel can call for a truce and try to assist the writer to produce the best version of her writing.

The first thing you should do post-reading and pre-Beta reading is to take a pause, you need this little time in between to loosen the hold of the arguments you have penned down and thus distance yourself from viewing that work as a correction. This will allow you to edit the same copy with a more objective and practical mind, making it easier to strike out needless information!

While you may think that you’ve eliminated all the mistakes and unrequired information on that particular work in the first round of modifying and polishing, you still need to go over it once or twice more. This is because, with every re-edit, the copy becomes crisper, thus improving readability. All these points emphasize the fact that you are, indeed, the master of your own intellect and that the final call belongs to you.

Again, let us try to understand the intense urge of a writer to express....simply the same instinct that makes a baby squall for attention!!

As writers, we all know that the process of writing can be magical, and it’s absolute and utter happiness! Mostly, it’s a process of putting one word after another, just like sprinkling the stars on the flowing river.... the driving force of creative growth!

If given the chance to read a work in progress, read it as quickly as you can and give feedback that reflects the critical thinking you did. If so, perhaps you are a highly efficient BR. Certainly, you are like gold dust to any author.

The critical feedback forces the writer to think. It can inspire her to improve and offer a way forward to progress her evolution as an author.

Please remember... serious writers want substantive feedback. Everyone will have an opinion, but if a critical comment comes from a BR it is something one has to take seriously, made it clear to the author.

The very best feedback is interactive. BReaders who will make an initial round of comments and follow it up with a discussion will be wonderful. The beta reader who will try to draw the story further out of a writer is invaluable.

What writers look for in beta readers is a decisive test of how their words are heard and interpreted. The top Beta readers will try to help align what the author wants and what is received. This is an invaluable role of a critique,--- to explore and resolve any dissonance between a writer’s intentions and a reader’s experiences/ expectations.

I once read the first draft of a story and thought the writer was a man. The author was surprised as she had written the character as a woman. She revisited her text and realized there were no details making the gender explicit. It is sometimes blindingly obvious that writers miss as they focus on the finer details of a story.

Giving good feedback is an art. It takes effort and knowing what a writer wants and needs most.

Before starting the BR task, ask at what stage in the writing process the author is at and what kind of feedback she would like to receive. If the author is still in the first-draft stage, grammar checks and misspellings will be less important than feedback on the story or inconsistent characters. If the author is about to submit and wants a final sanity check for typos, just do that and don’t dissect the work or suggest major changes, please.

Please Remember, the author is writing the story, not you.--

Every writer will have a style, specific expression, and ability. There is a major difference between helping a writer achieve her personal best versus reworking the text into your own style. Don’t do the latter. Picking synonyms for words a writer has chosen and otherwise changing style, but not content, it's the last kind of feedback a writer will want.

Please try to give feedback in the form of a conversation...

Often the best comments are sent in question format.." What did you mean here?" "Did you expect me to guess the hero loves the heroine at this point?"--- In this way, you are pushing the writer along her/ his own path instead of laying down a path of your own for her.

Please...try to present your feedback in a constructive way, but don’t sugar coat it----

It is always easy to say you liked something and leave it at that. No one wants to disappoint someone with criticism, but you aren’t helping the writer by saying you liked something when you didn’t. Please, encourage the writer but point out the mists too.

Any author looking to improve her work wants substantive commentary from a BReader. This includes accepting the feedback that you just couldn’t finish the book. If you had to put it down, this is valuable information. It could expose a major fail in pace or content to the writer, and while not positive, it will give the author a lot to think about, but say it in a subtle way.

Please note one imp thing...our fellow writers want a positive, and creative response from us to their submitted work. There is an art to this, and if you can master it, you’ll be an invaluable aid to the writer.

Sheer egoism with an aesthetic enthusiasm fits here as the best cause for any writer to indulge in writing. The desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered for long, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend this is not a motive. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen — in short, with the whole top crust of humanity!! The vast masses of human beings are not particularly selfish, they tend to express themselves enthusiastically to be noticed!

In any OS or FF, the author's inner thoughts can reveal deeper insight into who they are and what motivates them to write. If you’re reading fiction and want to know the character's internal thoughts/ turmoils, find a way to differentiate them from the rest of the text so that we'll be able to read not only a character’s thoughts but also reading the writer's inner conflicts, what she wants to define. There are different techniques for doing so, allowing you to get into your author's mind to read their inner dialogue through their characters.

Here are a few things to consider when taking on the role of a Beta Reader.

Ask the author what type of feedback they would like most.

Remember, the author is writing the book, not you!

Give feedback in the form of a conversation.

Present your feedback in a constructive way, but don't sugar coat it.

Process feedback and ensure the author implements changes.

We are here to embellish our new FF site with well-written literary works of good quality.

Writers have to work alone in order to sort out the plot, create sub-plots, and build multi-dimensional characters. In that isolation, they create worlds from their imaginations! Let's help 'em realize their dream worlds!

Good Afternoon Rainbow Friends😊

Yes going to farm house was a refreshing change.

Stay safe, protected and smiling always. Good day😊

Hello friends 🤗

Originally posted by: cygnet9

So happy to see you healthy and hale Nado🤗. I always pray for us irrespective of how we are so no worries. I can understand how the days went during unwell. Now that all of you have recovered please be cautious and take good diet and also rest.

Thank you dear Padmaja 🤗 ❤️

It's over, thank God. Now I slowly continue where I left off. 😊

Your farm is very beautiful. I wish I had something similar. 😳

In my country, the corona has shown what a fortune it is to have even a small estate in the countryside. 😊

Originally posted by: Viswasruti

Good morning friends. Have a nice day.🤗

A prayer for all of our wellbeing....

Thank you for this wonderful prayer Madi. ❤️

Originally posted by: vibraj

Good morning!

So happy Padma that you had a change by going to your farm house, a change of scene is always invigorating. Hope you plants and trees are all in good shape.

How is everyone else? Take care all, be blessed always!

I hope everything will still be fine, Vibha. ❤️

Despite the occasional troubles that befall us, I think we are coping pretty well with all that, still.