Category: novel

The time has finally come for my two weeks in the spotlight. Tapper is currently undergoing what’s known on Scribophile as a Demi-beta period. This involves a Demi-beta team of three readers, each with their own novel. Each team member’s novel goes into the spotlight for two weeks, where it is read, critiqued, and discussed by the team. Then, the next person’s novel goes into the two-week spotlight, followed by the last person’s novel. That makes up a standard six-week Ubergroup Cycle.

At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work.

I drew the proverbial short straw, so my work went up first. I was expecting them to start on Monday (May 13, 2019). However, one of my readers got an early start and proceeded to power through the chapters. She’s reading the chapters first and then coming back and doing the critiques—something I have no problem with. In fact, she’s already finished the book, with a week and a half left on the Demi-beta period. I’m waiting for her to post her critiques, becaue they’ve been extremely helpful.

The Demi-beta team captain had to step in at the last minute due to an issue with the other person who was supposed to be on the team. She’ll be doing critiques and I’ll be reading her book instead of the stuff from the regularly scheduled person. The captain has only made it through chapter 4, part 1 out of 33 chapters, but she’s also being extremely helpful.

All in all, it appears that I now have a good Demi-beta team, even if they’re a bit out of sync with each other. I’m looking forward to critiquing their works when their two weeks in the spotlight roll around.

Now, I may have to take a sabbatical from my regular team for the six-week Ubergroup Cycle that follows the Demi-beta Cycle. I fear I’ll have so many revisions to do that I’ll need the time to put them all it before I can return to my one-chapter-per-week team, if I return to it at all. I’m not sure if I want to go back to the slower team yet, or if I want to start working on my query to shop around for an agent. It’s going to be a tough decision, because I need as many eyes on the book as I can get.

Beta, or in my case, Demi-beta, is a very helpful tool that The Ubergroup from Scribophile provides, as long as you use it wisely. That’s the tough part – you only get a couple of weeks in the Demi-beta spotlight. Don’t squander them.

One thing that I rarely see touched upon is the subject of how long it should take to write a book. Of course, there is no “should” when it comes to writing a novel. Each book comes with its own timeline and demands, and no two are ever alike. What I can give you are a few samples from my own work in progress, Tapper.

I completed my first draft around the end of July, 2014. I thought I was finished with it sometime in 2016—that’s when I started going through the “query” process of trying to find an agent to represent my book to publishing houses. Needless to say, I got no bites on my query. Around that same time, I got a proposal from Gearbox Software to write the soundtrack to the 20th Anniversary World Tour edition of Duke Nukem 3D. I put Tapper on the shelf and went back to writing music.

The hiatus on Tapper ran out in February of this year, when I pulled the book out and resumed writing. I’m passing it through Scribophile, where I’m getting some very useful, yet frustrating advice. Why is it frustrating? There’s that timeline again. My first “real” chapter (spoilers!) is on its 54th revision, and some of the comments I’ve been getting are first-time comments. Why couldn’t someone have raised these same points back on my 5th revision, eh?

If it sounds like I’m revising my book to death, let me come to its defense. I have done a major rewrite of the first few chapters, in order to make them more appealing to readers (and to agents). That also explains why some of the comments I’m getting are first-time ones. It doesn’t explain all of them, mind you—I’m still getting some of the “why did no one mention this earlier?” kind of remarks in later chapters.

The point I’m trying to make here is that if you’re writing your first book, you can go ahead and smash your clock for what it’s worth. Don’t expect to knock out a novel in a year, or two years, or even four for that matter—although, if you do get signed with an agent within four years, count your lucky stars. Be patient, and be ready to spend a lot of time working on your novel … and even more time re-working it.

Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Beta Reading

When Does It End?