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| Photograph by Jennifer Zwick |
You've finished your first draft. You're giddy. You know it may need a tweak or two, (heck, who are you kidding? It needs to be rewritten till the cows come home) and you're wondering who you should get to read it and give you all the love and praise you deserve. After all, you've written a complete novel, for jiminy's sake.
Back when I started writing--in the Mesozoic age--this was the sort of mindset I had. I shudder when I think of the first novel I wrote, which I happily shipped off to agents in first-draft stage, expecting to unleash a tag-team wrestling frenzy to represent me. I wish I'd kept the rejection letter which essentially said, "yes, we'd all like to be published, but wouldn't it be nice if we learned to write first?" Ouch.
I'd had my wife read my novel, and my in-laws, and all of them had declared me a genius. They're intelligent, well-read people--so how could we all have been so wrong?
The answer is that there is a span as wide as the Gulf of Mexico between those who read for pleasure (most people) and those who read for business (everyone in the publishing business.) Fortunately, I'm a 60W bulb, and not a 40--and I realized I needed help. I took writing classes, I read and read and read, and I joined critique groups, members of which were published authors or working journalists. These were people who liked me but didn't love me, and who were all too willing to point out my flaws--and give me the tools to fix them.
These critique group members are now my first readers. I think my wife feels sad about this, but the reality is she is my first beta reader--the first person I let read the draft I think is done.
(I've yet to let the following be my first readers: my uncle, the lawyer finalizing my will, my gastroenterologist, assorted students, and my dental hygienist. Yes, all of them have asked to read my novels at one time or another. I'll remind them of that when I'm out in hardback.)
Who is your first reader?
Michael Gettel-Gilmartin
Hah! The first person who read my novel was a co-worker, but he was a read for pleasure type, so of course he thought it was brilliant, even when it was three times as long as it needed to be. Now I would definitely not give a draft to someone like that. My CPs come first as well.
ReplyDeleteMy husband (and sometimes co-author) Greg Leitich Smith is my first reader, but I don't bring him in at the rough draft stage. He usually reads the draft before my last big sweep through prior to sending to my editor.
ReplyDeleteIf he weren't in the business, I wouldn't go that route.
I am shameless about passing drafts to my critters. I do it before the darn thing is done. And I tell them things like: "just tell me where I jump the shark". LOL
ReplyDeleteI have yet to use non-critter type readers, but I imagine there is a place for that, once the thing gets super polished.
Looking forward to that day. :)
I usually am several drafts into a project before I give it to someone to read. The first person I give it to, in most cases, is my wife. She is a fiction-writer, very well-read, and an English Professor. Like Cynthia said above, if Dana wasn't a serious writer I would probably find someone else as a first reader.
ReplyDeleteMy wife is my first reader. She is a journalist and pretty well read. The first time she read my first book, however, she hadn't read a MG book since junior high. She was well read otherwise, but not MG. We've changed that over the last few years, and she'll always be my first reader.
ReplyDeleteMy son is my first reader. He'll let me know if he doesn't understand something or if something is boring. I also quiz him on how he feels about different characters. Interesting that so many people have their spouses read. My husband and I have been married more than twenty years, but I'm not sure that would be a good thing for us.
ReplyDeleteIt has always been my husband, but lately, with busy schedules, it tends to go to my agent first, or in some instances right to my editor, which is scary!
ReplyDeleteMy first reader is always Valerie and her little sword-wielding minions! Then comes my real-life naughty boy Scott. :-)
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ReplyDeleteGreat post! It's easy to be declared genius by the ones who love us. My first readers are a group of tough minded women who tell me what works and what doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI'm really lucky to have a powerful and talented writers' group. We've been together for several years. They get first shot at everything I write. I only give my husband the published work to read. He's just too subjective to be able to tell me how much that first draft sucks.
ReplyDeleteGlad I found your blog.
I'm not sure if it's exactly the answer you're looking for, but I'd say I'm my own first reader, haha. At least at the moment. I totally agree with what you said about the people liking, not loving you, but sometimes reading over what I've written and matching it with what I want the finished project to look like is the right boost for me. :) A critique group is definitely something I'm continuously investigating in.
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