6.0 KiB
Looking for a beta reader or three for Set In Stone
-
Author: u/Farmerbob1 Level 1 author*
-
URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/3omyl5/looking_for_a_beta_reader_or_three_for_set_in/
-
Score: 9
-
Created: 2015-10-13T21:12:56
Post:
EDIT Plans have changed. The Backstory will not appear as an infodump or a prologue. I'll seed bits and pieces into the story, one bit at a time. A Prologue might also be developed, but it won't be an infodump.
I'm still looking for beta readers, if anyone is interested.
I can't make this part of the editing process public. Even though I do plan on releasing Set In Stone in places other than Amazon, Amazon will force my book price to zero if they find that it's finished content is available to the public elsewhere for free. The blog should be immune to this, as it is an early draft.
I'm not so much interested in grammar as opposed to rationality and potential discontinuity. If you are interested and choose to poke at grammar, feel free, but that's not expected.
Comments:
u/ArgentStonecutter [+3] Emergency Mustelid Hologram (5 minutes later)
Honestly, I think the story stands on its own and contains enough implicit information for the reader to understand the context without the backstory infodump in the work itself.
We really don't need to know the details of why Albert has decided that humans are too prone to violence. If anything, the story is stronger with that left hanging.
u/Farmerbob1 [+1] Level 1 author (34 minutes later)
That's valid, but I also need to consider that I'll be selling this as a science fiction book, and the lead is a swineherd in a rural low-tech setting. I feel a little uncomfortable with that as an author. It's not genre-switching but the genre might be difficult for a reader to validate in the beginning.
I'm trying to consider that people here are a little more perceptive in their reading than average. /r/rational folks are great, but you aren't typical readers (that's a good thing.)
u/ArgentStonecutter [+4] Emergency Mustelid Hologram (58 minutes later)
Also, the backstory that you previously posted feels kind of weak and strained compared to the rest of the book, which is really strong with all the plot tokens consequentially related to the rest of the world. And it's also unnecessarily cataclysmic: there's no consequential reason for an excession event in the solar system.
Maybe limit it to the rise of Albert and the events immediately preceding it, just enough to set the stage?
As for the "typical readers", maybe you could consider the benefits of targeting average Greg Egan readers?
u/varno2 [+2] (19 hours later)
I have to say I enjoyed the story, and the new backstory does, address some of my issues, however I think that while it does need a prologue, it does not need it to justify its scifi chops. Especially not in thie current literary environment.
u/Farmerbob1 [+3] Level 1 author (22 hours later)
Well, here's the first history snippet, for chapter 1. What do people think?
The Rocky Mountain locust originally went extinct in the early twentieth century. My team and I suspected the size of the swarms had been exaggerated. We were wrong. On the third year after introduction, we were able to visibly track the progress of the swarms from orbit, with the naked eye.
~ Garrett Smith, metabolic metals remediation project lead.
u/gommm [+2] (2 hours later)
Maybe one thing that could work would be to write it as an history textbook and have extracts from that book at the beginning of each chapter... This would get people to slowly discover the story of the world as they go through the story?
It would solve your problem regarding selling it as science fiction and it wouldn't be such a big infodump. And letting people read the backstory piece by piece might be better. It would allow readers to try and guess who Albert instead of being spoonfed.
I've always liked books that do this (Dune is a good example), it creates a richer world without ever becoming too much of an infodump.
u/Farmerbob1 [+3] Level 1 author (2 hours later)
Hrm. This is tempting. I'll have to dig out Dune and look at what was done.
u/gommm [+2] (3 hours later)
Another book that does this as well is Empire of the Ants by Bernard Werber (but it's with quotes of an encyclopedia). Dune's extract are on the shorter side (I've just checked again). I remember seeing it done with longer extracts (around half a page per chapter) but can't remember which novel it was. I just remember that it was something I enjoyed.
u/Farmerbob1 [+1] Level 1 author (18 hours later)
Thank you. This is how I have decided to move forward. The infodump will now be for my own usage, and only snippets of past history will appear.
u/gommm [+2] (23 hours later)
Glad I could be of help :-) Really looking forward to seeing the final book once it's edited.
I wouldn't mind being a beta reader by the way :-)
u/Farmerbob1 [+1] Level 1 author (23 hours later)
I wish I had a password-protected solution for Beta reading, but Google Docs will allow me to secure it by email address, I think. Do you have an email address you can send me to let me set you up to be able to comment on chapters? By PM please - I somehow thought this was a PM.
u/Farmerbob1 [+1] Level 1 author (an hour later)
OK, what do other people think? Am I overthinking this? Do you believe I need to publish the background, or just touch the story up without the background?
u/Farmerbob1 [+1] Level 1 author (3 days later)
Things continue to evolve. I have created a new Wordpress site, specifically for beta reading. As each book I write is published, the Beta content will be deleted. The original blog fiction will be left alone, since it's pretty much just a rough draft.