Creating Conversations with Story Evolutionists

How Beta Readers of All Kinds Can Help Your Story Evolve

Brunonia Barry

Editor’s Note: Brunonia Barry is the international best-selling author of The Lace Reader, a novel that sold for seven figures in a major book deal. The following is a description of the process Brunonia went through to ready her book for publication—a process that may very well have helped foster Brunonia’s tremendous success with her novel, and one that you, too, can attempt.

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For the last six years, I’ve been part of a critique group. I find great benefit in having an accessible place to workshop my works-in-progress (WIPs), and I urge you to find or create one that fits your needs. Advice on craft is invaluable, especially when it comes from a group you’re comfortable with. But these groups have some limitations. For one thing, it’s difficult to read a story more than once; at least it is for me. First impressions are indelible, and, even in the best critique groups, repeated readings tend to numb the reader to what’s on the page. It’s difficult to pick up subtle changes in the narrative.

The very quality that makes the critique group great can also be its biggest drawback: Its members are writers. And at some point in the evolution of our stories, we need to find readers. Early readers we trust can be the key to a story’s success.

FIND FRESH EYES NEARBY

Family can be a good place to start seeking critique, providing they are good readers and really want to participate, but they do come with baggage. I hail from a family of good readers, but we don’t all like the same kinds of stories. And sometimes our manuscripts are too personal or familiar. My relatives delight in finding the characters they believe most resemble themselves and trying to add extraneous details. It can be quite entertaining, but it’s not necessarily helpful. Also, reading a manuscript as a favor is a big commitment. On occasion and under duress, I’ve asked family members to read a manuscript more than once, and with the exception of my saintly husband, it’s difficult for them to do and almost impossible for them to remain motivated. I wonder if you ever get an objective opinion from people who know you so well.

As with any trusted readers, the law of diminishing returns eventually kicks in. Everyone you know has already read and commented. So where do you look for additional fresh eyes? Personally, I’ve found great success with the focus group.

RECRUIT A FOCUS GROUP

When the second draft of my first novel was finished, I needed to find out how readers would respond. Having come from another industry where we regularly used focus groups, I began to long for the kind of feedback these groups provide. In the same way that other industries test products, I needed to test my WIP. I wanted to know what worked, what was clear, what remained murky. I had so many unanswered questions: Would readers like the book? Would they even want to read it? Would they root for my protagonist? Did my characters have complete arcs? It was important to answer these questions before I put my book out there because I knew I’d only have one chance. The same “single reading” rule applies in the marketplace—agents and editors are not likely to reread a manuscript. I needed to find out if my book was ready.

Who are your customers? This was always one of the first details we tried to clarify before conducting any focus group. There’s no point to asking a group of stamp collectors what they think of a new fly-fishing rod; it simply doesn’t apply to them. Similarly, with your manuscript, it’s important to identify likely readers. Who are you writing for? What is your story really about?

Though my novel was contemporary, it was heavily influenced by history, which played as large a role as any character in the story. It was also a family saga: Three generations of women from the same family share a gift that has become a curse. Add to that a dark undercurrent of mental illness, religious fanaticism, and abuse, and it became clear that I would have to choose my focus group carefully. I needed seasoned readers who wouldn’t mind crossing genres. And contrary to what you’d find in a business focus group, where members tend to be strangers, I needed a group who knew each other well enough to express their opinions without fear of reprisal. In other words, I needed a book club.

FIND THE RIGHT BOOK CLUB

Book clubs are the most serious groups of readers I’ve met. Over the years, I’ve held discussions in person or through Skype with more than a hundred of them. Each club is different, and each has its own dynamic and particular reading preferences, but, almost without exception, they are the most dedicated and sophisticated readers outside of graduate classes in comparative lit. Many clubs I’ve met with have been reading together for a long time, so they are quite comfortable expressing varied opinions, and that is where the group dynamic begins to pay off. They are not afraid to disagree. This is good news for writers: Disagreements act as prompts for discussions that can teach you much more about your stories than you ever knew.

I found my first book club through my local independent bookstore. Prior to writing my stand-alone novel, I’d been writing for a tween series and had done a few signings at the store. The manager asked what else I was working on. She seemed interested in the subject matter and told me to keep her posted on my progress. I knew that the store recommended and ordered books for a number of book clubs, so when my book was finished, I thought the store would be a good place to start. I asked the manager if any of the clubs they worked with might be willing to help out a fledgling author. I pitched the book, detailing character, plot, and thematic issues. “Let me think about it,” she said. “I’ll get back to you.” I wondered if she really would get back to me or if this was too much to ask. Two weeks later, I received a call. She had found me the perfect book club, one that had been together for almost ten years and read all genres of fiction and nonfiction.

During that month, all of my insecurities surfaced. I thought about cancelling. Was I doing the right thing, trusting a book I knew needed rewriting to a club that was accustomed to more polished works? But I assured myself this was the point. The only way to test the novel was to put myself out there. Pushing my fears of humiliation aside, I forged ahead.

ENCOURAGE HONESTY

I hosted the meeting. Though I’d been nervous about it, the group’s easy familiarity erased my fears. But I realized early on that, like me, they also had some trepidation. They were accustomed to very frank discussions of the books they read, but they had never had an author present. How did this thing work? I told them I had a list of questions, but first they should discuss the book as they usually would, as if I weren’t there.

This proved to be more difficult than I’d imagined. It started well enough. They took turns describing the book. Each said she liked both character and plot, and complimented my writing style. It was quickly apparent that my biggest challenge would be getting honest feedback. These were nice people. I could tell they didn’t want to hurt my feelings.

If this was going to be successful, I needed them to be both honest and opinionated.

Normally, focus groups do not have the product creators present in the room when questions are asked. Few people want to be critical in front of the inventor. Often creators are relegated to a back room hidden by a two-way mirror, listening to comments remotely. Sometimes opinions are even received at a later time, after the group leaders compile and process them.

Realizing I’d made a mistake that must quickly be corrected, I changed tactics.

“Thank you so much for taking the time to do this for me and for letting me know what works for you. Of course I want to hear that you enjoyed the book and the characters, but what would help me most would be to hear what doesn’t work. So I’m going to ask you some questions, and I need you to be brutally honest. Nothing short of that will help me to get this book published.”

A book club that has been reading together for years possesses a great dynamic, and usually there is at least one member who is outgoing and daring enough to jump in. It helps if you can identify her early on. In this case, it was the club’s founder, the one who had persuaded them to read my novel in the first place.

“Tell me what you didn’t like about the book,” I prompted.

Taking a breath, she spoke. “I thought Cal was too much like my ex-husband,” she said. “He’s such a creep.”

The room erupted into giggles and nods of agreement. The ice had finally broken.

They all agreed that Cal was a creepy guy, which led to discussions about other characters in the novel. I was amazed by the diversity of opinions. A character reminded one reader of someone she knew, but the next group member didn’t see him or her that way at all. There were universal opinions, of course. However, where their thoughts differed, I began to wonder if I had drawn the characters sharply enough. Or was this a case of the collaborative process between writer and reader? We may write the words, but our readers bring their own life experiences to the reading, often creating something we haven’t foreseen.

CREATE A LIST OF SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

As my questions became more detailed, the club’s responses grew more helpful, and I could tell which characters were well depicted and which needed work. They answered every one of my queries in great detail. When I ran out of questions, we moved back to the roundtable discussion they usually had, but it was more honest this time as they circled the room and voiced their real opinions. I listened without comment; I think they almost forgot I was there.

This was gold! I was being told everything that was wrong with the novel. Where they agreed, I knew I had a problem and took copious notes. Where they disagreed, the issue in question became even more interesting. They argued each point of my story. The surprise ending confounded some, while others found it made perfect sense. Two had even reread to make sure I had planted clues throughout the novel that they should have seen. I learned which characters my readers empathized with and which ones were not yet fully developed on the page. I realized that I had to simplify my time line and draw a clearer contrast between past and present because the story jumped back and forth too often for many readers to follow. I also learned that the real work was at the beginning of the novel: I had to find a way to get into the story quicker.

ASK THE PERFECT QUESTION

There may be one question, that, if answered, would help you more than any other. For me it was: “Where did you stop reading and put the manuscript down?”

Every story has points that lag. You have to know where those places are because they may not be as obvious to you as they are to a reader. I had always joked that one of my goals with the book was to keep my readers from sleeping. At what point did these women decide they needed some well-deserved rest?

You might assume that rest would come at different times for different readers, depending on their schedules and how long they’d been reading. This wasn’t the case. Almost every reader stopped reading at the same points throughout the story. For the most part, these were not my intended story breaks; they were places that needed rewriting.

The final question I asked was one that is asked in almost every focus group: “Would you recommend this to a friend?”

Without hesitation, the club said they would. In fact, they said they were already doing so. If I let them know when the book was coming out, they would make sure other clubs knew about it.

I tested the book with three different book club focus groups before I felt it was ready for the world. Each one taught me something important, and I am grateful to all of them for their generous help. I think we enjoyed our collaboration, and when the book was finally published, true to their promise, they spread the word.

Whether you decide to use the focus group approach or not, I urge you to test your work with many readers before you set it free. As writers, we often fall in love with our creations and see our characters only as we intend them to be. Whether our intentions are realized on the page is something we need to find out. Getting a glimpse into the reader’s viewpoint is a valuable and necessary insight. A good reality check in service of our work is one of the best things we can obtain.