September 2023 | A.S. Akkalon

The seven stages of getting feedback from a beta reader

When you get beta feedback on your novel, you’re likely to go through a rollercoaster of emotions. Read this post to prepare.

You’ve written a novel and edited it to the best of your ability. Congratulations!

But it’s not ready to make its own way in the world yet. First you need to go through the terrifying process of getting feedback from beta readers.

These are avid readers of your genre, who may or may not also be writers, who are willing to read your not-quite-final draft and ~~shred your heart by telling you what’s not working~~ provide honest feedback.

A plan for overcoming writer’s block

I’ve been struck by creativity paralysis, aka writer’s block. My plan for overcoming it is to binge read these highly recommended books.

About a week ago I was confident about my writing. I was excited about starting to write the sequel to my current WIP, and you guys convinced me it was okay to do that rather than working on my unrelated book.

Then with three hours free, I got ready to sit down for some brainstorming… and got some stressful news from work.

Fyi, I resigned from that job. I left that job several weeks ago. It should no longer be following and stressing me.

I tried to put all work thoughts aside and started brainstorming.

I came up with lots of ideas… and loathed all of them.

Five ways to go overboard with worldbuilding for your fantasy novel

When you write a fantasy novel based in a non-Earth world, you get to make up everything. And with all that freedom comes the opportunity to go way overboard in your worldbuilding. If such is your wont, here are five ways you might do it.

Every fantasy reader loves a fully fleshed out world. They might see only a tiny fraction of it (they’d *better* see only a tiny fraction of it), but they can feel if it exists.

In a fully fleshed out world, the forests are greener and every carnivore knows what it’s hunting. The sky might be purple, but we have the physics to explain why. And you’ll always know which lord build the castle that saved your hero from demons, and how much it cost them.

So if your goal is to give your readers what they want, here are five ways to go overboard with your worldbuilding.

Of course, if you follow these instructions you may never get around to writing your story, but isn’t the price worth it?*

* In general, it’s not.

To sequel or not to sequel?

I know it’s a bad idea to write a sequel to my current WIP right now, but I really really want to.

The draft of the novel I’ve been working on since 2015 is currently with beta readers (for the third time), and I find myself facing a difficult decision.

I want to write something new while I wait, but what should I write?

I started an unrelated book–which I’m going to call “Desert” for the sake of clarity–and got 30k words in before deciding I wanted to change everything and basically start over. So I could have a second go at that one.

There’s a lot that I like about it, but the problem is that I’m not excited about it right now. What I really want to work on is the sequel to my book that’s with beta readers. (I’ll call that one “RoDS”.)

Unfortunately there are lots of reasons that’s a bad idea.

Small thoughts about leaving my job

Yesterday was my last day in a job I’ve had for over a decade. I had some thoughts, but mostly just felt empty.

Yesterday was my final day in a job I’ve had for nearly twelve years. We had a nice farewell morning tea, and I talked more to some people I worked with than I have in years.

I packed up the last of the detritus from my office, set an email auto-reply, and closed my work email for the last time. Then I was officially job-free.

Several random people waved friendly greetings or complimented my plant as I walked to my car. It might have been because I was wearing a hat with ears.

It might have just been a weird day.