I have an information technology background, as this is what I do for my day job, and as such, I’ve gravitated to the concept of beta readers, which in the software development world, are people that test your product and report bugs, give feedback on your product and offer improvement ideas for you to consider implementing.

In the writing world, beta readers perform many similar functions, which are geared to ensuring that when the story is released that it is as error free and as enjoyable as possible.  That means finding and stomping out spelling mistakes and grammar problems, as well as looking at the storyline, character development, holes in your story, factual errors, giving feedback as to what they liked or didn’t like in the story, as well as some suggestions for improvements to make it a better product.

The problem with writing is that as the author, you have a lot of thoughts going on in your head about your story, and over the course of changes, what you as the beta reader are seeing on the screen or on paper may be different from what is supposed to be there.

It’s easy enough to do.  In Ashby and Barnett, the working title for one of my stories, I received some feedback on it and changed some things around.  In the process of doing that, some parts of the original scenes were still in there, which were later discovered and fixed.

When I finish a new story or a review of it, I typically move on to something completely different, totally unrelated to that particular story.  Then when I’ve finished with that next project, I might go back to that story, as I’ve been away from it long enough that I need to reread it from the beginning, at which point things start to jump out at me.  This process isn’t perfect, because I’m the one who wrote the words and know in my head what is going on with the characters and the storyline.

A beta reader typically doesn’t know the characters or what is going on, and they will catch things you didn’t even think about.  Perhaps I failed to describe what the main character looked like.  Maybe a scene wasn’t setup properly, or a transition is missing something or is awkward or weak.  Those are things I might not see as the author.

It is also helpful to know if the beta readers like the story itself and where it’s going.  I don’t expect beta readers to like everything I write, which is why it’s important to have more than one, as we all have different tastes.

So what does a beta reader get out of the deal?  After all, they are taking their time to review it and give feedback.  I don’t know what other authors do, but my beta readers will receive mention of their contributions in the acknowledgements of a released story, as well as a free electronic copies of the books I’ve written.  They also get a chance to give input into the stories they are involved in, helping make them better reads for the general public.

If you’re interested in becoming a beta reader, all you have to do is go the contact us page and click on the Beta Reader box and we’ll go from there.

I’ve been asked by people how I come up with some of my story ideas, the characters and the things they do in the story and sometimes, why they do the things they do.  As they say, the magic is in the words, and the goal is getting the reader to lose themselves in your make believe world and enjoy themselves as the story unfolds, their emotions swinging back and forth depending on what is happening.  They might hate some of the characters in your story and love others, which I happen to think means you are doing a good job as an author.

It all comes down to the basic ingredients of what I believe belong in an exciting science fiction or fantasy story.  First, you need conflict.  There has to be something going on, possibly something bad.  The main character of the story is usually the hero or heroine and they often find themselves in a bleak situation that they must overcome in order to save the day.

Boring doesn’t cut it, either.  That means your story has to have drama in it, and it needs to advance the storyline or help to develop your characters.  Keep in mind that you have to have both good and bad characters in a story, and sometimes a character is both.  Therefore, crazy things usually have to happen, but no so far out that it is considered ridiculous.  That’s why fiction is so much fun to write.

Sometimes I like to shock the reader, then go back and provide an explanation for what happened, while at the moment it is unfolding, the reader is trying to figure it out.  That can provide a bit of mystery and suspense to the story.

Sometimes I like to clue the reader in to something that is going to happen, where they see it coming.  It might seem like the author is giving the surprise away, but sometimes that actually drives the story, because the characters will provide drama along the way, while perhaps the other side is doing all they can to thwart it.  That can provide twists and turns in the story, making it more fun to read.

So, you write out your plot, put in some conflict, develop some characters and some drama and away you go.  Along the way, you find your characters in a situation that you didn’t plan for.  That’s because you have managed to develop your characters to the point that you know how they should or would react to a known situation and therefore, suddenly you as the author have to make some adjustments.

I don’t let these adjustments frustrate me.  I actually enjoy them, because it allows me to make the story seem more enjoyable and believable.  Just be careful to not get sidetracked from your storyline.

This means that during your story, the characters may do some things you might not have originally intended for them to do.  Suppose they take a cruise?  Usually an author can draw upon their own experiences to help them out, but what if you’ve never been on a cruise?  What then?

I was originally deterred from writing fiction stories because I felt like I had to be an expert at what I was writing about or the reader would see through it and laugh at the obvious lack of knowledge.  Over the years I’ve realized that isn’t true.  It’s true that you can write a more accurate piece of work on something that you are knowledgeable about, but these days you have the internet at your disposal.  Want to write a scene about sailing a boat?  Get on a website and watch a video or read a how-to guide on how it’s done.  It’ll make your story that much more believable.

That brings up another point.  As an individual, I have my own beliefs, values and viewpoints, just like everyone else.  When it comes to writing a story, you can’t always stick with those beliefs, values and viewpoints, because they just don’t fit what you’re writing about.

A good example would be murder.  I’m not a killer, but hey, stories have to have bad things happen.  You might off a character in the story and one of your characters might actually be plotting murder.  That can be disturbing to write about from their point of view, but I happen to think that’s one of the challenges of writing fiction.  If you want to make your story believable, you sometimes have to put on the hat of the villain, which can sometimes be a sadistic killer, thief, an all- around bad guy or something somewhere in between.

The same is true with things the characters do.  I have a ton of hobbies, including flying.  Obviously, I am better prepared to write a story that includes aviation, but in doing so I have to ensure that I don’t use too much technical jargon that would only be understood by pilots, therefore allowing the average reader to follow along.  On the flip side, I don’t want to dumb it down so much that those into aviation don’t enjoy the experience.  What I usually go for is something in between, where I try and educate the reader on flying.  That means introducing some basic terminology early on in the story, then later, get more and more in depth with the jargon, assuming that the reader has picked up on it.

Just because I like flying doesn’t mean that I have to include it in my stories.  Some stories I have written are heavy into aviation and others don’t even mention it at all.  My next story might be based on sailing or something else I have never done, and I look at that as a writing challenge.

I’ve done a lot of writing, but never a blog entry.  Until now, that is.  I’ve decided to use my first entry to explain how creative-books.com came to be.

I got into writing several years ago when I decided to start putting my ideas down on paper.  Once I got going, I found that I loved it.  I finished a rather lengthy novel and then moved on to a second one, then a third.  None of this work was ever published.  I shared a couple of my stories with some close friends and received positive feedback.

I went back to the first one and saw how far I had come writing wise and had to fix up the earlier stuff.  I’ve now got several stories written but they are in various forms of completion, meaning proofreading, editing, revisions, etc.

I started looking to see what the next step would be in order to bring these stories to others to read.  Should I try and get an agent or self-publish?

Regardless of what I choose, it appears that the best advice is to start a web presence, even if your material isn’t out there yet.  More advice.  Don’t use your name to establish the brand.  Go with a company name and put your name under that. That was a good idea, I think, because if someday I have another author join me or I decide to write under a pseudonym, I’m covered.

I had a ton of names in mind, but one quickly realizes when doing domain searches that the good ones are taken.  I chose creative-books because I felt that I don’t fit into any one single neat genre.  I tend to write primarily fantasy but also science fiction.  I also like action, suspense, mystery, thrillers, romance, humor, etc.  In the end, I felt like creative best fit what might be coming down the pipeline in the future.  The hyphen was used to make the two words more legible.

So there you have it.