So the beta read is going well!

I have about 12 readers going strong. So far, all (but one?) said they’d read beyond the first 58 pages. (And that was highly important to me: the first 60 pages — which translates, usually, to three chapters — is all I get to send out to potential agents/publishers, so I need to be able to hook them there. I needed to know if — at the end of Act I — the reader would sigh and think “ho-hum” or if they’d be thinking “More! Give me more!”)

So now that they asked for more, now comes the “long part” — the balance of 100,000 words. So I need to be patient while everyone reads the whole thing. But three people have already finished! Whew! That’s a compliment! Superman barrelled through it and read it in about four days, so that was awesome. (First time he ever read it — I was so nervous!) So I’m already getting some long, terrific feedback.

One of the biggest things I’m waiting on feedback about is that I had to change the heroine pretty significantly after about Chapter 8 or 9, so I’m curious, in general, how everyone responds to her. But so far, so good. Every chapter after 9 changed (because when her motives changed, her actions did, too), so this is the first time anyone is reading the “new Simone.” And I added in two big scenes toward the end that now I can’t believe weren’t in there before (because they’re kind of big “showdowns”), so I’m eager to hear how those read. In other words, some of these scenes are actually “first drafts”! (Although 80% of the book is more polished with thought-over word choice, so I don’t want anyone to worry!)

Plus I want to make sure the dialogue reads well, and the secondary characters are interesting.

I guess I just want everyone to love Adam and Simone; and I want to make everyone smile and have fun with the story. Always a writer’s goal. : )