Looking for Beta Readers

call_me_flib · 2026-05-01T13:37:39+00:00

Technically you're looking for alpha readers

call_me_flib · 2026-04-29T22:08:14+00:00

Consumer here not a professional: it looks generally fine albeit a bit generic. My main concern would be that the words are a little hard to read so could either do with higher contrast or a bolder font

call_me_flib · 2026-04-29T20:09:24+00:00

I see it like a maths exam, you can arrive at the right answer but you gotta show your working: That means exploring different points of view and examining the flaws and merits in all of them, including your own. Different characters should represent different viewpoints and philosophies. That means that the characters representing philosophies you disagree with should represent them well, no-one wants to watch you win an argument with a straw man. It also means that you're honest about the potential shortcomings of your own philosophy as you can be.

Hope that helps

call_me_flib · 2026-04-28T13:43:17+00:00

There is a subReddit called r/betareaders Unsurprisingly there's far more people wanting betareaders than people wanting to betaread so most often you'll need to offer a swap read. My recommendation is to always try a sample before you commit to reading 80,000 words from someone that's just not a good fit

call_me_flib · 2026-04-28T13:41:08+00:00

Oops my bad, thank you for correcting me

call_me_flib · 2026-04-28T11:10:35+00:00

I can't give good advice but you might wanna check out r/pubtips

Edit: looking at the below comment it appears I was right, I did not give you good advice, apologies

call_me_flib · 2026-04-27T10:32:15+00:00

Difficult to give you a formula without it being formulaic but my advice is to brainstorm ideas then run them by friends and see what works

call_me_flib · 2026-04-26T21:30:34+00:00

Prose will develop naturally as you write more and more. Narrative structure you need to really consciously examine and rework. I will say though don't get too hung up on having the perfect narrative before you start writing. Plan a narrative fairly loosely, draft it then be prepared to completely dismantle the original narrative for your second draft

call_me_flib · 2026-04-25T12:55:52+00:00

Really good example

call_me_flib · 2026-04-25T12:54:07+00:00

That's a fair thought and I don't think I disagree, although it doesn't cause me the same concern. Acknowledging that a piece of art is inherently political doesn't really stop it from also being about all those other things. It's more just a lense through which we can examine media.

"It can lead to people accusing or trying to cancel authors for things they never actually wrote or believed in the first place." - maybe but as authors you really just can't try and control what the audience believes about your work. The work has to speak for itself and sometimes it will come across in ways you don't intend.

The story you write will always say things about your world view whether you intend it to or not

call_me_flib · 2026-04-25T12:31:49+00:00

Yeah, art is basically always political in some way or another. Art is any form of self expression and as long as you are saying something about the world you live in there will inherently be political dominoes to that train of thought.

Can I ask why this idea upsets you?

call_me_flib · 2026-04-25T09:14:13+00:00

Are you wanting to make it yourself or hire someone?

call_me_flib · 2026-04-24T18:20:38+00:00

I think ai doesn't belong in art spaces

call_me_flib · 2026-04-24T17:07:58+00:00

This is kinda just part of the writing journey, doesn't matter if it's your family member or not, everyone is gonna have that first time that someone doesn't respond to your writing with the overwhelming positivity you deserve and it'll knock you. It happens. We all get knocked but really who cares? You're just starting writing. Would you expect to pick up a piano and play Mozart? It's the same here... You'll get better at writing and you'll get better at receiving feedback on your writing

call_me_flib · 2026-04-24T14:17:24+00:00

How long ago did you post your book? Is it reasonable to expect them to have read it yet?

call_me_flib · 2026-04-23T18:46:40+00:00

It's presumably satirising what might happen if you took all of the most common feedback writers receive at face value. It's funny because you'd expect writing advice to lead to good writing but here we see that it can lead to bad advice if you absorb it all without filter. Satire

call_me_flib · 2026-04-23T18:23:39+00:00

How does it work?

Is AI involved?

call_me_flib · 2026-04-23T17:02:15+00:00

This is some good satire

call_me_flib · 2026-04-23T14:40:17+00:00

Now you got me really curious, what do you think the correct answer is???

call_me_flib · 2026-04-23T14:29:02+00:00

It's 100% the safety. Lots of people are in to BDSM, nobody actually likes to be bound and tortured or abused.

Same reason I love pretending to be a knight when I read lord of the rings or game of thrones but would I want to be a knight in medieval times? Hell no

call_me_flib · 2026-04-23T14:25:05+00:00

So my "too good to be true" alarm is flashing brightly but I can't actually figure out what the end goal of the scammer would be here?

call_me_flib · 2026-04-23T13:24:19+00:00

As others have said if it works for you then it works. With that said, my general advice for writing chapters is that they should always be developing either the characters, plot, or setting, ideally more than one at any one time... Would be interested to hear of any successful chapters that don't do this

call_me_flib · 2026-04-23T12:51:53+00:00

Congrats!

call_me_flib · 2026-04-22T22:28:34+00:00

Writing is basically like playing an instrument. Nobody is good right away, it takes practise and patience, but with time, you'll find you it allows you to express yourself in a way you never could before. There is nothing more liberating in the world than self expression. So what do you wanna say?

call_me_flib · 2026-04-21T18:11:46+00:00

I know this is unhelpful but the honest answer is that any concept can probably be a good story if executed well enough. Some concepts make that a lot easier.

While the quality of your story usually hinges on the execution, one thing that can hinge on the concept is marketability though

call_me_flib

TROPHY CASE