Wattpad Expirment: The Grove

Dear Fellows,

I know it is has been many moons (okay two moons) since I have written on my blog. The reason for this is I am working on a brand new comic which I can’t talk about yet and another project that I am in the process of beta reading so I can’t talk about that either.

However this post is about an experiment that I am doing with THE GROVE. In the hope to gain readers, I am going to post 5 to 10 pages each week on Friday to Wattpad.

Why The Grove you ask? For the simple reason that I own all the rights and it is actually complete so I don’t need to worry about how I am going to end it. The final reason is the project that I am beta reading. I have not decided how it is going to be published yet and I want to see what Wattpad can do for me.

Since the novel is not broken into traditional chapters, but sections with Individual Point of Views: I am adding a few sections at a time, however I won’t break up a section and I am trying to find good ending points so the weekly installment feels fulfilling.

So if you wanted to read one of my novels for free and are willing to read it in installments: You can find the story here: The Grove

An Author’s Life: Critiques

If your dream is to be an author, taking critiques like an adult is a skill you must learn. It doesn’t matter if you are sixteen or sixty, hearing your work needs even more work is hard. Sometimes you might work on a beautiful descriptive phrase, but it needs to be cut because it doesn’t add to the work.

You will discover this only by having beta readers, still it is hard to sit through people cutting apart your work.

Unrelated dragon image that I did at the drink&draw. Cute isn’t it?

Here are my four guidelines:

1) Be professional.

2) Ask questions, but don’t defend the work.

3) Listen.

4) Don’t take it personally.

In my experience, taking it personally is the one I see the most–especially with new authors.   In fact this last one is so common, I find it hard to give critiques to new writers. If someone has done a few rewrites, I don’t worry about it, but when they are a new writer and trying to get started I don’t want to say anything to discourage them. We are not attacking you. We are actually trying to make the writing better. We took the time to read your work and make comments.

If you only want accolades do not ask a author to beta read.