I hope you all had a nice, relaxing, springlike weekend! Here in southern MO, we had freezing rain and little snow flurries, so that was . . . well, not ideal, let us say. I haven’t gone out to check on my magnolias. The saucer magnolia was just about to open its buds before the freezing rain started falling, so we’ll have a chance to see how much those flowers can stand.
It did give me a chance to stay in, where I finished the last powerpoint over pedigrees, gazed thoughtfully over the four chapters about selection and evolution I hoped to cover and considered how much work it will be turning them into real lecture-style powerpoints, and sighed.
I also finished the draft of Copper Mountain. At last! So next step: beta readers. No rush. I have in mind July-ish for the release date, which should give me time for revisions and so on. I have three (3) other things I would like to work on, so that, along with handling General Biology in an unexpected online format, will keep me busy for sure.
Big questions for beta readers this time:
Does the story start at the right place?
Does the story stop at the right place?
In between, is there any chapter too slow-paced where you lose interest?
I’m half inclined to stop the story two chapters or so before the current end and let it end on a cliffhanger-ish type of situation, but that would screw up the timing of a novella that is already written, so not sure what to do. I’ll be interested in the responses of beta readers, that’s for sure.
Please Feel Free to Share:
Conga rats dancing for your finishing the draft. Was this an oblique request for volunteer beta readers? waves hand in willingness.
We had sun, downpours and a squall of hail. Might have had thunder but didn’t see lightning so we’re not sure.
I know I’m not a beta-reader, but wanted to mention this anyway: I purely hate cliffhanger endings.
If I know a book ends on a cliffhanger before I start reading, I will not read it.
I may buy it anyway to support the author, if it’s a favorite and reliable author, and wait for the ending that I’m sure she’s writing to be published before reading the set, but that is rare.
If an author does that to me unexpectedly, I won’t trust her and I will generally wait to buy future books until I’m reassured they have a satisfactory ending.
I don’t know how universal that feeling is, but I’m likely not unique in my dislike of cliffhanger endings.
That doesn’t mean ALL the loose ends need to be tied up, if a sequel ormulti-book story is planned there can be plenty of threads left open to be resolved, but for me the present story arc needs a satisfactory-for-now conclusion or at least a resting point achieved.
Do you already have an established set of beta readers, or are you like looking for new ones?
Hurrah!
I planted pansies yesterday. Some of them looked awfully sad and got extra watering. They look better today after freezing over night and snow today. . .
Hanneke, I think everyone feels that way! But: what do you mean by “cliffhanger?”
If the big issues are resolved, but one thing is not, does that count as a cliffhanger for you? This is an important question. I should turn it into a post.