Paul Butler's Blog
August 19, 2014
Should Your Friends Read Your Draft Manuscripts?
The following discussion is adapted from my author blog www.paulbutlernovelist.wordpress.com
At first glance the question seems straight forward enough. You need opinions and editing advice before you send your work away to a publisher or agent. You might be leery of professional evaluators and editors because of the extra cost or because you might not know them personally and have (understandable) trust issues when it comes to your baby. You need to know whether the plot grips or falls flat, whether it sags in the middle or fizzles away without warning, whether you’re putting up unnecessary barriers to reader involvement, or whether it’s just plain perfect the way it is (wouldn’t that be good?) What could make better sense than getting feedback from the people already in your circle of family, friends and acquaintances?
But hereby lies the first warning. If you want honest opinions from your friends, make sure you’re ready to hear them. It’s quite possible that a treasured companion likes and esteems you, but also thinks your writing well…
Are you prepared to hear it? Or will it damage your relationship? Even if they don’t think your work is exactly bad they might have been expecting ... something else. They might know a different person from the one who emerges when you put your fingers to the word processor. This can lead to disappointment and puzzlement on both sides.
Further they might find it more of a slog to read through your work than you had hoped. You might speak to them several times over days and weeks and get frustrated because they still haven’t got to that novel of yours, and they haven’t mentioned it either. It may be lying in the bottom of a cupboard somewhere and, if you’re not careful, you might start to resent this.
It’s much easier to talk to someone than it is to read their novel. It’s harder still to read a novel from someone who’s waiting to hear your opinion. So you shouldn’t take it personally, but then we’re all human…
But what if they love it? That would be great! …Wouldn’t it?
Not necessarily. In all probability you have chosen a certain friend because the two of you are emotionally or psychologically cohesive. You feel the same way, like the same things, have the same little codes, perhaps the same sense of humour.
An overworked editor in a publishing house, a reviewer, or a random reader in a book shop has little in common with you other than an interest in the written word. If he or she is to enter into your manuscript with any sense of enthusiasm there must be something universally gripping about it; it must continue to grip not only your friends but many other people as well. In order to hook a few, your book must have serious potential to appeal to many.
On the other hand, while reading, your friend might pick up on typos and fluency issues. This is good news because a clean manuscript always stands a better chance of getting through a publisher’s first round.
So whether to share a manuscript with friends or relatives can be a tricky question. There are a number of points on both sides and writers have their own preferences. So think it over.
At first glance the question seems straight forward enough. You need opinions and editing advice before you send your work away to a publisher or agent. You might be leery of professional evaluators and editors because of the extra cost or because you might not know them personally and have (understandable) trust issues when it comes to your baby. You need to know whether the plot grips or falls flat, whether it sags in the middle or fizzles away without warning, whether you’re putting up unnecessary barriers to reader involvement, or whether it’s just plain perfect the way it is (wouldn’t that be good?) What could make better sense than getting feedback from the people already in your circle of family, friends and acquaintances?
But hereby lies the first warning. If you want honest opinions from your friends, make sure you’re ready to hear them. It’s quite possible that a treasured companion likes and esteems you, but also thinks your writing well…
Are you prepared to hear it? Or will it damage your relationship? Even if they don’t think your work is exactly bad they might have been expecting ... something else. They might know a different person from the one who emerges when you put your fingers to the word processor. This can lead to disappointment and puzzlement on both sides.
Further they might find it more of a slog to read through your work than you had hoped. You might speak to them several times over days and weeks and get frustrated because they still haven’t got to that novel of yours, and they haven’t mentioned it either. It may be lying in the bottom of a cupboard somewhere and, if you’re not careful, you might start to resent this.
It’s much easier to talk to someone than it is to read their novel. It’s harder still to read a novel from someone who’s waiting to hear your opinion. So you shouldn’t take it personally, but then we’re all human…
But what if they love it? That would be great! …Wouldn’t it?
Not necessarily. In all probability you have chosen a certain friend because the two of you are emotionally or psychologically cohesive. You feel the same way, like the same things, have the same little codes, perhaps the same sense of humour.
An overworked editor in a publishing house, a reviewer, or a random reader in a book shop has little in common with you other than an interest in the written word. If he or she is to enter into your manuscript with any sense of enthusiasm there must be something universally gripping about it; it must continue to grip not only your friends but many other people as well. In order to hook a few, your book must have serious potential to appeal to many.
On the other hand, while reading, your friend might pick up on typos and fluency issues. This is good news because a clean manuscript always stands a better chance of getting through a publisher’s first round.
So whether to share a manuscript with friends or relatives can be a tricky question. There are a number of points on both sides and writers have their own preferences. So think it over.
