Elin’s Comments (group member since Dec 01, 2011)

Elin’s comments from the Q&A with Murdo Morrison group.

Murdo wrote: "I was amazed that, after many hours of editing and proof reading, I still found some punctuation and other errors in the book..."

I've read a few galley proofs and never found a completely clean one. Human error is - well, human. I can forgive the odd error here and there - or should I say hear and their?

Murdo wrote: " Honestly, I found it hard to get the kind of critical feedback that I was looking for. There is a tendency to want to say only encouraging things when you really need to hear about what works and does not in a literary context. I think that, if you plan to use beta readers, you need to be selective."

Absolutely, and several decent ones are better because they all pick up on different things.

It's interesting to hear that you read you dialogue aloud. I wish more authors did that. Also the importance of editing - even traditionally published books seem to be suffering lately. Do you think there's too much reliance on word processors review applications?

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions.

Hi Marianne.

Marianne wrote: "I noticed Elin asks about 'beta readers' - what are they? I assume they are friends who get to see the raw early draf..."

'Beta-reader' is a term peculiar to the internet. It comes from computer programming where the alpha testers would try to break the programme to find out any problems, then when it was pretty much foolproof, it would be given to beta testers to actually use, to see if the less able user could find problems that the experts had missed. I think beta-readers came to be used via the fan fiction communities, where the author is considered to be the alpha reader.

Friends who see early drafts tend to just enthuse. However, a good beta-reader will cheer you on until you finish your book, telling you how wonderful you are, but at the same time will point out that you overuse adverbs or 'said', pounce on poor grammar, flag typos and indicate that there's an enormous plot hole that needs filling in chapter 4 that makes chapters 7 to 12 nonsensical, all without causing offence. It's a bit of a skill and a good beta reader is worth his/her weight in rubies.

Murdo wrote: "Writing fiction was very challenging in the beginning (it remains so but in a different way). I really had to learn how to create believable characters. Writing dialog in a credible way is very difficult. "

I found this very interesting. I think that writing is like a sport in that before you can run the marathon you have to put in a lot of hours training. I would like to know what you did to practice. Did you write short stories, read other writers' dialogue to see what works or what doesn't, listen to people in the street? Also do you use beta readers?

Murdo wrote: "I am working on a sequel to Roses of Winter that begins in the present day. I have it about 50% complete. After that I want to do something completely different."

Thanks Murdo. Good luck with the WIP.

Murdo wrote: "Thank you for this interesting question. It will require a somewhat lengthy answer.

Growing up I heard stories from my father, Donald Morrison, about his time in the merchant navy in WW2. He wasn'..."

I had intended to ask you what drew you to this period of history, but this response makes that clear. So, instead, do you plan to carry on the story of the family through the "you never had it so good' period?