My Writing Project

Hello again everyone!

Good news, my second novel has been submitted for publication, which leaves me free now to write my third book! This one is going to feature a quartet of young disabled people who are going to face surviving in a country that has come to hate their very existence. The main theme is clearly going to be intolerance but there is also hope and courage, not to mention a certain degree of adventure and a little humour (hopefully!).

If anyone is interested in acting as a beta reader, that is someone who reads the chapters more or less as they are written and gives feedback on them, please send me a private message with your email address, which will be held in the strictest confidence and not sold to any telemarketing companies, and I will send you a synopsis of the book so that you can get a better understanding of what it is about.

I must warn prospective readers that there will be portions of this story that they may find disturbing, events that include torture, violent death, and other acts of people’s inhumanity towards people, but the overall aim of the book is to be uplifting through adversity. Finally, no one who volunteers is under any obligation to see the book out to the end, but those who do will get a mention in the acknowledgements page!

Many thanks in anticipation.

P.S. This is not a plug or a hard sell, more of an afterthought. If you want to know more about my books please visit me at http://petercwhitaker.co.uk/ where you can at least get an impression of my credibility!

@amgmod wrote:

Owww, I am interested ….. quick question, when you send out a chapter to be beta read is there a sort of time limit to read and respond? I mean, if it is something you would like done within a week I might struggle but if it is were over a longer time I could probably commit more steadfastly.

[never beta read before ]

Short answer: no!

Writing is not, unfortunately, what I do for a living; mostly at the weekend and evenings. I expect this project to take me between 3 – 6 months to complete. Although feedback is valued as soon as possible there is still value in someone sending me a comment on the first chapter even as I write the last one. The real point of using beta readers for a writer is getting several different opinions on what they are writing, the way the story is developing, so even if a reader only makes one observation throughout the whole project that is still a worthwhile contribution if it makes me stop and think.

I will not badger anyone for a response by the way. I will presume that you are still interested and continue to send material until you, the reader, tells me to stop or we reach the end. Pressure works for me as a writer but reading should be enjoyable and I am hoping that that will be everyone’s experience with this book.

@independent wrote:

Hi

Are you still looking for more beta readers?

As with the previous requests, send me your email address in a private message and I will add you to the list, always happy to welcome another new face!

Well this is frustrating!

My internet at home went down last week and still has not been repaired despite my ISP having a declared ‘2 day’ target for which they won a national customer care award!

I hope to be back on line by the weekend but I am not going to hold my breath.

Apologies to anyone waiting for more material to read or for my response to your feedback. I am not in an ideal situation at the moment but hopefully it will improve sooner rather than later.

Wow! I had not realised that so much time has passed since my last post.
I wanted to alert those members of this forum who volunteered to act as Beta Readers that I will be sending out new material very soon, hopefully this weekend. The new material will include the prologue and the first 4 chapters of the book, maybe even the 5th if things go to plan! The book is planned for 9 chapters so I am almost half-way there.
Anyone else who would like to read it please just send me a direct message with your email address before Saturday.
I will be including a brief statement of what I have been up to lately with regards to the writing. I am aware that it often seems like I disappear but that’s the nature of writing in an attic!

I am so busy that time seems to contradicting the theory of relativity…or confirming it! One of the two anyway!!

I’ve got the whole weekend to myself and I am dedicating it to getting Chapter 5 finished and, hopefully, out to my beta readers!

Hang on to your hats!!

I am on the home straight with regards to the book. Prior to submitting the manuscript to a literary agent I am compiling the chapters into the relevant parts and carrying out an edit of the text as I go.

If anyone wants to pass on any last minute comments then please feel free to do so, it is never too late…well, short of the manuscript going to print that is.

Many thanks to those who have contributed.