Patrick Alan

I’m an extrovert.* That might be unusual for a writer, but I am.

Everything to me, outside of eating and going to the bathroom, are team sports. Eating and peeing are simply competitions that I like to win on my own.

I can’t even trim the bushes in my front yard without going over to my neighbor to look at what he’s done with his, or dragging him over to look at my latest plan in home improvement. I need to be around people.

With writing, short of collaborations, team work is the critique partner or first reader. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out a writing process that works for me and also studying others to see what works for them.

From what I see, most successful writers have a partner or team. I see my mentors, Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch (they’re married). Everytime I think of that duo, I look at my wife and wonder why she hasn’t bothered to become an award winning editor and author.

See, a spouse as a first reader makes sense. You’re both financially invested in the success of a book.

Then you have the critique partner. That is a trade of services. An equitable trade in services in the ideal world. This is probably much harder to find than a spouse, yet easier to find than an award winning one. Well, writerly award winning, at least.

I have a friend who has a co-worker for a first reader. That’s one that always seems a little weird to me.

It reminds me of an episode of Bones, when Bones was talking about Angela being her first reader and Booth told her she should pay Angela.

It’s just a weird dynamic to me. I think Booth was right. Yet at the same time, I would think it inappropriate if Angela charged a fee up front.

I think that finding the right reader, partner, or group is probably the hardest thing and the best thing once you’ve found them.

I’m just curious, who is your reader/partner/group and how did you find them? How do you work? Completed manuscript? Sharing right from the beginning? Chapter by chapter? What sort of feedback do you like? Grammar checking? Plot holes?

My wife refuses to put the effort in to becoming an award winning editor, so I am now looking into other options. I think it’s a really really good option that I probably should have taken a while ago. There’s some inherent laziness though.

*I may at times appear to not be an extrovert. Consider the situation. I sometimes SHOULD be quiet. I am showing restraint. Enjoy the seemingly shy quiet me while you can.