Hi,
I'm looking for someone to beta-read my contemporary fantasy novel. Word count is 74K and it's been through a grammar/spelling edit and a style/content edit and polish.
I'm looking to make it better so direct, constructive criticism is what I need although I'd like to avoid a gut-ripping if possible. I have one specific request for suggestions on chapter size and cutting. I'm not always sure of where and when to end/begin a new one. Also, after my last edit cut down the word count, I think it is rather short for a novel. I'd like some suggestions as to where I might add more content. I have some ideas as to what to add but am not clear on where it would be most effective or how to do it without disrupting the flow of the narrative.
While I read and write fairly well, I have never had a beta-reader or been one but am willing to swap should you wish to.
The prologue was critiqued on SYW at http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=297020.
I address issues of mental illness, homelessness, being a veteran and more specifically being a woman veteran and nontraditional family structure. There is some swearing but no other "adult content". Maybe next time
.
Summary:
The walker is an introverted woman veteran with little memory, no past and no future beyond the next few days. She's self-sufficient and capable of taking care of herself when threatened but her rage and her hold on reality are unpredictable at best. When we meet her she's haunted by things she can't consciously remember nor does she want to. She doesn't know why she feels compelled to keep moving, she just does. Along the way she adopts a puppy, Ari, and comes to suspect that the dog rescued her rather than the reverse. With Ari, the walker meets an interestingly odd cast of characters, discovers a powerful enemy, learns who she was, is and may become, what her walking is really about and how to make her own kind of magic. Her relationship with the dog, the battles she fights with both herself and her enemies and her troubled reentry into the human community form the basis of the story.
I'm looking for someone to beta-read my contemporary fantasy novel. Word count is 74K and it's been through a grammar/spelling edit and a style/content edit and polish.
I'm looking to make it better so direct, constructive criticism is what I need although I'd like to avoid a gut-ripping if possible. I have one specific request for suggestions on chapter size and cutting. I'm not always sure of where and when to end/begin a new one. Also, after my last edit cut down the word count, I think it is rather short for a novel. I'd like some suggestions as to where I might add more content. I have some ideas as to what to add but am not clear on where it would be most effective or how to do it without disrupting the flow of the narrative.
While I read and write fairly well, I have never had a beta-reader or been one but am willing to swap should you wish to.
The prologue was critiqued on SYW at http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=297020.
I address issues of mental illness, homelessness, being a veteran and more specifically being a woman veteran and nontraditional family structure. There is some swearing but no other "adult content". Maybe next time
.Summary:
The walker is an introverted woman veteran with little memory, no past and no future beyond the next few days. She's self-sufficient and capable of taking care of herself when threatened but her rage and her hold on reality are unpredictable at best. When we meet her she's haunted by things she can't consciously remember nor does she want to. She doesn't know why she feels compelled to keep moving, she just does. Along the way she adopts a puppy, Ari, and comes to suspect that the dog rescued her rather than the reverse. With Ari, the walker meets an interestingly odd cast of characters, discovers a powerful enemy, learns who she was, is and may become, what her walking is really about and how to make her own kind of magic. Her relationship with the dog, the battles she fights with both herself and her enemies and her troubled reentry into the human community form the basis of the story.
