Expert Beta Readers?

No, but I have thought about the same thing. It's not easy finding information in the region and time period for my WIP, at least in English anyway, and most of what I find is the same anywhere I look. And there are things I want/need to know but I can't find so I fudge it. Mine is not straight Historical, it has fantasy woven through it, so I guess I have more leeway to fudge stuff, but I still want it to be believable. Ideally, I want a Romanian and a Hungarian who knows their history to point out things that are flawed in my story. First though, I need to finish it.

For the science based fiction book I wrote, I asked the appropriate department at Ohio State University if anyone in the department would be willing to read it for me for scientific content. I ended up with the department head. He was tickled pink to be asked (and loved the story). He also gave me a couple pointers on the science but it turned out, I'd done a very decent job of getting it right. So yes, try a university with an appropriate department. Puma

I use an expert for test reading (if I get one). for instance in my current mystery I have involved a cop. Works well.

Ah yes.

It is really helpful to have expert outsiders who like reading and can find the errors you cannot see for looking!

I have been thinking about this too but I have no clue how to find anyone. All ideas are very welcome!

You need...

to build up an acquaintance with experts in the local techs and unis.

Also in the UK the Royal Armoury museum, the National Railway Museum, the V&A, the Brit Museum etc all have experts who are happy to help. Strike up a relationship by asking for information and if a friendly relationship develops you ask 'em to read. Most of the time these people are happy to read a novel and pick holes. I always pay with a virtual magnum of Bollingers and the offer of a nice place to stay when they visit NZ.

pdr said:

to build up an acquaintance with experts in the local techs and unis.

Also in the UK the Royal Armoury museum, the National Railway Museum, the V&A, the Brit Museum etc all have experts who are happy to help. Strike up a relationship by asking for information and if a friendly relationship develops you ask 'em to read. Most of the time these people are happy to read a novel and pick holes. I always pay with a virtual magnum of Bollingers and the offer of a nice place to stay when they visit NZ.

Click to expand...

For my next project I was actually thinking about chatting with some people at the Army Museum here in Stockholm. They have tons and tons of stuff on the 30 Years War, everything from uniforms and weapons to personal items belonging to soldiers and I know they're very happy when somebody asks (because people don't). I think they'd gladly give me plenty of help. Also, I think they could likely get me in contact with the right people at various universities too and direct me to the archival material I'm looking for. There's so much research about this era in Sweden so I think I can get plenty of help. Plus the research libraries are bulging with texts on the period. And it'll be such a relief to be able to easily access original documents!

It's harder with the project I'm about to embark on... Maybe I should switch order?

ETA: I asked about this in the novel forum as the other idea (which is just better) is a series and the major reason keeping me from doing it is that I'm not sure anybody would a) want a series from a new writer b) want a book that's a cross between The Count of Monte Christo and Gone with the Wind with plenty of graphic violence and sex set in the 17th century (I can't help that; it's just comes with this idea - I've just read too much on 17th century warfare and think I need to write about the horrors to clear my brain. And have a HEA, at least for some characters).

I'm happy for any advice. Here or in the other forum. Or PM for that matter.

Thank you!

Gah.

Sore subject right now, but yes. I just finished rewrite #12 of my fictionalized bio of a silent movie star.

I belong to a web forum dedicated to her, and noticed one of the guys there seemed to know everything. He is literally like a walking encyclopedia of old Hollywood lore.

My problem now is that he's found massive problems with my timeline (way worse than what I had hoped), and I'm not only going to be rewriting, I'm essentially going to have to tear down half the building before putting on the new sunroom addition.

He prefaced each of his multiple reviews (still coming in...) with "Of course this is your book, and I realize there will be dramatic license taken, but..." , still it's very daunting looking at what I've already done (when I was fighting with the timeline for 2 years and thought I finally had it to a good place), and now knowing I've got to rip it apart again to be able to keep going. :/

I spent last night scouring his (4-page single spaced e-mail) reviews, trying to figure out what to take and what to leave. Many of the scenes read remarkably well, and I don't want to fix them. Others I know will need lots of work.

Since there is quite a community out there of fans for her, I could be pilloried if I offend them or change what they think happened to her, so I'm taking everything he says very seriously. I'm so grateful to him for catching things I might not have.

You're lucky to have found someone so knowledgeable, Hip-Hop. I know it seems like a disappointment now, but in the end I think his help will be of tremendous profit to you. Hope so, anyway. Puma

In my Father Serra's Legacy Trilogy I was very fortunate to have comments/suggestions from a Franciscan Friar. I also received some feedback from the Franciscan Order in Rome.

So, yes, it is extremely important to seek guidance from the experts if you wish to hold true to your story.

Ouch!

So sorry, Hip-Hop. The frustrations of a writer!

You can either make this a fictional version, a novel, about her life or do the rewrites to make it a correct biography.

Which do you prefer?

But thank goodness you had the expert read before you published thus avoiding infuriated fans and much egg on your face!

pdr said:

So sorry, Hip-Hop. The frustrations of a writer!

You can either make this a fictional version, a novel, about her life or do the rewrites to make it a correct biography.

Which do you prefer?

But thank goodness you had the expert read before you published thus avoiding infuriated fans and much egg on your face!

Click to expand...

Thanks y'all!

Well, it's still a fictionalized biography (on the order of "Loving Frank", a book I absolutely adore, and which first gave me the idea...[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0345495004/?tag=absowrit-20). If you haven't read it, please do. I did not want the book to end. And I try to re-read it at least once a year for inspiration.

But I tend to be a bit anal-retentive, and a bit of a perfectionist as far as these things go. There were changes of studio, travel between places, breakups, etc. And my SME caught that I had her in the wrong place at the wrong time multiple times ("because of such and such, she wouldn't have been in California at the time, she would have been in NY."). Mostly that type of thing, but much more at times.

For research, I far prefer real biographies. But I love fictionalized biographies that can make me actually enter that person's world so I can see them come to life. So that's what I do. I want everyone to fall in love with her the way I did when I found out more about her.

I found a wonderful book called "Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin" that had perfect language in it from outspoken women of the time (Dorothy Parker, Zelda Fitzgerald, Edna Ferber, and Edna St. Vincent Millay) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0156030594/?tag=absowrit-20, so that helped me to speak like they would have, and I listened to scratchy old 1920s jazz while I was writing too.

I want this book to have the best shot it can possibly have, so these edits, while painful, are very necessary.