After reshuffling the first few chapters of my WIP, I swapped the new first chapter with two beta readers that I connected with in a Facebook group.
The comments so far have been a mix of useful, constructive input and things like:
*Your characters should be women. Isn't it fun to think about?
*What is an RC Cola? No one knows what this is.
*What is a 5&10 store? No one knows what this is.
*Plastic can't acquire mildew and the color does not fade. (In response to statement that a small plastic coin bank left on a porch faded in the sun and grew mildew in the damp.)
*There's no such thing as a bar that is open for 14 hours a day.
*I've never heard of mainstream fiction. (Claims a Master's in literature.)
Most of this seems to be... outlier kind of feedback. But the practical question this raises for me is how much of this should I take to heart? If a book is set in 1963, in a place where RC Cola was the most-consumed brand, do I cater to a millennial demographic that's never heard of it? Does a lack of knowledge about an era, product, location throw off a reader that much?
How much weight do you give those types of reactions from beta readers? Do you disregard it until you hear it more than once?
The comments so far have been a mix of useful, constructive input and things like:
*Your characters should be women. Isn't it fun to think about?
*What is an RC Cola? No one knows what this is.
*What is a 5&10 store? No one knows what this is.
*Plastic can't acquire mildew and the color does not fade. (In response to statement that a small plastic coin bank left on a porch faded in the sun and grew mildew in the damp.)
*There's no such thing as a bar that is open for 14 hours a day.
*I've never heard of mainstream fiction. (Claims a Master's in literature.)
Most of this seems to be... outlier kind of feedback. But the practical question this raises for me is how much of this should I take to heart? If a book is set in 1963, in a place where RC Cola was the most-consumed brand, do I cater to a millennial demographic that's never heard of it? Does a lack of knowledge about an era, product, location throw off a reader that much?
How much weight do you give those types of reactions from beta readers? Do you disregard it until you hear it more than once?