Conflicting advice from beta readers

First, you haven't pissed anyone off. They gave their comments. Assume good intentions. Second, have a look at their work. See if their style follows what they've recommended to you. For instance if the second author has very clipped, action-packed sequences with little internal dialog, then what you've run into is a personal preference.
In general, IMO, getting this kind of conflicting advice just means you are close enough to golden (in that area) that personal preferences are playing a big part in the crit, rather than pointing out obvious issues. So you can lean whichever way feels the most comfortable for you.

josephperin said:

What do you do when you have beta readers giving contradictory advice?

My WIP is a thriller. One beta reader, a published author, recommends giving more internal dialogue and narrative so readers can connect better with the characters.

The other one, also a published author, recommends trimming what is there now (admittedly very little) because it slows down the pace.

I'm at the point where I have decided if I've pissed both of them off, either I've done a fabulous job or it's complete crap.

Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

Hi - Welcome to AW. The standard method is to construct or purchase a small cage, place the conflicting betas within and wait to see who emerges.

Or you could ignore them both, or get another, or perhaps try to see what their advice has in common - take and take away aren't necessarily contradictory. If you asked two people how to decorate your living room and one said to change the paint and the other said the paint was great but the curtains needed changing, they may both just be saying it's too damn dark.

There's a beta section here, though it can be harder to get takers if you're not a somewhat-known quantity, and a Share Your Work section (password: vista), in which you can post excerpts once you've got 50 posts. Usually, problems in an excerpt are prevalent throughout a manuscript. To build your posts, try critiquing others in the SYW section. That will engage you with the community in case you want to seek another beta, and help you see your own work better.

You can pretty much expect input from different readers to differ somewhat. If they're both commenting on the same area, chances are they both felt it wasn't quite right but would go about fixing it in different ways. And of course there are different ways to fix a problem area, so their advice may not even be that contradictory.

Anyway, with any critiques or beta reads, first, always save your original copy.

Then, if you get confused, put the whole thing up for a few days. Come back to it when you're more detached again and able to see it more objectively.

Expect to toss anywhere from half to most of the suggestions you get. Don't get hung up on a comment or two or feel like anyone's opinion should top yours.

I've had non-helpful crits from people with lots of books out and great ones from non-writers. Just go by what's said and what you think of it, don't be overly impressed by credentials. We're all readers and it's not rocket science to notice what doesn't work for them.

As you go through, the comments will strike you as one of three things: Wonderful, ridiculous, or not sure. Make the changes that jump out at you as wonderful, cross out those that just aren't it. Then, all you have to deal with are the "maybes."

If more than one person comments on the same thing, reconsider (but don't automatically change it).

When in doubt, leave it the way you had it.

Critique and beta read for others at least as much as is done for you. It's only fair and even if it wasn't, imo it improves your writing like nothing else. There are a few dozen typical newbie errors you'll no longer make once you see them a couple hundred times in other people's writing.

Good luck!

Tie goes to the writer.

josephperin said:

What do you do when you have beta readers giving contradictory advice?

My WIP is a thriller. One beta reader, a published author, recommends giving more internal dialogue and narrative so readers can connect better with the characters.

The other one, also a published author, recommends trimming what is there now (admittedly very little) because it slows down the pace.

I'm at the point where I have decided if I've pissed both of them off, either I've done a fabulous job or it's complete crap.

Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

Do either of these pieces of advice mesh with a concern or fear you've had about the manuscript in your heart of hearts? Do you worry about the pacing being too slow, or do you worry about the story not delving deeply enough into your characters? If so, I might favor that one.

Also think what kind of story each of these people write and which, if either, is closest to what you wanted to accomplish with this. Did you envision this story as one that will intrigue readers by being fast paced and intense, or did you envision it more as the kind of story that pulls the reader into the inner life of it's pov character or characters? Not saying it's impossible to do both, but knowing what kind of story you personally love most, and what you hoped this one to be might hint where to lean.

Also consider Gaiman's rule--if someone tells you something isn't working, they're probably right, but if they tell you exactly what it is and how to fix it, they're probably wrong.

Maybe there's a third path that you'll need to find.