Hello,
I'm looking for someone to swap beta reads/critiques. I have a 99k word manuscript that is complete and pretty well polished. I'm looking for overall comments on plot, characters, flow, etc. In return, I will gladly do the same. I mostly read adult contemporary, mysteries, thrillers, paranormal and some horror. I like interesting characters and good stories. I'm probably not the best person to critique literature or romance.
If you're interested, please let me know.
Below is a brief synopsis of my story. It reads a bit more "paranormal" than it actually is. The story weaves between the present (old man) and the past (as a young boy). The story does have a baseball element to it, although it is not really a baseball story. If you saw the movie Field of Dreams- it's a bit like that.
EDGAR HOWARD may be pushing eighty, but he has no intention of being shipped off to the insane asylum. Not yet. Or die in the cold, dark basement for that matter—at the invisible hands of whatever IT is that has taken up residence down there.
When a strange phenomenon drops from the night sky and appears uninvited on his porch, Edgar is unwillingly held captive by a force he can barely imagine. Rummaging through his helpless mind, the unseen intruder extracts moments of his life like cards from a deck, and one-by-one he is forced to revisit his every failure—cruel reminders of a life that never was.
Even the painful memories from that summer of his youth—so deeply buried—are pulled forth: his father’s harsh words, what his grandfather had asked of him, his love of baseball and the only dream he ever had.
Brushing it off as a senior moment, Edgar goes about his winter routine. When the buzzing in his ears starts sounding like indecipherable voices, and his obsession with the basement door that won’t stay closed, intensifies, his wife WILMA forces him to the doctor.
Convinced that it is nothing more than an overactive imagination and the ills of old age, pills are prescribed. Between Wilma’s care and the effects of the drugs, Edgar’s anxiety subsides. But even within his induced state, he is certain that the voices are still around, and that they might be originating from somewhere below the floorboards.
Finally confronting his taunter, Edgar is faced with a choice—not of madness or death, but something far more unimaginable—between two promises he had made nearly a lifetime ago.
LOVE OF THE GAME, complete at 99,000 words, is a mystical tale of childhood and family, of delicate dreams and the astonishing people who inspire and encourage them. Filled with tragedy, undying faith and the great American pastime, it will appeal to those who enjoy Mitch Albom and the lighter side of Stephen King—commercial fiction with elements of mystery, suspense and a sprinkling of the supernatural. It will also appeal to those who enjoy baseball stories, like Field of Dreams.
I'm looking for someone to swap beta reads/critiques. I have a 99k word manuscript that is complete and pretty well polished. I'm looking for overall comments on plot, characters, flow, etc. In return, I will gladly do the same. I mostly read adult contemporary, mysteries, thrillers, paranormal and some horror. I like interesting characters and good stories. I'm probably not the best person to critique literature or romance.
If you're interested, please let me know.
Below is a brief synopsis of my story. It reads a bit more "paranormal" than it actually is. The story weaves between the present (old man) and the past (as a young boy). The story does have a baseball element to it, although it is not really a baseball story. If you saw the movie Field of Dreams- it's a bit like that.
EDGAR HOWARD may be pushing eighty, but he has no intention of being shipped off to the insane asylum. Not yet. Or die in the cold, dark basement for that matter—at the invisible hands of whatever IT is that has taken up residence down there.
When a strange phenomenon drops from the night sky and appears uninvited on his porch, Edgar is unwillingly held captive by a force he can barely imagine. Rummaging through his helpless mind, the unseen intruder extracts moments of his life like cards from a deck, and one-by-one he is forced to revisit his every failure—cruel reminders of a life that never was.
Even the painful memories from that summer of his youth—so deeply buried—are pulled forth: his father’s harsh words, what his grandfather had asked of him, his love of baseball and the only dream he ever had.
Brushing it off as a senior moment, Edgar goes about his winter routine. When the buzzing in his ears starts sounding like indecipherable voices, and his obsession with the basement door that won’t stay closed, intensifies, his wife WILMA forces him to the doctor.
Convinced that it is nothing more than an overactive imagination and the ills of old age, pills are prescribed. Between Wilma’s care and the effects of the drugs, Edgar’s anxiety subsides. But even within his induced state, he is certain that the voices are still around, and that they might be originating from somewhere below the floorboards.
Finally confronting his taunter, Edgar is faced with a choice—not of madness or death, but something far more unimaginable—between two promises he had made nearly a lifetime ago.
LOVE OF THE GAME, complete at 99,000 words, is a mystical tale of childhood and family, of delicate dreams and the astonishing people who inspire and encourage them. Filled with tragedy, undying faith and the great American pastime, it will appeal to those who enjoy Mitch Albom and the lighter side of Stephen King—commercial fiction with elements of mystery, suspense and a sprinkling of the supernatural. It will also appeal to those who enjoy baseball stories, like Field of Dreams.
