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How do you guys synthesize beta feedback?

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gtanders

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Not sure this is the right board, since it's mostly requests below, but I'll give this a shot.

How do you guys work through/filter detailed comments from multiple betas?

For comments that you allow through the filter (i.e. = these are crits I agree with and want to address), how do you handle that dataset? Do you do it rationally, like from a punchlist? Or do you just read, absorb it all, get overwhelmed, and then dive into the next version "rationally blind to betas' detailed feedback", following your normal process (in my case, = multiple prewriting drafts where character logic is hacked out) and hope your gut knows what's up?

Or is there another way?

I've got oodles of good feedback on my WIP (lots of it from litdawg, bless his puppy dog soul), but there are so many systemic/structural issues with the book, I can't think of any way to write something better other than to start over and pull in relevant "salvageable" passages when I know I'm hitting that point in the story. It's a workable process (I think), and I've used something like it before, but I'm afraid I'll miss out on addressing the more zoomed-in beta observations, which are pegged to exact MS wording in my current cataloguing-of-beta-feedback system, and that exact wording won't exist if I write from scratch.

What do I doooooo guyssssss thanks!
 

Woollybear

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Hi George.

You know me, and that I never got an agent. So, yeah. Oh, I almost emailed you from Toledo a few weeks ago because I was actually in Ohio. Then I thought, "That's silly."

Anyway, Here's what I suggest.

Of course, some comments will ring true. You make a note of those. You categorize those. Perhaps those comments have to do with how your character is *shaped* and how this is conveyed through minutiae like dialog.

Some comments will be off-base. Cut and remove those.

Some comments will rattle you and you won't know why this reader reacted as they did and you cry to your best friend and they say the reader sucked eggs and you agree and your best friend is the best and then you realize a few days later the reader was right. OK. That happens too.

If you have a good beta reader, and the feedback is worthwhile in the end, perhaps that person will be willing to skim through your revamped work?

Your plan going forward: OF COURSE you need to rethink Sophie's story. :) Rewrite the whole damn thing. Do it with beta comments in mind, but with YOUR VOICE. Don't get into the weeds--you know this--don't do it. Fix the structural problems. And before you reach out to that amazing beta reader again, review his comments and make sure you're hitting the underlying concerns.

I feel like you know this... And just need to hear it. :)

(p.s. alternate answer: with 16 beta readers on the self-published novel I was able to do a lot of pick-and-choose-and see-what-works-for-most. More beta readers is always an option.)
 
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gtanders

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Hi George.

You know me, and that I never got an agent. So, yeah. Oh, I almost emailed you from Toledo a few weeks ago because I was actually in Ohio. Then I thought, "That's silly."

Eee!!! Next time. :) I totally would've come out if I could. (Though Toledo's gotta be at least 3 hours from here--that would've been tricky.)

Anyway, Here's what I suggest.

Of course, some comments will ring true. You make a note of those. You categorize those. Perhaps those comments have to do with how your character is *shaped* and how this is conveyed through minutiae like dialog.

Some comments will be off-base. Cut and remove those.

Some comments will rattle you and you won't know why this reader reacted as they did and you cry to your best friend and they say the reader sucked eggs and you agree and your best friend is the best and then you realize a few days later the reader was right. OK. That happens too.

If you have a good beta reader, and the feedback is worthwhile in the end, perhaps that person will be willing to skim through your revamped work?

Your plan going forward: OF COURSE you need to rethink Sophie's story. :) Rewrite the whole damn thing. Do it with beta comments in mind, but with YOUR VOICE. Don't get into the weeds--you know this--don't do it. Fix the structural problems. And before you reach out to that amazing beta reader again, review his comments and make sure you're hitting the underlying concerns.

I feel like you know this... And just need to hear it. :) <3

I thought I knew it on my last project, but seems I forgot everything. Hearing it is suuuuper helpful. :D

It's so hard because feedback occurs at so many levels. I always think in terms of an org chart (too much time in the software industry :p), like, "this comment is CEO-level ( = structural/vision problem)", "this comment is middle management" (why didn't protag give us some kind of internal reaction to external plot point?). Pingponging from level to level is sort of dizzying and makes it hard to place things properly in the hierarchy. I have an ornate/methodical system for working things down the org chart in *composing* the story, but I have no process for working beta feedback into that org chart process.

Then there's the line-level comments like, "I just LOVE this wording/description/moment." (I get a lot of those, not gonna lie.) Part of me is like, "OK, gotta make sure that sentence survives."

But no, it's not going to survive. And if I wrote 20 or 30 great descriptions, I can do it again. I hope.

Thanks Patty! :)
 
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Layla Nahar

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I would do the rational/punchlist thing first. I'd take all the crits, 'line em up and make a grid'. I'd look for consensus - places where multiple people agree, then for places where you agree with crits, and it's worth while spending a little time just to be aware of the crits you disagree with - you might not incorporate them, but you never know if any one of them might shed light on something. If there are any WFT crits - forget them, don't waste your time. Once I had that grid, I'd start writing the a new version.
 

Earthling

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I start with the 'quick wins' - any small edits that I agree with, like typos or suggested word changes or clunky sentences. Doing something and being able to mark some of the feedback as actioned helps me feel in control and less overwhelmed. I then go through the remaining comments carefully and delete any that I know I'm not going to action for whatever reason. Then I decide how to deal with the remainder.

If you're going to need to make structural changes, I'd go back to the beginning and outline the book with the changes. A few sentences per chapter summarising the important things that need to happen. Then you can compare each summary with each current chapter and take them one by one, seeing what you can keep and what needs to change.

But, most importantly, don't do this too quickly. Absorb the feedback, then put it and the MS aside for a month. Read the MS with fresh eyes and note your own comments, then look again at the feedback. It should be much easier to see what you want to change.
 

gtanders

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Thanks everyone, I really appreciate it. :)

I've finished cataloging beta feedback, and the picture is much clearer now. There's a definite sense of "what I wish this story was." And I agree, that vision is a much better extrapolation of the concept than what I've got.

So, onward, to an entirely new book!

Thanks for the encouragement. It means a lot to me.
 
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