Why would someone do that?

[justalurkr]

I'm reading a work in progress that's about double the size it planned to be already and still way not done. I'm going to assume the author wanted to get a beta reader started on the story (pushing 200K) and ran into a roadblock.

The author didn't go into a lot of detail about the beta reading experience except to say the "concrit" was more like a paragraph by paragraph assault, and that she was having trouble getting the current chapter out because of an imp of negativity parked on her shoulder, no doubt using language the now ex-beta had.

Think I'm going after the beta for negativity? Nope. I'm scratching my head over why anyone would let a beta or editor or alpha audience generating concrit after a work in progress. I mean, I've advice from professionals indicating the story should not only be done, the author shouldn't have seen the copy for a month at minimum.

Even in the absence of professional advice, isn't is sort of common sense not to start the edit process before the end of the story?

Comments

[nialla]

I've seen authors use alpha readers to get feedback chapter by chapter before the work is complete. Though the difference is they've already got it plotted out, they just don't have it all down yet.

This allows the writer to get out some grammar nits, as well as some feedback to see if the readers are reacting "properly" to the way the story is going. If not, there's still time to tweak if needed.

I don't want to read a WIP unless the writer states at the beginning the story is done, they're just posting chapters of a longer work as the beta reading is completed. I've got a pretty good chance it will be posted at some point, even if the author gives up or ignores the beta reader(s).

I think the issue is impatience. So many writers want to get their stuff out ASAP, and with the ease of posting these days, there's tons of stuff going out completely unbetaed.

[justalurkr.livejournal.com]

I can definitely see her wanting to get the beta underway. Still, looks like she learned a harsh lesson about her tolerances.