Finding Readers, Post One: First Readers
Getting readers at the various stages of our writing is essential.
But, how does a person do so?
Everything I put in this post is gleaned and modified from more experienced people; some from gaming and some from writing.
Most of the material out there is either generalist info, or given with the assumption that you are writing a book. With that said, there are core concepts and practices that we can use, even as a niche writer of interactive fiction.
I will link a couple of sources that I feel might help in a later post.
First, we need to define what stage of the writing process our project is.
I use a structure that I attribute to Jesse Greyson, a blogger and writer that I found a few years back. I have made and modified what she has shared to fit my particular needs.
Here is a link to her site: https://www.jessegreyson.com/
Stage One: Just Created Writing – Putting an idea on paper
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First Readers – Trusted souls who will be honest with you.
** These readers should be supportive and positive no matter what. (AKA Cheerleaders)
** These readers also need to be honest in their feedback without crushing your writing spirit.
** Famous example: Stephen King uses his wife, Tabitha (a writer as well.) -
Useful Feedback First Readers should be able to provide:
** What works for them with the plot?
** What does not work for them with the plot?
** What characters did they like, and why?
** What characters did they not like, and why?
** Did the story capture and keep their interest, and why or why not? -
Special need for an IF author’s First Reader:
** These readers need to understand what interactive fiction is and also enjoy the text format -
What to do if you do not find any First Readers?
** Keep working on your idea; you can skip to Stage Two
Most inexperienced writers are at this stage in their projects when deciding to post a “Works in Progress” thread here. I would urge you to hold off on posting a WiP thread at this stage of your project.
If you want to use your WiP thread as a substitute for First Readers, I would suggest you directly ask people to provide the feedback listed above.
Focus on those posters’ feedback that follows what you ask for. Ignore the rest.
It is too easy to have your project derailed if you are not careful at this stage of your project.
Up Next: Alpha Readers