How do you know what to take and what to leave?

[sierramcconnell]

And yet they publish things like Twilight and Halo...

Oh, sorry. We're not supposed to do things like that. [covers self with box]

[polymath]

Both of which I've read and evaluated thoroughly. They earned publication, in my considered opinion. Though neither is my preferred entertainment reading, they were okay and head and shoulders above the run of the mill.

[sierramcconnell]

Well, Halo was Twilight, with angels. But it was so...irritating. Because both main characters were Mary Sueish. If that's a normal High School girl, I can see why I disliked growing up around them so much...

[polymath]

Mary Sue or Marty Stu equal author surrogacy. Young adult and middle grade readers can handle more author surrogacy than maturer adult readers because they find easier rapport with characters and the complications they are struggling with. Plus, author surrogacy blunts the difficulty of processing multiple viewpoints and standpoints and attitudes unfamiliar to younger readers' experiences. At least one of which in Twilight is the complications of social clique elitism that contemporary social consciousness projects and disapproves of. It's okay, I guess, as long as no one gets hurt? The ugly duckling wall flower meets the unattainable popular bad guy who no one's parents should approve of. Mixed messages, for sure, but just right for young adult women struggling with answering their own dating dilemmas or at least wish fulfillments.

I won't go into how autobiographically reflective the novel might be of Ms. Meyer's own dating dilemmas, whether she intended it or not.

[Regan Leigh]

If someone reads my work and tells me they missed something or were confused, it's my job to figure out what confused them or why they probably started skimming. If I don't trust their feedback, then I would get a new set of eyes to read it without telling them what to look for. After they've read, I'd explain the previous beta issue and see what the new person is thinking.

You may very well have explained what was going on, but if they are a trustworthy beta and they felt confused...well, there's probably a reason for it. If your book were to get published, you won't be able to sit next to every reader and highlight their pages to show them where they were wrong and missed info. Once it's out of your hands, it's free reign for people to read as they choose. Make sure you're comfortable with the way you deliver information.

[sierramcconnell]

Ah, that might be why I felt it so shallow. I never dated, and still don't. I find more fun in seeking out adventure and pretending and playing with dolls and angels. It's much more entertaining to dream of the world beyond this one.

[hulbertsfriend]

I have my doubts about age being an accurate barometer when measuring a readers acceptance. A younger reader may be more forgiving of style or substance based on his/hers social or geographic situation.

A younger reader may have a kinship with adolescent angst, if that genre is read to the exclusion of all others by the individual. Informative observation, whether critically applied or for pleasure reading, is integral to a broad spectrum analysis of any works viability in the marketplace.

If a young or old beta reader is excluded from the observational source pool, the writer loses valueable insight into a core market possibilities.

I know examples like Harry Potter come to mind, where the original market identified, must have been YA or younger, then the novel transcended expectations to include adults of every stripe (I read all seven). Yet, the people that published the book were older than the target market. Able to look at the child within to see a wonderful work.

Be bold and broad in who you expose your work to, listen to young and old. You may not apply to all age groups, but it's nice to know where your market may be and where you are as a writer.

DougM

[polymath]

But there are subtextual depths there for scrutiny comparable to the most acclaimed literary works. For, example, might not the novel's shallowness be evidentially interpreted as an intentional subtext message about the shallowness of cliques, elitism, and social mobility? Mixed messages are great challenges for young readers personal growth benefits.

[sierramcconnell]

Well, I made a post on an open forum for anyone to choose to read it and any one who wants to read it is welcome. I don't lock it down. :3 I just want people to be kind with their critique, and not to do what my friend did two years ago with my other work, that I can't bring myself to ever look at again:

"What the Hell do you think you're doing? Oh my God. You're going to have to change this, you know. He can't be fifteen. What is he, a choir boy? And that name. What. the. Hell. Just...ugh."

And then had the audacity to ask when she could read the other half. Uhm, never?

[hulbertsfriend]

But there are subtextual depths there for scrutiny comparable to the most acclaimed literary works. For, example, might not the novel's shallowness be evidentially interpreted as an intentional subtext message about the shallowness of cliques, elitism, and social mobility? Mixed messages are great challenges for young readers personal growth benefits.

You are probably right... In a perfect world. The test will be you inform a group of adolences about subtextual depths, then I pop in and say.. "Have you seen the new Kajillion G IPhone?" Learning curve o' learning curve how it dost bend toward the new and follows the path of least resistance. Lol