I have finished the first revisions on the draft of a novelette. What’s a novelette, you ask? It is longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella. In this case, it sits at just under 16,000 words. What I am going to do is put it up for reading in chapters. There are three of those. Read and comment on the first one, then I’ll put up the second for reading. I may do some revising of the first and/or second while the next is up, and ask for feedback on the revisions. Or I may not.
I am asking for alpha readers this time around. What I want is your impression of the story itself. What did you like? What didn’t you like? What was good? What was confusing? Are the characters well made? Believable? Cardboard cut-outs? Too stereotype? Not stereotype enough? No mechanical stuff- spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc. I don’t care about that stuff right now. This is a draft, after all. We’ll get to that stuff later.
The story? I guess it would be classed as science fiction, although there is a fair bit of ritual magic in there, also. Here is the blurb I wrote for it:
Kaili left her home years ago to participate in research into telepathic communication in space. The colonists on her home planet developed psi abilities generations ago, and the “magic” is an integral part of their lives. Now, with the death of her grandmother, Kaili, with her partner, Captain Jefferson McKenzie, returns home for her sister’s investiture as head of the family business and planetary council. When an old rivalry threatens the ceremony, Kaili and Jeff must work their own kind of magic to protect Kaili’s family.
Interested? Okay. here are the rules: (Yes, there are rules. I need to keep things organized and together so I can best take advantage of all your wisdom.)
1) If you would like to be an alpha reader on this novelette, please send me an email at: makropp at gmail dot com (You know what to do to make that a real email address, don’t you? 😉 ) No Facebook, Twitter, G+ messages. No personal email messages. Please, just email at the above address.
2) You will receive the link to Chapter 1, and the password. Go. Read.
3) Tell me what you think IN THE COMMENTS ON THE CHAPTER PAGE. Again, not email, not FB, tweet, Google. I don’t want documents with changes marked. I just want basic impressions, as outlined above. And please leave them as a comment on the page, so I will have them all together when I work on the story after.
4) No mechanical errors- spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. Right now, I don’t care if that should be period instead of a comma, or if I spelled mlikshake wrong. I only care about the basics of the story. The rest we will get to when it goes to beta.
5) While I am looking for multiple readers, if I get a lot of response, I will cut it off at some point. If you don’t get to read this one, please understand. Next time, okay?
6) Please do not share the link and password with anyone. Probably doesn’t need to be said (I hope), but just as a polite reminder.
Oh, and when you’ve finished, if you have a suggestion for a title, let me know. I have a working title, but I’m not fond of it. If I use your suggestion, you’ll get credit.
Thanks for reading this far, even if you decide not to participate. If you do want to read, I am more than grateful. These early reads do help.
And So On... 