The Ramayana is an epic poem, a Hindu text dating from 1200 B.C.E. (Syracuse University). As with all classics that are ancient texts, there will be variations in the story (e.g.while all versions I’ve seen agree on who the first of Raja Dasaratha’s wives was, I’ve seen variations on who was second and third). The big picture however: Dasaratha granted his wife Kaikeyi two boons (or undeniable requests) after she saved him in battle. Many years later she used one of those boons to exile his eldest son, Rama, for 14 years, during which time her son Bharata would sit on the throne that Dasaratha is abdicating.
Kaikeyi, Google commons
Was Kaikeyi evil or tricked by her old nursemaid? In early tellings, the older woman is often portrayed as a hunchback, a classic example of using visible disability to portray inner flaws in personality. While debates have spanned the decades of who the real villain is (this story has been turned into movies and TV shows) Vaishnavi Patel has written an exciting reimagining, told from Kaikeyi’s point of view, where neither woman is evil, yet both are human.
Vaishnavi Patel
In Kaikeyi, Patel shows how our heroine, so often at the mercy of decisions made about her by men, manages to carve out a life for herself and in so doing, improve the lives of women in her kingdom. Kaikeyi remains human, having moments of doubt, jealousy, anger, and feelings of abandonment, she also remains a woman doing her best not just for herself but for those around her. She truly seeks what is best both for the kingdom she has married into, as well as the kingdom of her birth, and all the weakest members of society. One of the triumphs of her life is to witness women in other regions being allowed previously unheard-of liberties (running businesses, allowed religious education) based on the examples set in her kingdom.
Most of us need to make an effort to read outside whatever our typical habits are. This includes reading outside our culture. And for those who share Hindu culture or who are familiar with Hindu literature, what a bold reimagining of a traditional story. This is a perfect bookclub text because whether one is familiar with the background epic poem, this is an incredibly compelling and nuanced telling.
I have yet to meet the writer who, having created something and still in the early excitement of ‘this might really be something!’ doesn’t yearn for another set of eyes and another person’s reaction to what is written.
In fact, I belong to a range of writers’ groups and there are regularly posts/chats/messages about writers seeking someone to beta read what they’ve written, from an opening page to an entire manuscript. What is on offer from the writer can vary from the first very rough draft of a paragraph, to an entire whopping novel. If you find yourself in this context, let’s think of some questions you ought to ask yourself before seeking those beta readers.
Did I just finish what I wrote?
If the answer is yes, then the beta reader you are looking for is your bff, partner, friendly neighbor, dog walker, member of the congregation you go to religious services with who is interested in writing . . . in other words, early days. You’re not ready to stick that first rough draft in front of readers who you want real opinions from. At this point, you just want affirmation that you haven’t totally puked on a page.
Set it aside and keep writing your work in progress
Go back later and make sure the basics of grammar are there; no one wants to suffer through your unpunctuated, grammar/spelling errors
Yes, being a writer means learning about delayed gratification and this is tough.
If the answer is yes, then the beta reader you are looking for may well be an editor; that may be a developmental editor, or a line editor who clears up errors you don’t see because we all reach a point where what is in our head and what is on the page can no longer be distinguished by us.
There are a range of hired services available, depending on your needs and budget
If you don’t have money to hire an editor, can you barter services with someone (depending on your skillset this could be a local or online arrangement)
Do you have the skill set to trade editing with another writer; if not, then you ought to save up and hire an editor. Beta readers can’t give you an honest opinion about your writing if they’re constantly tripping over errors.
Has my manuscript been through an initial edit?
If the answer is yes, then you are ready to seek real beta readers, e.g. readers who know the conventions of the genre you have written in, or who have enough of a writing background to judge if your conflict, characters, and plot are doing their job.
Join writing groups and offer to trade manuscripts with other writers who have equally prepared their manuscript, i.e. they have a full draft with at least an initial edit
If you can afford it, join a paid writing group like P2P where every month you have the opportunity to workshop the first 5 pages of your manuscript with other serious, experienced writers; you then develop connections and can potentially trade manuscripts or even find generous volunteer readers
Return the favor to other writers by volunteer reading (even if they aren’t the same people reading your manuscript, but they are a member of the same writers’ group – you need to develop the ethos of a writer who contributes to the community)
clarify what you’re seeking before handing off your book
Beta readers sometimes think they are being helpful if they start marking up your manuscript to point out the errors they have found. Initially though, what you are seeking as a writer are ‘big picture’ remarks.
Ask that beta readers focus on the story – is it clear, do they want to keep reading, if they find plot points where they just feel bumped out of the story (for any reason) can they just make a mark to indicate where and try and keep reading
If they find a point that is so disruptive that they can’t keep reading, ask them to indicate it and explain what they find a problem
This one is the hardest: be honest with them and yourselves, if they are finding so many errors that they can’t help but mark them, ask them to just stop after the first chapter and send you that feedback (you either have a manuscript that still needs developmental work, or you have asked an editor to be a beta reader and it isn’t the same job.)
writing is hard, painful, lonely, and occasionally exhilarating
The hard work involved in writing for publication sucks, in a lot of ways. If you are the sort of person who needs instant gratification that comes in the form of a stranger telling you how clever you or your work are, then writing is likely not for you. It takes so much work and time to get to the point where your work is ready for someone, somewhere to love it (who isn’t your partner, neighbor, dog walker . . ..) Pacing and patience are key. Writing groups can help, if you want to spend time with others who understand and share your unique brand of pain/challenge/reward.
Think twice, however, before asking for beta readers. You will create a reputation for yourself in your writing community. It can be as a writer who shows respect for beta readers by handing them a clean and ready manuscript. Or not.
Admittedly, I’ve noticed as I age, I have less appetite for fiction with magic/fantasy and am more interested in exploring the reality of all manners of shenanigans folx can get themselves into in the regular world. That kind of mischief is typically far freakier and odder than anything we fiction writers are going to come up with.
In an attempt to keep my reading from becoming too narrow, I join book clubs and get exposure to books I would otherwise not pick up. Of course, I’m always behind, with a to be read pile that’s spread out over shelves. My current read from one of my clubs is The Book Eaters.
Image of USA hardback book cover for The Book Eaters
Part way in, I started to have some logical problems with the world being built by author Sunyi Dean. I stopped to read her bio, which I hadn’t bothered with since it was after all, a book club pick. When I saw she identified as autistic my view of her world changed.
Something to understand about autistic writers is that we have obsessive level constraints about the worlds we make, e.g. there are rules, and they are thought through and followed, they just might not be the rules that another writer would have gone with. Knowing this, my internal critic was able to relax and trust, if I stuck with this work there would become evident reasons for all the choices being made.
Image of author Sunyi Dean
To be fair and reasonable, and in keeping with my training in philosophy, I ought to give this same benefit-of-the-doubt to all writers/books. Truth be told, though, I’ve been burned too many times.
I know I’m not the only reader who gets frustrated when an author has events happen that don’t fit into the world they’ve built, or has a character act dramatically out of character, or my biggest pet peeve, has something turn out to have ‘actually happened’ that they established earlier could not have happened. I don’t even mean deception to build a mystery sort of thing, I mean someone f’d up the continuity/editing and an event happened that couldn’t have.
Image of a Cosmic Explosion
I feel like making the unsupported claim that autistic writers are more likely to produce characters and worlds that stick to the internal rules of that character and world. My wish to make this claim may simply be based on my bias. But when it comes to this specific example, The Book Eaters and Sunyi Dean, I have been proven correct; the world contained within the pages remained true to itself and thus to the reader.
christyoslund 