Alpha Level Support
By Jo Eberhardt | August 5, 2017 |
Photo by Flickr user klndonnelly
A couple of days ago, Gabriela Pereira wrote an amazing article detailing a more entrepreneurial approach to an MFA. (If you missed it, I highly recommend you go back and read it now. I’ll wait.)
Gabriela’s third point was about community, where she made the point that “the four components of a writer’s circle of trust are critique, accountability, support, and advice.”
I read that sentence and my reaction was an exuberant: YES!
The Circle of Trust
Gabriela went on to explain that although many writers think about critique partners when they talk about their writing careers, the other parts of the writing circle are equally as important. Unfortunately, she didn’t expound on specifically what she meant by the component of ‘support’–or, perhaps, fortunately, as that’s the element I’d like to talk about today.
Support, to me, is about encouragement. I’ve written about the importance of encouragement before, but I really feel that it can’t be overstated. And so I’d like to share a brief story about the first person who really encouraged me in my writing career.
Encouraged for the Very First Time
I had an exceptional English teacher in tenth grade. He was a big proponent of teaching creative writing, and would shoehorn it in between spelling tests and literary criticism at every opportunity. Towards the end of the year, he had every person in the class write an opening sentence on a piece of paper. Those pieces of paper were put in a hat, and we each drew one randomly. We had one day to write a 500 word short story starting with our randomly-selected opening line.
I drew an opening line written by one of the stoners in the class—an uncomfortably detailed first-person description of waking up and needing to vomit. (Which may well have been how the student in question was feeling at the time, considering his earlier preoccupation with making himself dizzy by watching the fan spin overhead.) There was absolutely nothing about the opening line that appealed to me. I put off writing my story as long as I possible. Finally, at 11pm that night, I turned on my C64 computer, loaded up a word processing program, and started to write.
I finished at 5am. My story was just over 5000 words long, and I knew it was brilliant. (Disclaimer: I was 15. It probably wasn’t.) I wrote about a man who woke up in hospital (vomiting due to a reaction to the anaesthetic) and found himself in the wrong body—a female one. He’d been in an accident, and had needed a full-body transplant. The only body available belonged to a fifteen-year-old girl whose mother had sold her body (literally) in order to get enough money for the rest of their family to survive comfortably. The story dealt with sexism, poverty, and a whole range of other ideas that I couldn’t have even put into words at that age.
When I got my story back from my teacher it was covered with exclamation marks and ticks–with a giant A+ on the top of the first page in scarlet ink, along with a note suggesting that I consider a career as a writer.
When Gabriela mentioned ‘support’, those hastily scrawled words from my teacher where the first things that sprang to mind. Now, possibly she meant financial support, or more practical day-to-day support. I don’t know. (Although I absolutely hope she chimes in with an answer!) But, to me, the support of someone telling me that my work is good–that I deserve to be a writer–is an essential part of the writing process when I’m stuck in the quagmire of doubt and fighting Imposter Syndrome.
And that’s why I’m a big proponent of the use of Alpha Readers.
What the Dickens is an alpha reader?
When I send my work to a beta reader, what I’m looking for is a general critique of what works and what doesn’t–I’m looking for helpful critique and a window into whether the words I’ve got on the page encompass the story I’ve got in my mind. Critique partners and beta readers are a vital part of the writing process, helping take our manuscripts from ‘good’ to ‘great’.
When I send my work to an alpha reader, on the other hand, what I’m looking for is encouragement. I’m looking for someone to read my work and tell me it’s fantastic, amazing, enthralling, the best thing they’ve ever read, and could they please read some more of it immediately, if not sooner.
There is nothing critical about an alpha read–it’s a celebration of potential. As such, I go to my alpha reader when I feel stuck or disillusioned while writing my first draft, not when I’ve completed three revisions and am actively trying to make my work better. I often joke that my alpha reader would think my shopping list worthy of a Man Booker prize, but there are times during the hard slog of first draft writing when that level of enthusiastic support is an invaluable part of my circle of trust.
Do you have an alpha reader you go to for support when you’re in the midst of writing a draft? Do you have a different term for your support person? Who was the first person to encourage you to be a writer?
[coffee]
Jo Eberhardt is a writer of speculative fiction, mother to two adorable boys, and lover of words and stories. She lives in rural Queensland, Australia, and spends her non-writing time worrying that the neighbor’s cows will one day succeed in sneaking into her yard and eating everything in her veggie garden.
Love this!
I have a great crit group, and most of the time they act as beta readers. But we’ve all learned that when we need that alpha reading, we’ll send our work out with a note that we’re not ready for constructive criticism yet– we just need to be encouraged about what works.
It’s crazy helpful for both the writer and readers.
Alpha readers – what an amazing concept! It’s a heavenly idea to have in your support circle someone who just says YES, that’s good, that works, keep going.
The terminology is different – what you call an alpha reader is what I call my beta reader – but she gets finished work, not something needing (usually) encouragement.
I’m wondering if my problem ever doing what you’re talking about – being open to encouragement – is due to the fact that no one has ever encouraged me that way, so there is a perpetual insecurity there.
I get plenty of love from readers. That’s not it. I’ve just taught myself that the only standards I can count on are my own. I stand by those, but am always on the outside looking in as far as getting an external push.
I’m a grownup. If that’s how it’s going to be, that’s how it’s going to be.
But it would have been nice: I can feel your happiness from that big red A+, and I envy you.
Someone out here in Electron Land (that would be me) thinks what you’ve written here is worthy of an alpha reply: you are absolutely right. Excepting the reactions of paid professional editors, I think it’s very risky to rely on alpha, beta or gamma readers. But that’s just me.
Thanks, Barry.
And I’m past the point of relying on ‘paid professional editors,’ however arrogant that sounds.
I’m sure there are highly paid ones out there, some of whom are worth it, but they’re so far out of my budget capabilities that I’m not even thinking of them.
The lower-priced ones are actively dangerous – anything more complex than a comic book is beyond the ones I’ve had the misfortune to come into contact with.
I wasn’t saying I was insecure about my writing; only about always wondering what it would have been like to have that feeling at the right time in my development as a writer. I battle the usual writer insecurities with the usual frequency. But Jo was talking about having a solid granite base that someone who mattered knew she could write. You can’t buy that, and I don’t think you can replace it later in life; you learn to do without.
I have a feeling I’m going to be in the minority when I say this, but I have never had the impression from any listening to any great writer whose work speaks to me that they need an alpha reader to tell them, “Good job, keep going.” They keep going regardless of whether anyone likes their work because they need to write. I never thought about looking for encouragement to write when I was young though it was of course gratifying to be rewarded with great marks from an English teacher who loved my writing when I was in boarding school from the ages of eleven to fourteen, and a little soul destroying to have my next teacher when I changed schools not like my writing at all. But neither of these teachers, nor one of my favourite people who gives me the best feedback, has ever swayed my need to write.
Writing is hard. I’m not sure why anyone thinks it should be easy. Good writing is difficult. And great writing is rare.
The thing about self-doubt, which is the real reason I’m guessing one would need a cheerleader in the form of an alpha reader, is that everyone experiences it—self-doubt. It’s not unique to writers. Many years ago on a meditation retreat in India, after experiencing some mind-blowing encounters with the non-dual that Zen and Advaita masters have attempted to describe in their teachings for millennia, I said to the teacher leading the meditation retreat that in spite of these experiences I was once again experiencing self-doubt. In fact, even more strongly than I had before the earlier episodes of insight when all doubt had vanished. He said to the other people in the room, “This is someone who is serious. She’s had mind-blowing experiences and yet she still experiences doubt.” Then he turned to me and said, “What are you going to do if self-doubt never goes away?”
It took many years before I knew the answer for myself. It doesn’t ever go away—at least, for me so far it hasn’t. But I know self-doubt now for what it is, so that it no longer stops me in my tracks. It feels just as unpleasant as it always has but its presence no longer frightens me. It no longer means something about me, personally, or that I’ve done something wrong. So I let it be exactly what it is. I accept it for what it is. I do not push it away or try to make it become something positive or more pleasant-feeling. I let it ride its course, which sooner or later it does, and in the meantime I do my best to continue my work.
I wrote a post on my website, a writers voice. com, recently called “If on a Winter’s Night….” that lists many of the things I feel are necessary to writers and writing. We all need outside feedback at some point. but like you I no longer send my work out until I’ve said everything I want to say; after which I am open to critiques and suggestions. However, I am not convinced we need people cheering us on before that point, just so that we can hear, “Hey, good job.” If we have enough trust in ourselves and our work our subconscious will be the only real cheerleader we need until we’re ready for outside feedback.
Hi, Jo. I’ve never had alpha readers per se. Yep, not even my mother who was the sort to say, “You got an A? Why not an A+?” But I did have a teacher like yours in my last year before university who told me I had the makings of a writer.
These days, like Sarah I’m lucky to have a critique group whose members provide encouragement along with ruthless critiques.
The other thing I do is keep a Good Job folder. I started doing that during my day job as an engineer, so I could refer to it when writing input for my annual evaluation. Soon, though, I found myself consulting it whenever I was down.
I have one now for my writing–well, two: a paper one and a virtual one. Sure it has things like award certificates and good reviews. And it has things like the handwritten rejection letter from an editor at my dream publisher and an email rejection from a top lit mag, both with personal notes encouraging me to submit again. Best of all are the emails and notes from readers who’ve liked my work. So that’s another place I turn when I need encouragement.
My first encouragement came in 10th grade. Our class, as a group, created a setting and then, either alone or in groups as large as five, we were to write a 3-5 page story. As the new kid (a frequent occurrence) and dedicated introvert I went solo, my mind racing with ideas before I was out of the room. I had two days to write and had to do so by hand (pre-computer and I was concurrently taking my first typing class). The second night I went full-zombie and didn’t sleep at all. I turned in 60 pages. The teacher loved it. She even took the time to type it and print copies for everyone in the class, earning the ire of those overseeing reproduction costs in the process.
I don’t remember much about the rest of that school year or the next because life became a dumpster fire all around me and surviving became my priority. Still, I’ve never forgotten Mrs. Randall.
In recent times I’ve tried critique partners. It’s been rocky. My first decided I was her online counselor. The second had zero tolerance for even sugar-coated, constructive criticism. The third? Not sure. She was deeply appreciative of the critique I provided, but that was months ago. Still, I remain hopeful. In recent weeks I’ve fallen in with a group of writers I met this year and we’ve just created our own fledgling group. Persistence, it seems, pays off. I’ll see.
I constantly battle with writing anxiety/imposter syndrome, and if I had an alpha reader and they said this to me “it’s fantastic, amazing, enthralling, the best thing they’ve ever read, and could they please read some more of it immediately, if not sooner.” I probably wouldn’t believe them. I’d go looking for someone I could trust to tell me the truth. lol
I just recently asked a friend to read a partial story. I was looking for advice on whether it was all bunk and should be abandoned or whether it had some level of intrigue and therefore I should keep writing. Nice to know this is called an alpha reader. She was very encouraging.
I think I’ve misunderstood the terminology “alpha” and “beta” when it comes to writing. I consider beta readers to be people who read voraciously (i.e., members of my book club), but do not write. I consider my alpha readers to be my writing critique group–people who are more aware of the rewriting necessary to get a story polished. Sometimes, the groups overlap in their responses. I like that both groups critique and give encouragement at the same time. Recently I asked 4 beta readers and 6 alpha readers to respond to my next travel memoir page by page, and the outcome was miraculous. I know their combined effort has improved the book in more ways than I can ever thank them!