Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.
If you could choose one author, living or dead, to be your beta partner, who would it be and why?
Well, this isn’t as easy as it might first appear. I have a suspicion that I might need to hold interviews, a sort of getting to know you session for the candidates.
As many of you will be aware, I write in several genres, which kind of complicates matters, so my initial thought is, which is my favourite genre, or which author can write in more than one style.
For the straight Sci-fi, the choice is between Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.
For Steampunk the choice is between Jules Verne or H.G. Wells
For the crime adventures of Andorra Pett, there’s really only one, Agatha Christie.
And in a sort of departure, because there’s more than one sort of author, I’m throwing a couple of screenwriters into the mix. Brian Clemens and David Renwick.
All of the above have one thing in common, they all wrote the sort of thing that inspired me, and it’s probably safe to say that my work contains more than a nod to their individual styles.
So, to the details. Apart from the fact that I’m totally in awe and unworthy to bother my heroes with my scribblings, these are the questions I need to know the answers to, if our prospective partnership stands any chance.
To all of them. Am I on the right track?
More specifically.
Would Asimov approve of my vision of the Galactic Empire?
Clarke and Bradbury ought to understand the way I’ve taken what we have now, improved it slightly and moved it out there. Because that’s what they did.
H.G. Wells might enjoy my steam-powered robots and Jules Verne my upcoming tale of explorers of the deeps and the development of fantastical machines. After all, it’s the sort of thing they were writing about over a hundred years ago.
I suspect that Agatha Christie would say my plots were not complicated enough. I’m sure she would have the villain pegged at page two (or maybe three).
As for the screenwriters, I think that they would agree that the action and descriptions are as important as who said or did what. Both of them were masters of setting the scene and giving us a twist, mixing the surreal and the apparent ordinary that was anything but.
Obviously, I have to make a decision. The thing is, I know that there is one of them that stands out, largely because they wrote in just about every fiction genre there is, as well as non-fiction.
For that reason, Isaac Asimov is my choice.
Let me know what you think about this week’s subject.
I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.
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I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.
Stevie Turner
Hi Richard, I thought of picking famous authors too, but in reality I probably wouldn’t be able to contact them for one reason or another. I opted for somebody who has given me actual help instead.
Richard Dee
My real beta readers are excellent and have improved my work no end. In reality, the greats would probably never live up to my expectations.
Darlene Foster
This is difficult to choose but I think I would go with Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables. She was able to be inside a young girl’s head so effectively.
Richard Dee
Good choice.
Roberta Eaton Cheadle
A lovely choice, Darlene, L.M. Montgomery was my favourite author when I was a girl.
phil huston
You’ll like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsGZ_2RuJ2A
The other things – you don’t really want anyone who does what you do to beta your work, do you? Ray Bradbury could barely talk in a straight line because, s with many, he told himself stories nd wrote them down as they happened. No big help there. As for Christie and the whole Brit Cozy thin g and her group of peers – there’s an exact formula for that stuff that they followed.
Richard Dee
I will check the YouTube link out, thanks. I guess I chose writers in my genre who wouldn’t need my ideas. Brian Clemens virtually wrote the T.V. schedules of my childhood. Like Bradbury, I write what I see, without plotting beforehand. And Agatha never wrote any cozies set in space.
P.J. MacLayne
But wouldn’t it be great to have someone like Asimov or Christie endorse your work?
Richard Dee
It would, but there’s always the danger of a one-star rating.
Amy Miller
I really enjoyed how you broke it down and what you would ask each reader/group of readers. And the idea of holding interviews.