Susan, honestly, it depends on what you're looking for from the input, and how willing/able you feel to deal with what could be a rush of what seems like conflicting sensory load.

I've got what, for me, is a small, manageable number for Cruel Sister. Right now, thirteen WIP readers, of whom about seven give me constant feedback. But for the Kinkaid Chronicles - hooooeeee, that was superb. Rock and Roll Never Forgets had 42 WIP readers and I got feedback from every last one of them, and some vital practical medical input, as well. While My Guitar Gently Weeps had 36 WIP readers, and about thirty of them gave me steady input and commentary. And believe it or not, for various reasons, those were locked down hard and tight.

edit: meant to add that, for the Kinkaid Chronicles, what I needed was very different from what I need for the Haunted Ballads. For Kinkaid, I have a first person narrator whose voice is the remembered voice of someone I knew better than damned near anyone, so what I wanted there was an interesting cross-section of input: was his voice clear, and true? That was the single most important thing to me. What about Bree, his younger lover - was she clear? What about the mystery aspect (secondary) and the backstage feel of the rock and roll upper echelon world (which I know intimately, but that doesn't mean I was writing it cflearly for those who don't know it.)

Susan, honestly, it depends on what you're looking for from the input, and how willing/able you feel to deal with what could be a rush of what seems like conflicting sensory load.

t nods

My instinct is that more is better...up to a point. I'm glad I entered so many contests this year, despite all the angst involved, because with a full dozen anonymous opinions, I actually have a sense of how a fair sample of readers receive my work. I also like being in two critique groups. A lot of the characterization problems with Anna are things one of my Monday partners hinted at but didn't know how to articulate, so I kind of waved them off. If I didn't have my online group too, I wouldn't know I had a problem that needs fixing. I think there is an overload point, though--36 would be too many for me.

Heh. Thirty six would generally be too many for me, as well - just, not on these. And they were being written so fast, two complete novels, in sequence, 85,000 words each, in nine weeks, that the WIP reading was almost like serial reading.

But I needed and cherished every last word of input I got on both of those. One funny note: one of my best-beloved WIP readers started out trying to "correct" the way JP Kinkaid spoke. "You might want to have him say...." Except that JP's speech was basically identical to the man who inspired him. And when I sent said beloved WIP reader some music, with the inspiration for JP chattering away, I got back an email that said "Just got music and natter. Remind me never to try and edit the way you write him again."

The very different take I need for the Haunted Ballads, the flow of the suspense, the history, whether the exposition that's such a vital part of these balances decently against the build of the ghost story, makes a dozen or so WIP readers perfect.

A quote from Jennifer Crusie's latest RWR column that I thought was worth sharing:

So you're building your island (N.B. There's an island metaphor throughout the column) based on unrealistic dreams and convictions made of thin air. What's the worst that can happen? You never get published or the book of your heart tanks, and you never reach your goal, but at the end of your life you look back and say, "I had a dream and I fought for it, I believed in myself and my work, and I never, ever gave up." That's a life well lived, folks, a helluva lot better than, "I had a dream but it wasn't realistic so I quit and watched television." Do not let reality push your around, do not be sensible and kill your own dreams, and for the love of God, do not let people who are only guessing about what's going to happen next tell you that you're a fool for believing in yourself and your stories.

Yep. Jenny Crusie is a very smart woman, and how right she is.

In good news/bad news...

So I finally got an offer to be in another Brava anthology, this time with Lori Foster, which is great, as she has a big following. Yay!

But my novella idea just got shot down, becaues my editor vetoed my tattoo artist hero. Damn it. I'm so sick of genre rules. Who says a tattoo artist can't be sexy or appealing? (And yes, I have been watching Miami Ink, why do you ask?)

And I just got another email instructing me that he can't even *have* a tattoo. I give up. This is why genre kills me. I can't write corporate rich guys or sexy construction workers forever.

He can't even HAVE a tattoo? WUWT? For heaven's sake. Have they taken a look at the arms of the so-called Greatest Generation? Tattoos are hardly alternative on men. Granted, none of my men have tattoos (well, Soul!Sucking Demon boyfriend did, but I mean my dh, my dad, grampies, etc.), but still. My f-i-l has a tattoo. I'm pretty sure at least one of the b-i-ls has a tattoo. And for goodness sake, a lot of construction workers have tattoos.

Hey, maybe you could make him a guy whose backstory includes having to have a tattoo removed, in order to get a job?

I think we've decided that he's going to be simply an artist. Maybe working with glass, or metal.

Feh. I want to go get another tattoo myself, in protest.

I personally know a very sweet tattoo artist that loves his wife and kid to death. I bet he would have a great story.(you'd probably want to make him a bit more "straight" than that particular guy, appearance wise, but it is a craft that the good ones devote time to...his apprenticeship was only a bit shorter than my college.) In other word, the publisher is a judgmental fogey and I bet the 18-34s would think your book FG.

I can't write corporate rich guys or sexy construction workers forever.

Um, I don't regularly strip total strangers of the male persuasion naked, but I feel qualified to report that one of these categories is notorious for tattoos, and the other is catching up fast. Do romance editors never go to the beach??

I mean, maybe you would draw the line at porny tattoos on construction workers, although the people who did work on my father's house when I was 10 did not.

Artists also -- tattoo city. Possibly also dreads, those giant enlarged-hole era-piercings, and tongue rings. Anyway, most of the artists I run into.

I know romances often take place in a "never mind the details" alternate reality, but sheesh.