Looking for Beta Readers for my book

[Elliot Crane]

Do you like to read? I am looking for Beta Readers. ‘What is that?’ you might ask. A beta reader is someone who agrees to read a draft of a book and give the reader their opinion of it. If you would be interested but feel that you lack expertise, don’t let that stop you. I am just interested in getting a broad sample of honest opinions of the book (although perspectives from within the autism community will be particularly valued given the nature of the story). If you are worried that you might not actually finish, don’t let that stop you either because finding out at what point a person got tired of my book will be quite helpful to me. Connor McCormick is a short novel, about 170 pages long, about a young man on the autism spectrum trying to live on his own for the first time. If you would like to be a beta reader, contact me via email at: [email protected]

 

[tree]

Any chance this is one of your works?

 

[Gerontius]

Hello Elliot Crane, you're in good company on Autism Forums. Thank goodness one of us finally wrote an Aspie novel.

I just published my first book but it's not necessarily Autistic themed (someone might say the characters have traits) but anyway, it's looking interesting that you've got a book written! Tell us about it. What made you want to write? I may be interested in reading it too.

 

[Elliot Crane]

Well, it's about a guy who is living on his own for the first time. He works as a docent at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia and the story is mostly about his relationships with his co-workers and the other people in the apartment building where he lives. A lot of what drives my writing is a desire to see life from new perspectives. I've come to know a few people on the spectrum through my job as a paraeducator at a middle school, so I guess those experiences inspired me as well, although the protagonist in my story isn't necessarily based on a particular person I've known. Lorrie Moore wrote that "The proper relationship of a writer to his or her own life is similar to a cook with a cupboard. What the cook makes from the cupboard is not the same thing as what's in the cupboard." And I guess I've embraced that sort of thinking so far. That said, I also want to be cognizant of the fact that the representation of autism in all sorts of media (novels, films, TV, etc.) has been frustrating at times for the autism community. The question of who gets to tell a particular person's story is a complicated one. But the process of writing it got me paying more attention to more voices within the autism community sharing their experiences. As I move into revision and consider whether I will try and publish the story I want to hear what people within the autism community have to say about it. If it can raise awareness, create understanding, get people caring, awesome. If not it may end up merely being something I wrote simply to grow as a person. What made you decide to write something that was not necessarily autism themed?

 

[Gerontius]

Well, it's about a guy who is living on his own for the first time. He works as a docent at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia and the story is mostly about his relationships with his co-workers and the other people in the apartment building where he lives. A lot of what drives my writing is a desire to see life from new perspectives. I've come to know a few people on the spectrum through my job as a paraeducator at a middle school, so I guess those experiences inspired me as well, although the protagonist in my story isn't necessarily based on a particular person I've known. Lorrie Moore wrote that "The proper relationship of a writer to his or her own life is similar to a cook with a cupboard. What the cook makes from the cupboard is not the same thing as what's in the cupboard." And I guess I've embraced that sort of thinking so far. That said, I also want to be cognizant of the fact that the representation of autism in all sorts of media (novels, films, TV, etc.) has been frustrating at times for the autism community. The question of who gets to tell a particular person's story is a complicated one. But the process of writing it got me paying more attention to more voices within the autism community sharing their experiences. As I move into revision and consider whether I will try and publish the story I want to hear what people within the autism community have to say about it. If it can raise awareness, create understanding, get people caring, awesome. If not it may end up merely being something I wrote simply to grow as a person. What made you decide to write something that was not necessarily autism themed?

Well this is absolutely fascinating, Elliott Crane. Sounds like literary fiction instead of genre fiction and that is pretty cool. Love the Lorrie Moore quote; I was not familiar with that one.

The representation of autism on the movies & TV and all that is pretty frustrating. We are not Rain Man or Sheldon Cooper or whoever or whatever they want us to look like. Very interesting that you wrote it as a personal project instead of a profiteering venture. That is what Lucy Maud Montgomery did.

For me, I wrote something that wasn't explicitly autism-related because of a couple reasons:
1) I don't want to be publicly identified with autism
2) I am VERY suspect of "autistic pride," because I don't like defining myself even if it is by a very obvious mental disorder.
3) Wanted to write something that would resonate with all my readers,
4) So the problems in the book are some that have more to do with personalities. You could say nobody is autistic in it, or you could say everyone is, and in reality they were all fictional characters but they just have a lot of very individual traits.

Now in yours, the idea of this guy scraping by as a museum docent (at the Poe museum no less!) is absolutely incredible. I can see that being about accurate for Aspies to get a job at. This is a good start; the relationship with people in the apartment is going to be interesting--Don't know where you got your ideas from but that's sounding pretty great.