As we get ready to head offshore we test all our equipment. #writetip Before you send your manuscript off to an agent or publisher, you should test it too. I can’t imagine going to sea unprepared or unsure that everything, and I mean everything, is working. Here we are testing bring the sail up and down, repeatedly.
I use several test people at different stages of my novel. I have a two very important test phases.
One is at first draft. Here you need a test reader that will work with you chapter by chapter and tell you what they like and what they don’t like.
Two is at the final stage before sending. Here you need a reader that has an amazing eye for detail. This is the person that will proofread for you. The one that will find all the typos your eye can no longer see.
If I’ve significantly changed a scene from when one of my experts read it, I will ask them to read one more time. This is asking a lot, but I want to make sure I didn’t inadvertently put in a technical error.
I’m sure there are many ways to do this, but this is what works for me.
Kristina Stanley 
It’s so hard to not just want to “get rid” of it when you’re been working on it for so long but “testing” it is critical and valuable.
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I agree – super important to get as many eyes as possible on your MS before the critics get the chance to rip it up. Really helps with the bigger plot points that the writer sometimes can’t see for all the detailing.
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Robin, you are so right about not being able to see your own work. It’s was one of the surprising lessons I learned when I started writing.
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Funny, I’m going over mt final draft (I hope) now. My son (he’s eight) leaned over my shoulder and said “Jerric isn’t Magellan’s roommate”
What????
I looked at the sentance, and the way I was reading it in my mind had a different inflection. Someone could totally read it that way. I made the change.
He caught a few more things looking over my shoulder. Ya never know.
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My 11 year-old niece reads for me. She catches all kinds of errors. Once she said, “Why would that character ask that question? She knows that information from the last chapter.” Kids can be great at proofreading.
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