This commentary was aired as part of Plotastic Update with Mark Putnam on August 5, 2007.

It's not easy to find a person with the right personality to be a good and useful first reader.

A common mistake that many writers make when looking for someone to critique their material is that they think because their first reader tells them they'd rather marinate in kerosene and roll around in a campfire than read another one of your space opera, superhero, sword and sorcery, mini epics, that they should find a first reader with little more tact.

Now, don't get me wrong, negative feedback can often be less than useful, especially if it's delivered in spite, but having a special someone, or group of special someones who'll flat out tell you "this story sucks!" is a rare treasure and far more beneficial than having someone tell you "man this story is awesome" no matter what you give them to read. Generally, if your first readers can't find something to fix in your story, then you need new first readers.

I've got three first readers. Yes, it sounds like an oxymoron, how can you have three of anything that's truly first?

The key is specialization.

My friend Jim from horrorview, he's a dialogue and pacing man. He can spot a paragraph that deviates into "the many colors of sky" territory at a glance, and won't hesitate to point it out.

My wife Cindy, she's the spelling and grammar guru. She can circle a run-on sentence, or a misspelling/type-o from fifty yards (meters for our non-American listeners).

My pal Dan, he's the overall story guy. He doesn't bother with the little details, but he's a pro at mapping the flow of a piece. He can identify at exactly which word my plot switched from heartwarming tale of motherly love to melancholy rumination on robot mortality. Even better, he can usually offer me good solutions for finishing either type of story.

Now, having three fantastic volunteers sounds easy, but it's not. You won't keep a set of quality first readers without giving more than your current manuscript in return for their time, effort, and red ink.

Nope, you have to become a useful and effective first reader for them by freely giving your time, patience, and honesty.

First readering is no easy task. Trying to piece together a narrative from a thousand words or so from their projects is tough. And it's not just reading and saying "yeah, that works!" There's more, and a whole lot of it involves not writing and not reading. In its place are communicating about the story, probing for answers about the overall project, or questioning why this part is so vastly different from that part, or asking which market they think this piece fits in, and why. And sometimes it's just venting about the writing process in general, giving a good ear so they can talk through whatever narrative problem they have until you, they, or a combination of the two, sorts out the problem.

Jim and I chat over the AOL Instant Messenger, and like me, he's ALWAYS ONLINE so I can shoot him a chapter, or a whole 6000 word short, and ask if he's got time. If he does we'll go back and forth over the IM until we've dissected whatever I sent and I can move forward. Same goes for him. He'll drop a story or a novel chapter into my inbox and ask for feedback.

And I always give his work first priority, not only because he's a very talented writer and he's been my best friend since we were in 4^th grade, but because he is such a good first reader for me. It's a pleasure to help him work through a story, just as it's a pleasure to have him work through one of mine.

Do we argue? Sure, all the time, but in the end we are both better writers for it.

Cindy lives here so I print up and hand manuscripts to her. Usually when Meg is sleeping she'll pour through a story, red pen in hand, and slam an edit on my desk before afternoon coffee. Sometimes, if she likes a story, she'll hang around and we'll talk about it. She doesn't write, so I get a pass there, but I do other stuff to make up for it.

Dan gets his via e-mail, then on Thursday nights over a pot of coffee we talk about the big picture and how to make whatever focus changes are necessary. Usually by the second pot of coffee I've got Dan's manuscript out and we're going line by line through the thing. Sometimes we bark at each other, other times we physically, literally tear stories apart, but in the end our respective work is better.

One key to maintaining a good relationship with first readers is to put as much, if not more, effort into being a good reader for them than being a good writer for yourself. In turn they grace me with their insight, and honestly and that gives me a set of guardrails because I know if a story starts going off track they will probably spot it before I do.

The second key is honesty. If you really don't like something, say so, and be happy when they do the same. Sometimes your first reader just won't jive with what you write, Jim doesn't like my samurai stories. But he doesn't let that stop him from being a first reader. He's probably harder on these than on the stuff he does like by virtue of not being swept up in the narrative, same with Cindy, same with Dan.

And it's the same with me when I first read for them.

Besides, it's less painful to hear "this story sucks" from a friend than it does to hear it from an editor.

(c) 2007 Jeffrey R. DeRego