One of the many gifts of being a beta reader is learning how
a story hits the spot (or doesn’t) on the reader’s end. I have gained as much from being a Beta as from being the one who received feedback from another.
There is another form of reading, one cultivated in
academia, that imposes analysis on renowned books. The philosophies behind
different forms of analysis are super-imposed on the text. I’ve done my share
in school, and have never found it to help my writing. For that matter, I haven’t
found those who excelled in literary analysis to be strong writers of original
fiction. I have personal friends I will never name who fit into this category:
strong academic background, and their original fiction suffered from the
indoctrination.
One may argue, reading this
article, that any analysis of others’ work is beneficial when forging with
your own story. I will not deny this can and does happen. But as a rule, effective
original fiction is intuitive, and the analyzing mind needs to go into lower
gear, like a barely audible background hum, in order to tell a story well.
Another pithy way of saying this, paraphrasing Dr. Seuss: try
to forget what you learned in Rule-going School. Let the intuitive life
force flow. Get on the boat, and let it sail down the river, only occasionally resorting
to use the oars.
©Geraldine Aikman
