: Re: How do I evaluate an unwritten plot/story? I'm working on a full, detailed outline of my planned book series before I have much of it written down. I'm not a pantser, I must have a clear

@Debbie451

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Find a good beta reader or a good editor.

I ran into this problem myself: I had a plot which was solid and detailed but left room for expansion, I had characters I absolutely loved, I spent months in world-building, wrote 125+ pages, and then showed it to a few trusted, intelligent people to get some early feedback.

What I learned: One of my main characters was a complete idiot (and was not supposed to be), the system of government too clearly showed how I'd cobbled it together from other writers, and I could never quite boil the story down to an elevator pitch.

What I should have done was shared it with the readers before writing the 125+ pages, so that I could have made the decision either to fix the problems or abandon the project without having spent another year on it.

So yes, without question, get feedback before plunging in. I am of the strong opinion that you cannot create a novel in a vacuum. I'm not a pantser either, and I think the best work comes from getting a vigorous shakedown from good critics.

A good critic is someone who constructively, kindly, thoroughly goes through your work and not just points out the problems but can suggest some solutions and alternatives. This is what I try to do when I'm editing someone else's book.

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