Medusa is “Done” / BETA READERS NEEDED!

Today’s blog is one part celebration, one part call for help.

First, the celebration: Another draft of Medusa; Or, Men Entombed in Winter is officially complete.

To recap my process:

1. I wrote a first draft. It was 60K words, but needed a lot of work.
2. I revised that draft myself. It bumped up to 80K words, and then I sent it to my editor.
3. My editor read it and sent back comments, feedback, and revisions that she thought would strengthen the manuscript.
4. I completed another revision, and now the novel sits at 90K words and is as close to perfect as I can get it on my own.

The novel is a literary thriller that follows Peter Holloway, who flees a remote Maine compound with his two young daughters to seek refuge with his estranged father. Peter’s past with the cult-like “SFC” unravels through a series of flashbacks. It is a decades-long story of devotion, manipulation, and control that forces him to decide what he is willing to sacrifice for his family’s future.

You see, as the author of this manuscript, I have blind spots. I think it’s perfect and everything shines through, because I WROTE IT. There are things that I hint at, that may not be caught by a casual reader. There are characters that I think are consistent, that may make out-of-character decisions. There are plot points I think make logical sense, that may be out of the realm of possibility.

To help with this, I need five beta readers.

Not ten. Not twenty. Just five people who are willing to read the manuscript and give thoughtful, honest feedback.

Last year, during the beta process for Whalers, I learned a lot. I also learned what not to do. I had too many readers. Some never responded. Some only said, “It was great!” but offered no details. Others gave me copy-editing notes like, “You need a comma on page 267, but other than that I loved it.”

While all responses were appreciated, that kind of feedback isn’t what I need right now. From these five people, I’m hoping to get a real idea of what works and what needs one final revision before it goes out to the world.

SO, WHAT EXACTLY AM I LOOKING FOR?

Five people, not only willing to read the book, but also provide written feedback about their thoughts and reading experience.

Consider:

• What really worked for you?
• What was confusing or could be made clearer?
• Which characters did you connect with? Which ones didn’t make sense to you?
• What was the emotional core of the story for you?
• Were there moments where the pacing lagged or your interest dropped?
• What questions were you left with — the good kind or the bad kind?
• Were there any typos, misspellings, plot holes, or inconsistencies that I didn’t catch?

Really, I just want to know what it was like to read the book. What stuck with you? What made you keep turning the pages? What pulled you out of the story?

If you’re interested in beta reading Medusa; Or, Men Entombed in Winter, reach out to me however you’d like. You can comment here, text me, DM me, or send a smoke signal and I’ll follow up with details.

Thank you in advance. This part of the process means more than you might think.

Love you guys.