Beta Readers "God, the Devil, and Divorce" Memoir Writing

I've written twelve chapters of my current memoir, so I thought it was time for a few people to look at what I'd done before I proceeded. I belong to a critique group that meets twice a month, and their feedback has been valuable. But the going is slow, and because they only read a chapter at a  time, they don't have the benefit of experiencing the flow of the piece, let alone the ability to remember everything from the beginning. That's where my Beta readers came in.

Choosing Beta readers was an interesting process. Did I want only people who fit my target audience__Christians who are interested in the subject of Christian divorce? Did I want professional writers? Did I want only people interested in memoir? In the end I chose four people of different backgrounds: A Christian woman friend who chose to divorce several years ago, a woman writer friend who specializes in biographies, a neighbor woman friend who is a prolific reader, and a male friend who writes memoir.

The results were as varied as my readers. The Christian woman said she wanted to learn more about my faith. (quite the opposite of two of my critique members) and more background on my husband. The biographer suggested I expand the chapter on going to Iceland as part of my research for my book on Keiko the whale. She said it would give a more rounded view of who I was and would be a relief from the drama of my marriage. My neighbor was confused at the time frame of some of the backstory. (She was right...one chapter was a mess time-wise. I fixed it before sending it on to the fourth reader.) All three women said they thought it was a good story.

My male memorist (not a Christian) didn't like much of it! He felt the story lacked structure and the tone was too much the same throughout. My heart sank.

So how did I respond?

Stay tuned.