To my Beta readers and prospective Betas:
I cannot thank you enough for your time and wisdom with regard to my first endeavor into the world of literature. I am hoping you can help me with my story and it’s pace and whether it is consistent throughout. Or if it’s any good at all. I have asked betas questions like, “Who do you think, living or dead, would make a great Morty in the movie?” I’ve asked if my antagonist is evil enough and whether there is enough depth to his evilness? And I have asked if there are parts where you laughed, and/or cried. I know there are parts that make me do so.
But the big question is always about the sex. ‘Cause there’s sex in it. Lots of it. Some explicit and some just referential. Some vanilla, some rocky road. Enough so you should be over twenty-one to hang around. My characters are not always kind and find new and different ways to be “rude” to each other. Bringing great discomfort to each other is kind of the yin and yang of this book. And then there is the bondage. There is not a lot of blood in this book but there is a fair share of pain and suffering.
If sex and violence disturb you I would shy away from my novels and go for the poetry. It is much kinder and gentler than my prose. In fact, you may think they come from a completely different brain. As I learn to edit my website I will be adding poetry for those who might want insights into the part of me that isn’t so dark.
If you like character driven stories, fully one third of my book, the first hundred pages, is character development. The thickening plot does not come until after our main characters are fleshed out and ready to go. Although the college piece is out of town this book is very Philly-centric. So far I am hearing good things about that from Philly readers.
I could spend hours on the phone discussing Life Style and hope that, as a beta reader, you would enjoy a little chat time with the author of a book you are reading. But email is fine, and for the purposes of my writing I would encourage potential readers to use the following address: mike@MikePaulWrites.com. Thanks again.
My best always,
“The first draft of anything is shit” Ernest Hemingway
Mike Paul 