#WritersCoffeeClub Mar. 12: How do you "stress test" your work?
I'll read it at least once before turning over to my editors. Then, both of them read it, and I'll often hire 3-5 beta readers, as well as I'm doing final revisions.
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#WritersCoffeeClub March 12. How do you "stress test" your work?
I let it sit for a while, then read it again. And I send it to a reader. I don't know how else to do it.
#WritersCoffeeClub March 12. How do you "stress test" your work?
Like others, I read it myself and then have other people read it too. They do a better job of telling me if something isn't working.
#WritersCoffeeClub 3/12. How do you "stress test" your work?
I'm not really sure what this means, but someone else mentioned beta readers, so maybe that's how?
I also feel like reading it out loud to myself to catch any final typos and wording issues might count.
If I understand the question correctly. Which I'm not sure I do.
#WritersCoffeeClub 12/3: How do you "stress test" your work?
I give it a read-through or two after finishing it.
I look for typos, but also muddy sentences and plot holes.
I wish I had a dedicated beta-reader or two, but I don't. (And I don't write by committee, either.) Having beta-readers is a very fine line between getting support and being asked to rewrite the story for their tastes.
So I do the best I can, and that has to be enough.
#WritersCoffeeClub 12/3: How do you "stress test" your work?
1: When it feels close to ready, export to Atticus and format it as if for publication. Export to ePub and read it on the iPad. Best of all, read it well away from my usual writing spots.
2: Pass said ebook on to my partner for her to read. This is the nervous bit!
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#WritersCoffeeClub 12: How do you "stress test" your work?
For pure spelling checks, I've got various tools that work really effectively by now. Content-wise, I just keep reading the text over and over, tweaking bits until it all feels right.
Since the project isn't commercial, I don't have an editor and only have a very small number of beta readers. (If you're up for a bit of beta reading, just drop me a line: https://infinisomnia.org/en/about/betareader/ )
#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.03.11 —Does your work reflect your morals? How so?
A bit probably, but I try to keep my characters' morals distinctly true to them.
#writersCoffeeClub 11 Mar 'Does your work reflect your morals? How so?'
Absolutely, that's the whole point of an ex-teacher writing a novel intended for teenagers.
Chapter 4 starts here:
https://www.slenderwolf.com/novels/2026/02/22/chapter-4-in-philosophical-mood027/
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#WritersCoffeeClub March 11: Does your work reflect your morals?
Quite a bit. My characters grapple with the same moral questions that I do.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 11. Does your work reflect your morals? How so?
Depends on what I'm writing and my goals.
Jhana does what some might deem morally questionable things for survival.You might not agree with it, but you understand WHY she does them.
#WritersCoffeeClub March 11. Does your work reflect your morals? How so?
How could it not? I might not be moralizing in my stories, but the things I care about are what I emphasize in my writing. Even my horror story reveals my morals by showing what I find horrifying. Someone with different morals wouldn't be horrified....
#WritersCoffeeClub March 11. Does your work reflect your morals? How so?
Yes and no. The overall arc of my stories does reflect my morals, generally. But individual characters do not.
#WritersCoffeeClub 11/3: Does your writing reflect your morals? How so?
It reflects my id. E.g. I am morally opposed to the death penalty, but oh look, my space colonists don't really have the resources for a prison system, so the only way to deal with slavers is La Guillotine, how sad 😈
#writersCoffeeClub 3/11: Does your work reflect your morals? How so?
I mean...the characters within my stories hold a variety of moral viewpoints. I don't totally agree with everything they think. But the overall moral of the story--bad people loose, queer joy wins--is important and something that reflects the world as I think it should be.
#WritersCoffeeClub Mar. 11: Does your work reflect your morals? How so?
Of course! Why would I write a protagonist that glorified things I think are wrong or immoral? It's not hard to make them reflect my morals. They just believe what I do.
#WritersCoffeeClub 11Mar—Does your work reflect your morals? How so?
Of course. I wrote it; it's impossible to remove my morals from it completely.
I don't make it obvious—at least, I try not to. But there are things I highlight, such as respect (esp. toward women), forgiveness, and kindness. Occasionally, I'll show these things by having characters *not* be moral (e.g. being disrespectful). Sometimes, that's more effective.
I'd be more worried if writing didn't reflect the author's morals.
#WritersCoffeeClub 3/11. Does your work reflect your morals? How so?
Oh, yes.
My protagonists aren't perfect, but they are good. And my antagonists are bad. That's just how I write.
And I'm not shy about showing my opinions on certain topics through my characters.
If you read my work, you'll undoubtedly see it. Writing is so intimate to me, I can't imagine a way I could craft a story without a bit of myself showing through.
#WritersCoffeeClub 11. Does your work reflect your morals? How so?
My stories are intended to make the reader forget the outside world for a little while. Consequently, it is important to me to convey a positive moral message. This particularly includes values such as tolerance, teamwork, and equality. The protagonists should serve as role models.
#writerscoffeeclub 11/3: Does your writing reflect your morals? How so?
On the whole, yes; it would be odd if it didn’t. Of course you sometimes have to try and get into the head of someone whose values (a better word than ‘morals’, btw) are different, perhaps distressingly so. That’s hard: in current WIP I need someone to feel strong aversion to a character just because they are trans (in our terms, their context is different). I don’t like it!
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#WritersCoffeeClub Mar. 10: How informal is your prose? Is there a limit to informality?
Mine is often quite informal because usually I am writing from the perspectives of male athletes aged from their late teens to mid twenties. It changes when I write women or others, such as people in different professions or from other walks of life.
At writing school, other students called my writing 'casual' because I wrote about characters getting drunk in bars and places like that.
#WritersCoffeeClub 20260310: How informal is your prose? Is there a limit to informality?
Early on with fiction, I resolved that I would always speak grammatically, even if my characters didn't. The formality of the prose in fiction is keyed on the POV character.
Formality of prose in nonfiction depends on the project/ audience. I'm midway between formal and informal most of the time. If it's formal, I'm not above tossing in some informality occasionally just to keep readers on their toes.
#WritersCoffeeClub 10Mar—How informal is your prose?
Ruarnon Trilogy is narrated in third person, more formally than its Aussie characters speak, which isn't saying much, as the Aussies use slang & swear. Royal Council attendees use more refined English, which stops short of academic levels of formality.
Sythe Series is narrated in first person & can be very informal, with Rarkin using swearing & slang in narration. Though he narrates some serious topics more formally, an autistic trait of his
#WritersCoffeeClub 10/3: How informal is your prose? Is there a limit to informality?
More formal than my dialogue, although I still consciously break some grammar rules to retain a bit of a speech-like flow.
Not a limit, but there is a threshold past which you are writing in dialect, and-1/2
#WritersCoffeeClub Mar. 10: How informal is your prose? Is there a limit to informality?
[old wizard voice] My prose is never informal. Nor is it formal. It's tone is exactly what it means to be.
Each has uses and can be used to great effect to tell stories.
Edited 7d ago