Who else is extremely reluctant to show their writing?

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NRoach

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I've given stuff to people, with the full expectation that they'll never mention it again. Honestly, that's why I prefer to feed people small bits at a time, so that they have to ask to get more. If they want more, they evidently liked it. Plus, its always handy to ask them roughly where they were when they ran out of stuff.

I don't mind people never mentioning it again, either. That's feedback in and of itself.
 

Lhowling

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I only show it to my husband because he rarely reads fiction. But when he does pick up a novel to read, it amazes me. Imagine Mr. Badass - martial artist, tough-as-nails kind of guy - nose-deep in Twilight.

Twilight.

He loves it! He's read all the books and seen all the movies. Why? Because he's all about romances against all odds BUT there has to be some action involved. He would be my ideal reader.

He's also brutally honest. He never blows smoke up my ass about a story he's read. He either likes it or he doesn't and explains why. In turn, he shares ideas with me about business-related matters and I give him the same treatment. Definitely requires thick skin but it's good for both of us.

Otherwise, I don't share openly unless its with an agent or editor or author who knows more than me.
 

Becky Black

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I can totally relate - and it held me back for years. Because it wasn't just people I knew but anyone. The idea that I would ever have the nerve to send my writing to an agent or publisher was ridiculous. I didn't just not submit because of this, I didn't write. Because if you don't have anything written then you never have to send it off to anyone... (I'm an idiot and if I could go back in time and meet my past self thirty years ago I'd slap me so hard my current self would still have the same bruise I was inflicting.)

Anyway, the Internet changed things for me. I started reading fanfic online and then tried writing some and putting it up. Working on the theory that
a) people online aren't real in the same sense as people I know.
b) If people laughed me to scorn I could vanish and change my online name and never be that idiot who thought she could write ever again.

In fact they didn't laugh. I eventually got involved in an online crit group for the fandom I was writing in, and then hooked up with a couple of beta readers for more intense critique. So I learned not only to share my work and deal with comments and reviews, but also deal with more detailed critique. This was good experience for when I started writing for publication.

I'll be honest, having that buffer zone of the Internet still helps. All the publishers I've worked with are based in the US. I'm in the UK. So everything has been done via email and a few things sent in the post. I've never even spoken to them on the phone. Which is good, because I hate the phone. So just like when I first started out with the fanfic, there's an unreal quality about them. I know they are real. They pay me money. I follow them on Facebook and Twitter and know what their dogs and cats look like. But in the end, they are still "internet people".

I'm getting better. My work colleagues know about my writing and there's a bit of banter goes on. I can talk to people at writer's groups and conventions.

As for family, ha ha ha - no. My dad has a print copy of my first book - which I gave him only after extracting a promise he won't read it. They're all welcome to buy them of course. ;) And I suppose read them - as long as they don't ever tell me they have done so or ask me anything about them. I don't mind talking in general terms about publishing and writing, just not the specifics about my books, please!

I don't think that's just because I write erotic romance. I think it would be the same if I wrote cozy mysteries or how to books about training budgerigars. It's just the way I am.
 
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Taylor Harbin

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I was very reluctant at first. Writing, like my history degree, drew a lot of "what are you going to do with that?" from people. It amazed me that their first thought was how I planned to make money. Heaven forbid I did it for sheer pleasure.

But I digress. My fiance helped me open up more than anyone else, although I was happy to participate in writing classes. She convinced me that she was proud of my passion and wanted to help me get better however she could.

It took a few years, but now I think of my writing as something not to be hidden away. I'm more willing to talk about it, even though most of the people I mingle with in real life are not writers themselves.
 

heza

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When I need an ego boost, I show my older sister and she'll tack a page up on the fridge right next to my nephew's coloring sheet. She's a bit older than I am, though, so she's always been very mothering to me.

Most of my friends are very well read and several of them (including my sister and my husband) are also technical writers. So they all make for good critters. However, I did make the mistake of showing work to friends before it was finished, and that turned out to be a mistake. Everyone had an opinion on how I should change it to be this or that and a lot of new plots I should include and how I should change the setting, etc. The work needs to be pretty solid for them to resist wanting to make a bunch of suggestions that don't belong in the story I've got in my head.

I've never actually shown any work to my husband, but he says he's read over my shoulder while I'm writing in the car and thinks I'm good. *shrug* I'm planning on having him do a formal beta read someday.


I keep thinking that I'll post something in SYW any day now, but I've been here five years and still haven't mustered the guts to do it.
 

Brightdreamer

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... people online aren't real in the same sense as people I know...

Well, of course none of you people are real! :ROFL: It's just some AI coding in this "Internet" game, I'm talking to!

... right?

(Seriously, though, I know what you mean. It's much safer when it's just avatars and screen names.)
 
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I was very reluctant at first. Writing, like my history degree, drew a lot of "what are you going to do with that?" from people. It amazed me that their first thought was how I planned to make money. Heaven forbid I did it for sheer pleasure.

But I digress. My fiance helped me open up more than anyone else, although I was happy to participate in writing classes. She convinced me that she was proud of my passion and wanted to help me get better however she could.

It took a few years, but now I think of my writing as something not to be hidden away. I'm more willing to talk about it, even though most of the people I mingle with in real life are not writers themselves.


Interesting comments Taylor Harbin.
What medium do you write in, may I ask?
I remember you giving advice on screenplays. I always mistakenly believed that you concentrated on that.
The thought just came to me when you wrote that people question whether you could make money from it.
 

Roxxsmom

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I'd rather show my work to critting partners than to people I know really well. I can just see my mom reading the part of my novel where my character is chained in a basement and is having flashbacks to his childhood and asking, "You don't think we did that to you do you?"

No, of course not mom. Though you wouldn't let me sleep with the bathroom light on (twitch, twitch), and that was scary for a while.

Seriously, it's awkward, because I could see people projecting themselves into my story, or simply getting a glimpse into how messed up I really am deep down inside.

Also, it can be much harder to weigh differences in opinion that are matters of taste rather than craft when the person with the differing opinion is someone with whom you share a large part of your life. Differences in opinion about the relative merits of present versus past tense or deep third pov versus omniscient could be a lot less amusing if they're over dinner.
 
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thepicpic

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I once showed one of my earliest pieced to one of my cousins. I waited months, heard nothing. When I pushed the matter, she gave me a vague 'good'. So she's not getting previews again.
My very best friend/major crush is another story. She's read everything I've written for my science fiction so far. Even though it's not her preferred genre, she's utterly hooked and, even though she isn't a writer, she's brilliant for idea suggestions and general cheerleading. I've got a few other friends that read and help with idea generation, but I've made it very clear that it's my project and I will not be pressured into things that don't fit my overall vision. Happily, its not an issue as half the time they come up with things I'd never have thought of. Oh and talk me out of killing characters off just 'cause I'm feeling mean.
But no, I won't show it to family. Not unless they ask.
 

Becky Black

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Well, of course none of you people are real! :ROFL: It's just some AI coding in this "Internet" game, I'm talking to!

... right?

(Seriously, though, I know what you mean. It's much safer when it's just avatars and screen names.)

So far as I can prove, I am the only real person on the Internet. ;)
 

Taylor Harbin

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Interesting comments Taylor Harbin.
What medium do you write in, may I ask?
I remember you giving advice on screenplays. I always mistakenly believed that you concentrated on that.
The thought just came to me when you wrote that people question whether you could make money from it.

Screenplays? I do not write those, so I would have been very foolish for offering any kind of advise. I can't remember doing it.

I write novels and short stories (although I've dabbled in poetry once or twice).
 

Magnificent Bastard

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Sharing my writing with people requires me to trust them to some degree, and that's not very easy to achieve. I don't mind sharing side projects, random (really bad) poetry attempts and alike, but when it comes to my novel(la(s)), I tend to be rather vague.
I think a part of the reason is that people always get that kind of "it's a phase, you'll stop wasting your time on this weird writing thing soon enough" look and that "I'm not really interested, but I figured it's polite to ask about your novel" tone. Might just be people around me, though. Luckily, since I write in English and it's not my native tongue, I can just use that as an excuse for not explaining too much and not letting them read any of it =]
 

adanawtn

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I'm working on my first novel now, and I actually let a few people read my first eight chapters. I was looking to see if they'd actually read them at all, not if they necessarily liked them. But when Boyfriend actually read most of it, after having only read two books in his life (he hates reading), I figured it was going to be okay.

I also let my mom read it, because my mom is brutally honest (a trait that I've happily inherited). She also happens to write herself, so it felt like she was a good person to ask. Only now I'm little worried because she found it captivating. So much so that she's asked for new chapters. This worries me because there are a couple of sex scenes in the book, and they're not romantic in the least.

I'm kind of worried that letting her read the new chapters is going to be... awkward. To say the least.
 

DancingMaenid

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I'm selective about who I show my writing to. I've lucked out: I have a supportive family who will discuss the creative process with me sometimes, but who aren't pushy about actually reading my stuff.

For me, it's mostly a content thing. I write erotica a lot, so for obvious reasons I don't go out of my way to show that to some people in my life (my mom is so not the audience for my gay erotica). But even with my other stuff, I feel like there's so much variation in taste that there's no guarantee that the random acquaintance who wants to read my work is going to actually enjoy of appreciate it. So it depends on how well I know the person. If I have a friend who enjoys fantasy and LGBT characters, I'll totally show them my stuff if they want to see it. With a random coworker or something, I'd rather not get into an awkward situation where it turns out that they're scandalized by gay characters and cursing in fiction.

I figure once something is published or made available to the public, people who are interested in a story's genre or premise can choose to read it. But in my experience, acquaintances sometimes express an interest in reading my stuff without having any idea what I write.
 

Nivarion

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I can totally relate. The first things I put on the internet that I wrote got... Well they got shredded. Actually the nicest shredding any of it took was in the share your work section here, where I can tell they took great efforts to spare my feelings.

And looking back on it, my writing back then was just simply terrible. I was like sixteen and didn't have a damn clue what I was doing with that keyboard.

But until recently I've been kinda gun shy bout letting any of my work out into the public eye. hehe. Uh interestingly what's changed it recently was I got exhaustion drunk (feel drunk by not sleeping) and posted a stupid fan fiction to a fan fic site. And I mean stupid. Had I thought of posting that while rested, I wouldn't have. But it did very well, and I feel stupidly proud of that.

I wonder sometimes how much of our work is actually quite good and we ax it without another, less critical soul ever setting eyes on it.
 

theotter

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You should never be ashamed of a completed work that you genuinely feel satisfied in. However, I can totally get not wanting people to look at drafts and stuff, though. Non-writers often say "come on, man, I wanna' see your work!" but if it isn't done yet, it's just a scramble of ideas and it's completely embarrassing, it's like looking at torn up leg before its healed all the way, I just don't like people looking at it! I get being shy about "admitting being a writer". My advise is to only show off work you are confident in. Also, not everyone takes writing as a career seriously, and even though that kinda' sucks, you learn to deal.
 

Lissibith

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You could say I am. My friends know I write, and occasionally ask about it, but I don't show them anything. Almost no one who knows my real name even knows my fanfic handle, much less where to find my published stuff, and never in a million years something unfinished.

Heck, even posting here in SYW was hard, and as valuable as the feedback was and as kind as everyone was even when they had a bunch of things I should work on, there was part of me that sort of wished I'd never posted it and subjected people to my work.
 
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