I have a dilemma. I've mentioned it casually before, but I hope you don't mind if I bring it up again.
I can't decide whether or not to start showing people my WIP.
Here's the thing. I've always been one of those who keeps unfinished work under cover. I don't even talk about it with anyone until its done. When I read Steven Kings advice to never show anyone your work until its done, my reaction was, yeah, that's what I think. I'm self-conscious enough as it is without having someone pass any kind of judgement on something I'm not done with yet. I worry it might kill my oomph. But I've always had a pinch of doubt that goes with it. What if I really need an outside perspective? What if it would help me catch big mistakes earlier in the process? What if it actually gave me more motivation?
I'm just not sure. I haven't shown anybody up to this point, but I'm halfway through, which means I'm more dedicated to the story, and I may be relatively safe from peoples opinions. So do I risk it, in hopes of making it better? What do you do? I could give someone the first half and take their feedback into account for the second, and even maybe give people the next chapters as they come. Or do I just keep it safe and crank through it and then show it when I'm done? Maybe just one person? How do I decide who to show it too, if I decide to at all? Advice?
I also have a legal question: If at some future point I wanted to post excerpts here on the blog, say the first chapter, would it cause problems later with agents, editors or publishers? What's the deal-io on that?
Your advice and wisdom is much appreciated. You guys are awesome, and I wish you the best on your current projects!
Sarah Allen
10 comments:
I think you need to do what's comfortable for you. I don't show my work until I've got a complete draft, either. I figure I'll have to do some serious rewriting/revising anyway, and I can always take other people's perspectives into account when I do. That way the story is true to my vision, but if someone else suggests something that would make it better, I can rework it on rewrite. But that's just me! :)
Like Alison, I don't show it to anyone until the first draft (and it's revisions) are done.
As for posting excerpts, I know some publishers who don't want them up because THEY haven't gone though their final round of edits yet.
I guess it's like this...if you're looking for an agent, it can't hurt. As long as the snippit is strong, but brief. If you're going straight for the publishers, I might not post anything.
Good luck!
I have been handing my current WIP to my editor on a weekly basis with the new material. I have gotten quite a bit of feed back, but I have not acted upon any of it. "Make a list" is what I tell her because I am not revising or editing until the first draft is done.
Posting parts of your work online should not cause problems. If you have an excessive amount like half the book, they might ask you to remove it.
Personally I would not sign with someone who wants to limit your ability to promote and market your own hard work. Unless you are a celebratory author, they won't spend a dime to do it for you.
I've done both. Generally, I don't show my WIP to anyone until it is done and been worked on a bit. But my current WIP I went ahead and got some feedback on the first few chapters while I was still writing. I didn't do anything with the feedback, but have it sitting their awaiting the editing process. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it'll give me a leg up on editing.
But ultimately I'd do whatever you're most comfortable with. It can be hard to let others see a first draft because, well, they're most likely terrible. If that's something that you're uncomfortable with, then I'd stick with what you've been doing. :)
Sorry, no advice about posting excerpts. Hope you find the answer you're looking for!
As far as sharing, I think it depends on why you'd be showing it. Do you what/need feedback? General reaction or something specific?
For posting, I think short bits are okay but give yourself an out by adding some sort of disclaimer that this scene is from a WIP and may be changed or removed completely from the final work.
I usually tell people what I'm writing about and sometimes feature snippets from my current projects or past projects to show people how my writing has evolved over the years.
As for actually showing the WiP, that is entirely up to you. If you want good feed back, by all means show parts or all of it to a select group of people.
With mine, I waited until I was done with the first draft before actually showing it to respected writer. However, I did solicit advice and tips while I was writing it so that it would be reasonably accurate and believable.
I'm afraid I keep my WIPs close to my chest and share virtually nothing with anyone. All I told my wife and daughter about my last book was that it concerned a daughter going through her father's flat after his death and getting to discover new things about him through what she found. My daughter didn't even know the book was to be called Left; I thought I'd told both of them but I guess not.
I believe very strongly that an author's work should be all his own work and so the copy my wife gets to read is a final version requiring only proofreading and minor editing. But that's me. I know there are people online who report every move they make but I couldn't stand that. Each to his own. Love the cat.
I beat my MS to death before I show it to my critique partners. It is probably around draft 4 before I share. When you've stopped finding things to change then maybe it is time to let a trusted reader in.
I couldn't have done without my beta readers for my book. It has quite a complex plot, and when I bounced the first 30,000 words off them, there was a continuity issue a herd of over-sized camels could wander through. I also hadn't appreciated that it really needed a sub-plot. I'd much rather revamp thirty thousand words and then charge on than end up with the possibility of totally rewriting eighty four.
Author extracts? No problem. It's all about self-publicizing and social media these days. I hate it, but you can't sell without it. And the better you are at it, the more your publisher will love you.
For me, it depends on how I feel about the story. I've done both and gotten mixed results with each. When I wrote fanfiction, I wrote a chapter and sent it out to three or fours beta readers without doing much do it. But those were being posted online almost immediately, so sharing with someone else as necessary since I posted as I wrote.
My original stories, I don't share as much. I only recently let on to my co-workers and friends that I was working on a novel and that was only after one of my co-worked shared that she was trying to fix something she'd written years ago.
I've only shared the first chapter of my current WIP, but I'm very glad I did. I went to critiquecircle.com, and got some very positive much needed criticism. It was only through a couple of people on there that I've gotten my beginning to a point that I like.
However, I haven't posted anything else. I'm like you kind of. I've gotten to a point where I kind of want people's reaction, but I'm also not sure if I should share.
As far as sharing on a blog goes, I had been wondering the same thing.
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