Scared Witless of Sharing my Work...

[BlackInkRain]

Ah, yes, plenty of years spent writing, a few years of 'adult fiction'. And yet hardly anyone has ever read my stuff. The select few who had, had to pry it from my cold dead hands and revive me with compliments which left me uncertain of whether I was being honestly critiqued or just encouraged regardless of skill.

That being said, I am terrified of ever sharing any work in the big wide world. "Why don't you write for a living?" They ask. Shoot, I can't even sit through letting someone read a story from me.

 

Does anyone else have to deal with this?

[Caz Pedroso]

It took me years to pluck up the courage to start posting my writing. Just wait till the readers start responding to your work with encouraging comments (especially if you post on here).  

 

I have had such a lot of wonderful comments to my work and a lot of great suggestions too, on how to improve. 

 

I can't praise this site enough. Because of the people here i had the courage to submit a story to the loves landscape anthology on Goodreads. I now have a story published. 

 

Please consider posting your stories, i for one will look forward to reading them. 

 

hope this helps and good luck. 

[Kitt]

Caz is right. The people here are supportive and kind. For the most part, even if they have a criticism they are constructive and polite about it. 

 

You can also get all sorts of behind the story help here. Editors and Beta Readers are more than willing to volunteer their time to help you polish stories. 

 

Take the chance! I bet you will be pleasantly surprised!

[BlackInkRain]

Thanks for all the encouragement guys. I'll consider getting something here soon, but in the meantime I guess I'm just going to have to settle for enjoying all the wonderful reads sitting around. It does seem like a wonderful, supportive, and welcoming community. I look forward to seeing what GA has to offer. 

[Cia]

GA is a wonderful site, both for those new to write and those new to sharing their writing. We have a very vocal community of dedicated writers and readers. You might find a greater number of reads or comments on your stories on some other sites, but a big difference is our focus on quality--and helping others reach a higher level of writing, be it in regards to their actual skills or just gaining an audience. I couldn't write worth a hill of beans when I joined GA, and now I've work ePublished. I couldn't have done it without the site, and I spend a lot of my time here trying to help other authors like I was helped.

 

Check out our Writer and Editor's Corners, read and review, peruse our entertainment forums... and consider taking part in our Fall Anthology. You can find more details in the anthology forum. The anthologies are due in September, but this gives you an event with a greater range of readers who will read your work. Also, as a short story event, it helps reduce pressure on creating a novella or novel. We've had members submit stories a few hundred words to nearly 20k, in all sorts of styles and genres. They're a great way to wet your feet.

[BlackInkRain]

GA is a wonderful site, both for those new to write and those new to sharing their writing. We have a very vocal community of dedicated writers and readers. You might find a greater number of reads or comments on your stories on some other sites, but a big difference is our focus on quality--and helping others reach a higher level of writing, be it in regards to their actual skills or just gaining an audience. I couldn't write worth a hill of beans when I joined GA, and now I've work ePublished. I couldn't have done it without the site, and I spend a lot of my time here trying to help other authors like I was helped.

 

Check out our Writer and Editor's Corners, read and review, peruse our entertainment forums... and consider taking part in our Fall Anthology. You can find more details in the anthology forum. The anthologies are due in September, but this gives you an event with a greater range of readers who will read your work. Also, as a short story event, it helps reduce pressure on creating a novella or novel. We've had members submit stories a few hundred words to nearly 20k, in all sorts of styles and genres. They're a great way to wet your feet.

Well I've never exactly had the guts to write in any sort of event. I'm more of a free writer myself with a very limited ability to follow guidelines and meet requirements. It's just intimidating to me. But I suppose I can take a look at this anthology thing and consider writing something up. From what I can see it does seem a very good way to introduce myself into the world of sharing my work. And who knows? Maybe if I start participating in such things I'll be able to grow in my ability to write in new styles and gain new inspiration.

[Graeme]

I can't offer advice directly because my concerns when I started to write were different to yours. I didn't mind other people reading it -- I was more concerned about whether anyone would like it, and whether the story would stand out.

 

However, the first step is, I think, to recognise that you might fail and decide that a failure (if it happens) isn't the end of the world. The Internet has the advantage that you can post things anonymously, which helps relieve some of the pressure that can come from a potential failure.

 

Once you accept that failing isn't the end of the world, you can give it a go. A surprising number of times, failure doesn't result

 

Best of luck!

 

Graeme

[Kitt]

You could also try the Friday Writing Prompts as a way to break the posting ice.  Several of us write shorts based on a prompt like a list of words or a photograph, or what ever trips Comicfan's fancy on any given week. It's fun to see how many different directions the same idea can be taken! Check them out!

 

 

https://www.gayauthors.org/forums/forum/97-writing-prompts/

[BlackInkRain]

Well guys, I've looked into the anthology stuff. As tempting as it is, my head goes spinning trying to even get near it. It's just a bit much. Part of me knows it's ridiculous and it should be easy, since it's so loose and everything, but I almost feel better just writing freely and throwing up a story that was free spirited and true to my heart.

 

That said. I plan to try to get over my fears and just start sharing my work. I know it's a good way to get feed back and potentially sharpen my skills through trial and error, but gosh darn it, it's hard!

 

Thanks for the advice/support!

[Former Member]

Yes. I've written so much but I will probably delete it all before I even think about letting anyone read it. I know my writing skills are substandard and my story ideas suck, so I choose to simply not subject myself to the stress and embarrassment of peoples' reviews.

 

Actually, I've deleted more of what I've written just because I hate my writing. If I hate it, I can only imagine how others will feel.

 

So, I keep it all to myself.

[Kitt]

If you are not happy with your results - get an editor and a beta and see what they have to say - fix the problems - LEARN!  No story deserves to be relegated to the dustbin before it has a chance at life! It isn't a question of whether your story is good enough - the question is whether you want to tell it. Not everyone can be Shakespeare ya know!

[BlackInkRain]

Yes. I've written so much but I will probably delete it all before I even think about letting anyone read it. I know my writing skills are substandard and my story ideas suck, so I choose to simply not subject myself to the stress and embarrassment of peoples' reviews.

 

Actually, I've deleted more of what I've written just because I hate my writing. If I hate it, I can only imagine how others will feel.

 

So, I keep it all to myself.

I never delete my work, no matter how horrible it might seem to. I have an old laptop full of half-finished stories, and a box for the hand-written stuff. I keep it as a reference, so that if ever I get an idea I can look at the old stuff and figure out where I went wrong, and what inspiration I can take from what went right. I recommend you start keeping the stuff you don't like, and share it with someone you can trust for an honest second opinion.

[Thorn Wilde]

Letting strangers read your work can often be the best way of overcoming that fear. Strangers have no reason to encourage you to make you feel better if they don't actually mean what they say. If you post here and we shower you with compliments, we won't be lying. And if you post here and people tell you you should work more on your craft, then you've taken that first step anyway, and you'll be better for it. Good luck!