Reader (Photo credit: Thokrates)
It’s happened to all of us. You get a great idea for a story, you spend some time frantically working on it, and then the enthusiasm dies down and you can’t get motivated to keep going. Sound familiar? I thought so.
Now, I don’t have a magic bullet answer to this. Motivation is a fickle friend and sometimes it just deserts us. Sometimes, though, there are things you can do, and today I’m talking about sharing your work.
By sharing, I don’t mean putting it out there for others to use. I mean, instead, finding someone (or a group of people) who are potentially in your target audience, and letting them read what you’ve done. There are a number of ways to do this.
- Post online. I know that this won’t work if what you are writing is something you would like to get traditionally published one day. If, though, you are looking at self publishing, or just writing for the love of it, then it’s an option. This works particularly well if you’re writing a chaptered book, because if you post a chapter at a time then you can really get people involved. Serialising work like this can get your readers really hungering for more: two hundred years ago it was common practice. (Now, the equivalent is TV shows.) Plus, you can get feedback on how you’re going and what you’ve done so far. If you are getting comments saying things like, “post more, I need to know what happens next!”, then chances are you’re doing a good job. If you get feedback saying, “this isn’t working for me, I find character X bland and the scenarios clichéd”, then there are things you need to work on. Note, this is not for the thin skinned – but then again, neither is writing, is it? So long as people are constructive, though, then you have built-in advice - from people who might buy your work in the future.
- Join a writing group. If you’re not already part of one, this can be really beneficial. Not only do you get feedback on how you’re going from fellow writers, but meeting once a month (or whatever) gives you a deadline to get new work done. If you’re expected to have an extra 3000 words written before the third Friday of the month, you’re much more likely to do it than if you just set an internal deadline. Disappointing other people is something no one likes to do. Again, the feedback is really helpful and if your fellow writers like what you’re doing, then chances are you’ll want to impress them again next time.
- Find a beta. Preferably one who’s not related to you. Ideally, it’s good to find one either through someone else, or online, because the less close this person is to you, the less worried they’re going to be about hurting your feelings. Again, though, with any luck you’ll get them engaged in the story and wanting to know more, so that will make you want to write more. Like I said above, everyone likes to be praised. Besides – and you’ll see this is a common theme – you will get feedback about what the reader likes, and what isn’t connecting with them. Assuming this person is part of your target audience, this is something that’s worth paying attention to.
So there are a few ideas for sharing your WIP and getting some feedback on it. If you’re struggling for motivation to write that next chapter, then maybe letting someone else have a look at it will spur you on to do some more. After all, who is it you’re writing for? Yourself, or your audience?
Related articles
- Critiques and Feedback: Getting the Most From Readers (crampedwriting.com)
- Don’t Fear the Feedback (litandscribbles.wordpress.com)
- It’s what you do with the feedback, that really matters… (philosophybychristy.wordpress.com)
- Ten Things to Make Your Critique Group a Success (cowpasturechronicles.wordpress.com)
Agree, agree, agree.
Thank you! So pleased I resonated with you.
Very true! And the internet makes it so much easier to find writers groups because they don’t even have to be in person. It’s amazing what that can do
Absolutely. The internet has provided this wealth of resources that we would be foolish to ignore. Though I do think that face-to-face contact has its benefits as well.
Thanks for the comment!
I may be biased, but I see the line between ‘online’ and ‘writing groups’ blurring (as Jennifer alluded to). Yes, one has to be a bit circumspect not to release one’s baby into the wild (forgive mixed metaphor), but it can be done.
That said, face-to-face does have its advantages. I’ve lost count of the number of times my online ‘humour’ has been mistaken for nastiness!
When I was talking about posting online I meant on one of those online fiction sites, like figment or wattpad or fiction central – ie, somewhere everyone can see it. Online writers groups are usually more private in that work is shared via email or on a password-protected site. That being said, I take your point in that the lines are becoming increasingly hazy. And I definitely agree that face-to-face has its benefits: as you alluded, sarcasm (for example) is almost completely lost in the written word. It’s always a good idea to make sure the other person knows EXACTLY what you mean.
Gotcha and agree entirely.
Good points.
Thanks Paulette!