Starting Your Book Takes Guts...Finishing It Takes Even More
You know who you are.
You have this great idea, the world starts to form in your head, you start to give your characters names. You run to your laptop, open a new document, put your fingers to the keys...and then pause. You think, is this idea really that great? Maybe I was wrong...
Starting a project takes guts.
Following the project to the end...that takes even more guts. And with it comes a lot of self-doubt, joy, nerves, and excitement.
Then comes the editing process. You edit and edit until your eyes go numb from looking at the screen, until your fingers feel like they might fall off.
So how do you know when you're done?
That's the question, isn't it?
You finally think you're there. You can't edit your manuscript (MS) anymore. But you can't actually be done, can you? You've been working on this MS for a long time now, and to say your done...that would be crazy.
Well, you're right. That would be crazy, if you haven't had anyone read it.
Let me emphasize that. YOU. ARE. NOT. DONE. Until you have your work critiqued.
Find a beta reader. Find someone who will honestly critique your work. Find someone who will be brutal.
I did. It was fun, it was exciting...then it was scary.
But I took the advice, and let the bomb drop on my MS.
Does that mean you agree with everything your beta reader tells you? No. But it does mean you should take their comments into consideration.
It took a lot of work. A lot of trying to convince myself I didn't really need to make these changes. But guess what, my MS is a thousand times better now than it was before. And I'm that much more confident about it.
Beta readers are your friends, even if they are brutal. Why? Because true friends are honest.
That's what my MS needed - a true friend - to tell it that it had some issues that it needed to work out.
Once you've had a beta reader look at it, and you make those changes, have another beta reader look at it.
And once you've done that, well, maybe then you can call yourself finished.
And that, that takes guts.
You have this great idea, the world starts to form in your head, you start to give your characters names. You run to your laptop, open a new document, put your fingers to the keys...and then pause. You think, is this idea really that great? Maybe I was wrong...
Starting a project takes guts.
Following the project to the end...that takes even more guts. And with it comes a lot of self-doubt, joy, nerves, and excitement.
Then comes the editing process. You edit and edit until your eyes go numb from looking at the screen, until your fingers feel like they might fall off.
So how do you know when you're done?
That's the question, isn't it?
You finally think you're there. You can't edit your manuscript (MS) anymore. But you can't actually be done, can you? You've been working on this MS for a long time now, and to say your done...that would be crazy.
Well, you're right. That would be crazy, if you haven't had anyone read it.
Let me emphasize that. YOU. ARE. NOT. DONE. Until you have your work critiqued.
Find a beta reader. Find someone who will honestly critique your work. Find someone who will be brutal.
I did. It was fun, it was exciting...then it was scary.
But I took the advice, and let the bomb drop on my MS.
Does that mean you agree with everything your beta reader tells you? No. But it does mean you should take their comments into consideration.
It took a lot of work. A lot of trying to convince myself I didn't really need to make these changes. But guess what, my MS is a thousand times better now than it was before. And I'm that much more confident about it.
Beta readers are your friends, even if they are brutal. Why? Because true friends are honest.
That's what my MS needed - a true friend - to tell it that it had some issues that it needed to work out.
Once you've had a beta reader look at it, and you make those changes, have another beta reader look at it.
And once you've done that, well, maybe then you can call yourself finished.
And that, that takes guts.
Nice first post! I encourage you to keep writing - I'm also trying to start up my own blog. I guess in a way, it's like writing a novel - it takes a damn lot of persistence!
ReplyDeleteAnd I completely agree with what you said about beta readers. I get my brother to read my work. It's great because he's completely honest and doesn't hesitate to tell me when something is terrible. (It doesn't feel great at the time, but as you say, you realise a lot later how much you've improved because of their criticism!)
Keep it up and keep writing!
Thanks Ann! Checked out your blog, looks like you have a good start! Glad you liked my post :)
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