A Writer’s Greatest Fear

I was eleven, clutching a manila envelope tight. I sat next to our wood stove, the heat from the open door roasting my face. My sister sat next to me, adding wood to the inferno. When she was done, I silently handed her the envelope. Before she closed the door, she added the envelope to the stove.

Mind full of fear and self-doubt, I watched my first manuscript catch flame. No regret, no hesitation.

I was so ashamed of not being a perfect writer, I burned my first failure so that no one would ever see how bad it was. My sister is the only person who ever read it.

Growing up hasn’t cured me of my fears. While writing my second and third novels, many of my friends and family members started asking if they could read my work. “Maybe after I finish,” I promised. But most of those friends and family members have still not read my books.

What has kept me from sharing my stories? Fear.  

It’s a single word that paralyzes young writers from one of the essential parts of writing—sharing their work. Why is this so important?

 

Feedback is vital to growth

You, the writer can’t view your own work objectively. Your words are part of your soul, held close to your heart. And though feedback from a reader may sting, it is the only way you will grow.

Seeing your faults will help you write better stories.

 

It will never get easier, so start now

“Well”, you might say, “my stories just aren’t ready for people to read. As soon as they’re good enough, I’ll share them.”

Oh, Writer, if you wait for perfect work to share, you will never share anything. And the longer you wait, the harder it will become. Start sharing your work now.

 

The world needs your stories

Why do you write? I, personally, write to give the world stories full of beauty, hope, and truth. But if I don’t share my work, how will the world ever read those stories?

What is the point in writing if your work stays hidden?

In this world of media, TV, and mindless internet surfing, powerful writing is precious. You, a writer, can change someone’s life by the words that you paint on the page. The world needs you to share your writing.

 

So, go.

Create your best work possible. Then share that story with someone who’s never read your work before.  If you’re a beginning writer, that someone might be a parent or a couple friends. If you’ve been writing for a while, maybe it’s time to start thinking about publication.

I promise you. It will be one of the hardest, most worthwhile things you’ll do.

 

Disclaimer: Don’t share rough drafts. Polish your writing to the best of your ability, and then share it. Also, I am not advocating you take the rough draft of your cruddy first novel and self-publish it for the world to see. That could ruin your reputation as a writer before you even began a career.

{Tomorrow I will take the plunge and share one of my recent short stories}

A Start

I have never heard of an author who didn’t struggle over the first sentence of his novel.

Sitting down at the computer (or, if you’re old-fashioned like me, with a legal pad and pen) and typing out those first few words. Trying to transform a magically vision of the mind into words.

Why is starting so hard?

Well it has to do with that vision of the story—that picture authors get in their mind of the way their story should be. Every author wants their written work to exactly mirror that mental vision. They struggle, agonize over the first words, wishing them to be perfect.

Isn’t that how this painful process goes? I’ve done it too. There have been times when I have spent hours trying to write a single opening paragraph.

If you struggle over starting, here are three ways to get a jump start past that frustrating beginning.

 

Accept the Imperfection of Your Words

No matter how long you agonize over your opening words, they’re not going to be perfect. They’re not going to perfectly capture that mental vision. They’re honestly probably going to stink. Before you’re done with the story, chances are you’ll change your entire beginning.

Okay, so maybe that doesn’t sound like good news. But I promise, when you understand this, it makes starting so much easier. Why? Because once you’ve embraced the fact that your first attempt at the beginning of your story will probably be edited out later, you are free to make mistakes.

When you know that none of the words are permanent, you can just start. Every first draft of a story opening is lousy. That’s why we edit. So please—just write. Get past that first page and get the words on the page. You can go back later and edit (please, do).

 

Don’t Start at the Beginning

There is no magic rule that compels you to write a story in a specific order. Start the second chapter. Write the ending. Begin where you are comfortable and get some words on the page. Have a great idea about that tricky section later in the story? Go ahead and write it. You may find that simply by writing something else, you stimulate your creative muscles and words begin to come.

 

Be Brave

Most of the time, the force that holds writers back is fear. We have all heard the murmurings. “What if this stinks? Am I wasting my time?”. The desire to be perfect and the fear of failure are two of a writer’s worst enemies. They are detrimental to writing. They paralyze us and keep us from doing the work.

But the only way to escape the fear is to be bold. Start anyway. Know you won’t be perfect. Except the reality that you may fail.

Just write anyway.

 

The hardest part

… of any skill is actually doing it.

Don’t put this off. Start something today. Have a story idea that your soul longs to?  Grab a cup of tea and scribble out a page or two. Have a pile of unfinished of stories? Pick one and work on it for fifteen minutes.

Don’t think, don’t check Facebook. Just write.