This post was originally published on this site.
One of the biggest hangups writers face is fretting about how readers will react to our work — but it’s a bigger issue than just wanting people to like our stories. Writers are uniquely self-doubting, and often we get stuck in thinking that the reaction to our stories is the same as the reaction to us personally. What if our readers start to wonder what’s wrong with our minds to let us imagine the events we put into our books? What if they think we actually did all those things, or that we’d like to?
This is especially true for authors of romance and love stories, of course. What will Grandma think of us when she reads that very erotic love scene? And what about all the people who believe romance novels are nothing but sex scenes strung together with fluff to fill up the pages? Of course they also think romance authors must have sex lives that are not only very active but well down the road into kinky.
But romance authors are far from alone in dealing with the reader’s perception that if we write about it, we must have done it — or perhaps that we just want to do it.
Grisly murder? “Whatever made you think of that way to kill someone?”
Torture scene? “Wow, your nightmares must be really interesting!”
Car chase? “How did you research that? Driving 120 on the Interstate?”
Erotic love scene? “You and your husband must have a lot of fun in bed!” [Nudge. Wink.]
In short: “Have you really done everything that’s in your books?”
Fretting about how random people might react to our work — and to us — is a great way to stop our writing dead in the water. But what do we do about it?
One of the things I do to keep from freezing at the thought of exposing my work to others is to keep telling myself, This is an early draft, and I can fix it later.
It doesn’t have to be smooth and perfect, because it’s an early draft. I can fix it later.
It can say anything — from cliches to crudity — because it’s an early draft. I can fix it later.
It doesn’t have to be step by step logical, because it’s an early draft. I can fix it later.
Not every single line of dialogue has to be witty banter, because it’s an early draft. I can fix it later.
I can write *XYZ* instead of stopping to look up that odd factoid, because it’s an early draft. I can fix it later.
It doesn’t matter what the editor / reader / Grandma will think, because it’s an early draft. I can fix it later.
You see the point. By the time I have to send it off for other people to read, I’m desensitized.
That’s easier said than done, of course. I still may not be completely at ease, and I can still be surprised by tactless questions from acquaintances, neighbors, and reporters. (They keep coming up with new ones.) But when I tuck the self-doubting questions away to deal with later — when I focus instead on writing and on having fun with the story — the words get onto the page where eventually they can speak for themselves.
I recommend it.
Now, let me pause to reread this column… because it’s an early draft. I can fix it later.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, your experience, your examples, your questions. Is there a topic you’d like to see addressed?
The Snarky Editor’s Softer Side is represented by author / editor / teacher / writing coach Leigh Michaels, commenting on random topics of interest to writers and readers. Leigh is the award-winning author of more than 100 books. (The Snarky Editor herself mainly comes out to play when she discovers egregious and often hilarious errors in published books.)
To find out more, check out https://leighmichaels.com
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