18 Comments on Every writer needs readers

Fran on Jan 23, 2010 at 23:42pm



Blogging’s a great way to get feedback on your writing. But overall, my husband is my best critic for any longer pieces, and that’s because he doesn’t seem to mind telling me the truth. He can’t write himself (at least, he’s never tried) but he can spot an inconsistency or a weak sentence a mile off. SO annoying!

Mohana on Jan 25, 2010 at 12:37pm



Hi Fran: It’s wonderful you have an avid commentator/reader right there. My husband tries but doesn’t really have that eye you describe so I look to other writers. While I love my blog people rarely seem to comment on it so it’s a great outlet for expression but maybe not feedback.

joeyfrost89 on Jan 28, 2010 at 02:16am



Greetings! I’m new to this site and I’ve been looking around where to start blogging and this topic caught my intrest. I’ve been writing a piece for over a year now and I would really like someone to read it. I intend to make it a novel. But my major concern is my own nerves about how people will react to it. I’ve had several of my friends read parts of it and the feedback they gave was positive. As grateful as I am to have had them look over my writing I would really like to have some outside opinion on it. Not so much a proof read as its not complete (far from it) just some pointers and comments.

Claire Fogg (Publisher, Yearbooks) on Jan 28, 2010 at 10:49am



Greetings joeyfrost89 and welcome to the site! Blogging could be an excellent way of getting feedback on your work. We have articles that would suit you (such as ‘Writing a Blog’ and ‘Marketing Yourself Online’) in the printed Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook, available to buy from A&C Black. You might also like to read how Bloomsbury author Tim Kevan started out by blogging in From Blog to Book Deal.

Mohana on Jan 28, 2010 at 12:09pm



Hi joeyfrost89: As Claire says, there are lots of resources here to help you get started or to keep you motivated. I would also recommend seeking out a writing group or online community where you can post and receive feedback. Try a search based on your neighborhood or genre and see what you find – or keep reading here and learn how to start your own, which is what I had to do in Qatar.

Warning that people don’t tell many writers: when it comes to feedback, you must have thick skin, otherwise your work may never see the light of day. It’s the rare manuscript that doesn’t go through (tremendous) changes and that’s because the writer has the presence of mind to let go and do what’s best for the story/piece.

Best of luck and keep us posted on your progress!

joeyfrost89 on Jan 28, 2010 at 20:59pm



Thank you both. I aim to finish the first draft sometime this year. I would really like to join a writing group like you mentioned in your blog Mohana. A few years ago I got into written role playing. I found that it widened my free writing capacity. I opened up somewhat in what I was writing. That was all topic and blog based.
Thanks again.
Joey

Dominic Pike on Jan 29, 2010 at 09:21am



Hi Joeyfrost89, I would echo Claire and Mohana, and suggest that it would be immensely helpful to join a local writing group where the emphasis is on the process of writing without necessarily being among friends. That way, everybody is there to critique the piece and not the person, and you’re more likely to get useful, honest and constructive feedback from that environment than from any other. In addition, to have 10 pairs of eyes offering feedback is always better than just one. Mohana hit on a vital point: a thick skin, especially if it doesn’t come naturally to you, is an indispensable characteristic for a writer to develop. Remember, if you’re not getting at least a small offering of painfully wounding criticism somewhere along the line, then the chances are people aren’t being as honest as you need them to be. But it’s cheering to know that all this ultimately helps to produce a far better, more focused and polished piece/ short story, novel etc.

tonyl on Jan 30, 2010 at 13:27pm



I’m very new to writing as well (short stories to hone my skills), and it took a big step for me to show anybody my work. I started with my wife, who is not backwards in telling me how it is. She gave me some positive feedback, and mentioned it to a friend who is lecturer in romantic literature at a Uni, and she gave me positive feedback too. I have subsequently started showing my stuff to about half a dozen people that I know will give me constructive comments, because they all have! I have experiemented with different styles and have already experienced mixed reactions, which are often pretty predictable ie I can tell who will like something and who won’t. I think the big thing to take into account here is that when you first show somebody something you’ve written, a certain amount of their response will be due to the surprise that you’ve actually written anything, and that you are capable of expressing emotion etc on paper. Well, thats how it was for me anyway, as a man iin his mid-late 40’s who’d never done anything like it before. It was interesting also to learn how others saw me based on their surprise about my understanding of emotions and sensitivity. I’ve been sending some stuff out lately to other people and organisations, to see what kind of feedback I get. I have worked in Sales for donkeys years, and we have this saying about “needing to kiss a lot of frogs before you get a sale”, I think this “getting published” mullarkey is a lot like that too.

Mohana on Jan 31, 2010 at 07:07am



Dear tonyl: You’ve hit the nail on the head to use another expression. So much of writing has to be for the sheer joy of telling a story in your own unique way – the publishing is secondary. It’s wonderful that you are sending out and really listening to feedback. With your sales experience I’m sure you know how key having unflagging pursuit of a goal can be – refuse to be deterred from writing and you can only continue to improve.

And 40 is a great age to ’start’ – after all you’ve likely piled up many life experiences/observations which make great material for stories!

tonyl on Jan 31, 2010 at 16:07pm



Thanks Mohana, its funny, a friend asked me last night whether I wished I had started writing when I was younger because I may have made a career out of it by now, and I said that personally I don’t think I’d been round the block enough times (to coin yet another expression), to write like I do now. Thats not to say other young writers can’t do it, I’m just a slow learner!
I’ve had a really interesting day in the Library at Loughborough Uni, looking at some of the literature journals there, reading stuff I wouldn’t normally look at for inspiration. Its been fascinating and I’ve some great new ideas, and also can see aspects of my own writing in some of these published authors’ work, which is very encouraging.
Thanks for you nice comments Mohana .

KateF on Jan 31, 2010 at 18:06pm



Tonyl, you started writing in your mid forties – why you were practically a foetus! I started mid fifties, and am still thrashing around waiting to take that first bellowing breath to tell people that I HAVE ARRIVED. Sorry about the upper case, I know it’s bad form and all that. Next week I get my bus pass, and the words ‘Mary Wesley’ have become my mantra. Not that anyone would ever confuse our writing, you understand. A thought has just occurred: instead of blogging, I should be writing…

darcibm on Jan 31, 2010 at 19:19pm



I turned forty and decided to write a book. I thought I had story in me and, in my ignorance, thought that the hard part would be getting it down on the page. The act of writing has been a relevation; it flows like water, it is a natural as breathing. But, as Mohana says, ‘every writer needs readers’. So, reassured by the fact that what landed on the page bore a pretty good resemblance to what I saw in my head, I decided to join a creative writing group………
The instructor asked who wanted to read first. There was a dead silence while we all avoided each other’s eyes. Evidently all of us had the same simultaneous thought, that the stories so great in our heads may not be so great in other people’s heads. Indeed, our magnificent words might stutter and fall, might trip up and look utterly ridiculous once exposed to air.
But all of us eventually read our work out loud. I won’t lie to you, tonyl and joey; at times it was painful and disappointing, and it was always nerve wracking, but reading to a group of strangers willing to offer critique really helps to hone a story. They are able to approach your writing without using their familiarity with you to guess at your meaning or intentions. Of course, it’s also brilliant when a group of strangers likes your story for no reason other than it has touched them in some way!
Best of luck, keep writing and looking out for those readers!

Mohana on Feb 1, 2010 at 07:57am



KateF: Blogging is a form of writing! So don’t feel guilty if you are getting ideas and posting your opinions.

Darcim: I congratulate you on putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). Everyone has a story but not the discipline to get it told. And even more hurrahs for opening yourself up and sharing your work.

Two summers ago, I was part of a novel writing masterclass and had to send the entire manuscript to 6 strangers, I had a moment of doubt at the post office. It was a bit like sending your heart out into the world which was an unusual feeling for someone who is as extroverted as I am. But as you say we can’t avoid this sharing as it keeps us sharp. giving us valuable help on burgeoning manuscripts, and also mindful that what is in our heads may not always get on the page.

A good session leader knows how to keep the feedback helpful and also create a safe space for the writer. If you find yourself in a class or group that doesn’t have firm ground rules, speak up, or speak to the facilitator afterward. There is nothing like over criticism that can kill a writing spirit. This happened to me when I took a seminar for MFA students (masters of fine arts) while a PhD student. I thought they would welcome someone with cross interests: instead I was treated as a pariah. I didn’t write anything for two years which was a waste of creative energy. It’s important to know that finding the right group is like a group of friends – not always easy – and to keep trying if you run into a few bad ones!

stef.nalton on Feb 18, 2010 at 09:50am



I joined a small new writers’ group last year but it didn’t work for me because the format was always the same, ie each writer had to read their work aloud; in effect it became more of a recital group. Though reading aloud is very useful when constructing narrative and dialogue, it loses something in ‘translation’ compared to reading from the page.
It is very easy to get readers who also write if you are prepared to review their work in return; some ‘peer-review’ sites require a minimum word-count upload, but novels etc do not need to be complete or fully edited even. Many of these sites have ‘rankings’ related to writing submitted and ‘reader rankings’ which suggest that the top-ranked are the best, but usually it is because these members know how to manipulate the system. However, there are many members of these sites who use them exclusively for exchanging feedback and ideas – I found this to be invaluable and have had hundreds of comments from readers since posting my work online.

Mohana Rajakumar (Writing Development Director) on Feb 20, 2010 at 15:00pm



Thanks stef for sharing your experience. I think the key is to get what you want out of a group and sometimes, as in your case, that means moving on to find another. If the group isn’t helping you meet your writing goals then often that’s the best thing to do!

ricky martin on Feb 21, 2010 at 11:15am



I nearly had a heart attack this morning. I opened my laptop and was about to start working on my book coffee at the ready. the sun is shining in through the window a perfect morning kids are asleep. then i reached in my pocket for my memory stick hmm not there then i remembered the clothes i was wearing yesterday.
i had put in the wash absolute panic my whole novel is on there i retrieved my jeans from washing machine. putting my hand into the pocket i had washed the memory stick total panic i have inserted key into laptop and it still works .im a lucky son of a ……….

tonyl on Feb 21, 2010 at 11:21am



Ricky, copy it onto your hard drive straight away, just in case. Little tip, always back up your work somewhere separate. I often just email it to myself, then its stored on the web too.

ricky martin on Feb 21, 2010 at 11:29am



tonyl
thanks for that thats what ill will do right away.right after my heart rate drops below 200 it could have been a costly lesson. thanks for the tip
ricky martin.

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