If you never try then you'll never know! Read back through your work, reaccquaint yourself with your words, learn to feel at ease with what you wrote. See if you can write something new. Then go for it - get your stories etc on the web, there's so many places to do it these days. Try sharing something with a fellow writer, it's always a confidence boost when you get good feedack and if its not so good just put it to a positive use, learn, grow and develop. Don't take things too seriously, enjoy your writing, it's meant to be for pleasure afterall.
I often go over long discarded story ideas, I urge you to do the same. You don't have to show your "unimportant" stuff to other people, but you can always use it. You can cut and cut and cut all you want but never throw anything away. If it is appropriate for one story it may fit in perfectly for another. Also, going over your old stuff can help with writer's block. It reminds you of your passion for your craft, it gets you thinking in a creative way and maybe even jump start the writing process again. DON'T THROW OUT ANYTHING!!!
Anyone that has a collection of manuscripts should share them with a supportive, knowledgeable friend of colleague for an honest assessment. Some may be immature, some may need serious editing or tweaking, but some may be true genius and no one will ever know if they remain hidden!
Show someone!!! Even if it's just a family member you know you can trust. You never know what people are going to say if you never put yourself out there. To quote George McFly, "If you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything!"
First, take them out and read them. Maybe you'll want to edit them. You may post them on your blog and share on the social media to see how they are accepted by your friends and followers. After you receive some feedback, you'll be able to make your decision.
review and see what mistakes you've done ... ask some people you trust what mistake you have wrote .. from any answers you've got.. you start over to write and test it by give your story/novel to people you trust when they give you opinion you'll know what you need to do.
Jade Sperry (jadedphotography.me)
I would recommend that you let your parents read it. And your BFF. They will tell you the truth because they love and care for you. And never take rejection of your work personal. It's not meant that way.
Remember Daredevil's quote: "A man without fear is a man without hope".
Go through them with a critical eye and refresh the stories or copy with the life experience you now have. Once you feel they are up to scratch, show them to a trusted friend. If they like it, take it to a publisher.
Read, edit, and send them out!
Pick out the five things you think are the best ones, and show them to someone, now!
Show them to people. Get feedback. Hold out for honest feedback. This may require you to grow a thicker skin, but it is absolutely worth it. But more than any of that, I recommend you add to the collection. Keep writing more things to put in the pile. What you do with the pile is less important than that you keep writing, keep adding to it. The only true way to get better at writing is to keep writing.
Get them out. Read them. Maybe use them as starting points for other books. Maybe edit them and submit them. Maybe if you feel they are not that good write something new and learn from them.
Pull them out, dust them off and find a few people you can trust who want you to succeed and will still give you honest, constructive feedback.
I recommend you keep it and re-read it. Do you see something that you still like? Does anything stand out? Do you feel close/connected to it, even if its older and it hasn't been touched in years? There are many questions I would ask myself about those things, but personally, I wouldn't throw them away or anything like that. No, keep them and use them at some point in your writing. Why throw away something that could be reworked into a full novel, or at the very least, use bits and pieces of in other stories you write? You can always make use of something you've written, no matter how old or poorly written you think it is. Wasting an idea if a terrible thing, in my opinion. Then again, you don't want to be like me and overwhelm yourself with too many ideas at once, but it would be better to do that then simply toss ideas aside, I think.
No, I recommend finding those stories and keeping them somewhere safe. Then, when you want to write and need an idea, look at them. Read them carefully and any time something pops out, make a note of it. Say you like a character from one old story and the plot of another. Why not mix them together? That's possible. Or, if not that, keep going until you find a good way to mix the things you feel stand out the most that you like. Anything you don't like, I suggest not throwing that away directly afterwards. I suggest going through and seeing what you feel has potential and then look into how you can change it so you DO like the idea. Just keep picking away at the stories until you find there's little else left except for scraps. You never know; you could basically keep an entire story and simply rewrite it to make it better in every way, or you may take a single thing from a story and throw the rest away. It's all about how you do it.
Never waste anything you write. You can always use it somehow, you simply have to be willing to be patient and willing to look into how you can use it. My advice is to be thorough in what you keep and then, once you feel like you've taken everything you can from an old story, do what you want with it. Throw it away or hold onto it as a keepsake, whatever works for you as a writer. I would keep it, because you never know, you may someday be published and looking back on the catalyst for that story might be fun to do.   | | |
Save them! Nothing is ever wasted.
Either pick a friend you trust to show them to, and see what they think, or forget about it and move forward. Unless you're an obsessive person like I am, who's willing to go back and edit crap to make it readable, it's better to just start fresh and pump out some new stuff.
WRITE THEM ALL. RELEASE THEM INTO THE WORLD AND ALLOW OTHERS TO BASK IN THEIR GLORY. Yes, that requires capslock. So many of my amazing friends can WRITE and yet they agonize over every word and hold them back, waiting for some imagined perfection. I weep for the words I have not yet read. GIVE THEM TO ME.
Seriously, even if they are not good, how will you ever know? And chances are, someone out there will adore it as you do. There are many many people in the world and your voice is certain to connect to someone. It's an amazing feeling when that happens. There is nothing better in the world.
GO FOR IT.
Fear stops us from living and gets in the way of who we are. Get your work out there. |
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