To share, or not?

My novel, tentatively called Spider Slayer, has been my top obsession for a while now. I have a skeleton draft done, and I've gotten the first chapter into what I consider acceptable shape.

On one hand, I am *DYING* for feedback. Does X work? Is it apparent that this is setup for a future event in the story? Is the dialogue convincing? Are the characters easy to identify with? Good feedback usually gives me my best ideas and helps to spawn my most polished work.

On the other, I usually don't handle feedback very well when I'm still writing something. That isn't to say I am abusive or closed minded about feedback; I mean that, if I get distracted by chapter one, I inevitably worry about getting it perfect--which makes me realize it isn't--which leads me down a dark chain of thoughts that eventually whisper, "Barty boy, you can't do this. You've been plum licked ahead of the game. Just stop." And that certainly isn't a place I like visiting.

Should I share now or later? I know I've shared the first chapter of this before--it is a vastly different animal now. You know how THAT goes.

-B, worrying about everything

Thanks. I think I will.

Doodlebug said:

I, for one, am s-o-o-o paranoid about sharing! Something that worries me is an unknown reader taking my work and claiming it for his/her own. (Okay, I'm not just paranoid, I'm as vain and possessive as hell about my ideas!!)

Also, would sharing on AW, for instance, mean that a work has been 'published'?

Just curious.

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Nope. See the stickies at the top of the SYW forum.

Plagiarism is also incredibly unlikely.

I decided to post it, and now I kind of regret it and kind of don't. The two replies confirmed my fears about the character intros. I listened to someone a while ago who told me to stay in tight 3rd person POV. I just don't do my best work in that voice. I've decided to chug on in filling in my skeleton, and rework what i've already done later.

Thanks for all the input guys!

Danthia said:

This has nothing to do with your question, but I always wrote in tight third myself, and then I started a novel where the protag just screamed at me to write first person. I'd never tried first person because it's not an easy POV to do well, but I went with the muse.

Lo and behold first person is totally my POV. I never would have found that out if I hadn't experimented. You might consider rewritting your opening scene in the various POVs and see which one feels right You might do what I did and discover first is your style, or maybe third omni does it for you. Or you like a looser third.

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I don't mind if the thread derails to POV. The topic itself isn't really pertinent anymore, unless we wanted to talk about the value (or lack thereof) of sharing our work before it's complete.

I actually think I need to find a compromise between Omni and Tight 3rd. Because I'm SO USED to injecting the character's thoughts into the way the scene is presented to the reader, that I've actually got a narrative problem slipping FROM Omni INTO tight 3rd -- which is, I believe, the opposite of the common POV error.

I'm thinking I may use a lot of Italicized 1st person thought for my two protagonists. That way I can be in Omni, and when I want the reader to see what's going on in the MC's head, I can just go to the headcam, so to speak.

Finished the damn thing.

20,000 words in one non-stop 14 hour burst. Yes, 20,000.

I'm going to go chop both hands off now.

Kirby said:

As much as I appreciate feedback, I question what's considered published. Some of the agents that I've submitted my manuscript to have stated that a writer shouldn't bother querying if any part of his/her book has appeared on the web, magazine, or in any other media.

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I've sold two stories that I also posted in our SYW forum, prior to selling them.

Also, there's this.

Even if you post your entire, finished novel on the internet, for free, you've only destroyed your first publication and first internet publication rights. With a stellar story, you could still sell plenty of rights.

Fortunately, our SYW board is password protected; so you're not publishing anything.