Big head or blind eyes?

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Zoombie

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So I'm reading my WIP, E.L.F, aloud and it reads really good. Fun, fast, funny, exciting and so on...

There are problems, but most seem easily fixable. Am I just that good (warning, big head), or am I blind?
 

MidnightMuse

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That's it exactly - have someone else read it, see what they think. I crack myself up all the time, but I'm cheap and easy. The trick is to let a stranger check it out, and beg them to be honest with you.

You may very well be that good! :)
 

NicoleMD

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Some days I read my WIP and I think it's brilliant. Other days I think it sucks. So I've decided to take the average.

Nicole
 

Williebee

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You need more readers. You may be right on, but then your brain knows what you meant. Fresh eyes may not see the scenes you describe in the same way you do.
 
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Really only you can decide. You should know yourself well enough to decide on your own if you're blinded to your own work, or if you can reasonably grasp it.

I'm really good about telling whether or not my writing sucks or not. Given, as I evolve eventually I look back on reading I'd thought was great and I hate it. But I think that's a common enough problem, even amongst very successful authors who have thousands of adoring fans.

Really, you should be your own best audience, if you have the mind to do it. If you can seriously read your novel and enjoy the hell out of it, to the point that you'd be willing to dump 30 bucks on it to purchase a copy... then you're on to something.

Other readers are swell and necessary to a point, but for simply deciding the quality of your own writing, you should really just decide if you like it. If you know it needs work, then work on it.
 

Maryn

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What I used to do was to get a kid of around 9-12 to read it aloud. The kid had to be a good reader and the material couldn't be too adult for him or her.

It was amazing how every awkwardness, every not-quite-there attempt at humor, every stiff line of dialogue, every long-winded sentence, became visible as I read along.

Really, try it. Plus, they work for cheap.

Maryn, who's run out of kids
 

brunoshouse

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My opinion of my own work fluctuates constantly. There are times I read my words and think, "Wow, I can't believe I wrote this. It is great." The next day I might read the same words and think," Wow, I can't believe I wrote this. I suck!!!"
 

aadams73

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My opinion of my own work fluctuates constantly. There are times I read my words and think, "Wow, I can't believe I wrote this. It is great." The next day I might read the same words and think," Wow, I can't believe I wrote this. I suck!!!"

Welcome to my life :D

I struggle with this constantly.
 

Stew21

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Welcome to my life :D

I struggle with this constantly.

me too. Especially when I'm in a zone and all excited about a paragraph I just wrote, a chapter or scene I just finished. When I read through it later I cringe a little.
If I read it again, I may change my mind and think it's not so bad.
That's why I have a ridiculous number of beta readers for my current MS.
As if more opinions won't give me extreme angst - at least I will have a good idea of what works and what doesn't to a group of people.
I love to write, and a lot of times like and take pride in what I write, but I don't trust my own judgment on whether it's good or bad.
 
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