Background:
A while back, a writer and friend of mine asked for some critiquing on a novel he was working on. He's a great writer, but needed some pretty basic help when it came to writing fiction - working with characters, dialogue and the like.
I helped him as much as I could and started advising him. I've written a stack of novels (some self-published, others yet to be published), have received positive feedback and have learned from reading some of my favorite novels by professional writers. The feedback I've received has been genuine, some from people I don't even know personally (that's always nice), and I think my advice to my friend was pretty sound.
While I was assisting him, I realized that maybe the information I was feeding him would be helpful to others as well. So I started writing down my thoughts in book-form. I wound up with a lot more than intended (from dialogue to using descriptions, to the emotional aspect of writing). I shared my first draft with my writers guild and they seemed to really like it and found it very helpful as some of them were just starting to try their hand at fiction.
Realizing that the information was indeed helpful to other writers, I added to the manuscript, had it edited and I prepared it to be a brief, easy-to-read, self-published handbook/guide (about 150 pages). The Foundation of Novel Writing is the title chosen and I've just been awaiting the funds to publish it.
Current problem:
Sometimes I have trouble in the area of confidence when I'm around other writers (especially professional ones). I involve myself with places like this and I see a plethora of opinions, perspectives and advice. And then I begin to wonder... if I present this handbook to writers other than those in my guild... is it just going to end in receiving responses that people don't agree with my advice? That I really don't know what I'm doing? Will other writers read it and think it's worthless because they go about their writing in a different way?
I didn't cover spelling and grammar - I just covered the other basics, and really, it's not for people who already write novels, but those just starting in that genre (though some of the advice could apply to other genres).
What should I do? I've received positive feedback from my guild... is that enough for me to be confident with the information I'm sharing? I'm scared to death to promote it here where I'm surrounded by writers who also know their stuff.
Is this making any sense at all? If it is, any advice?
A while back, a writer and friend of mine asked for some critiquing on a novel he was working on. He's a great writer, but needed some pretty basic help when it came to writing fiction - working with characters, dialogue and the like.
I helped him as much as I could and started advising him. I've written a stack of novels (some self-published, others yet to be published), have received positive feedback and have learned from reading some of my favorite novels by professional writers. The feedback I've received has been genuine, some from people I don't even know personally (that's always nice), and I think my advice to my friend was pretty sound.
While I was assisting him, I realized that maybe the information I was feeding him would be helpful to others as well. So I started writing down my thoughts in book-form. I wound up with a lot more than intended (from dialogue to using descriptions, to the emotional aspect of writing). I shared my first draft with my writers guild and they seemed to really like it and found it very helpful as some of them were just starting to try their hand at fiction.
Realizing that the information was indeed helpful to other writers, I added to the manuscript, had it edited and I prepared it to be a brief, easy-to-read, self-published handbook/guide (about 150 pages). The Foundation of Novel Writing is the title chosen and I've just been awaiting the funds to publish it.
Current problem:
Sometimes I have trouble in the area of confidence when I'm around other writers (especially professional ones). I involve myself with places like this and I see a plethora of opinions, perspectives and advice. And then I begin to wonder... if I present this handbook to writers other than those in my guild... is it just going to end in receiving responses that people don't agree with my advice? That I really don't know what I'm doing? Will other writers read it and think it's worthless because they go about their writing in a different way?
I didn't cover spelling and grammar - I just covered the other basics, and really, it's not for people who already write novels, but those just starting in that genre (though some of the advice could apply to other genres).
What should I do? I've received positive feedback from my guild... is that enough for me to be confident with the information I'm sharing? I'm scared to death to promote it here where I'm surrounded by writers who also know their stuff.
Is this making any sense at all? If it is, any advice?
LilLove