Do you share your writing with your loved ones?

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piscesgirl80

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I usually don't, for a variety of reasons. There are one or two people who have a negative reaction to anything I accomplish (for reasons beyond my comprehension.) Another reason is that issues in my writing often are ones not to their taste, another being that I'm simply a very private person.

Are other people similarly quiet, or do you share your work/publishing credits with your family and friends?
 

veinglory

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No. They can read the published version if they want. I don't want to put them in an uncomfortable situation and I couldn't depend on them for an impartial opinion. Especially as none of them read my genre.
 

Freckles

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I don't like to let any family members see my work until it's published. I'm so self-conscious about what I write for some odd reason.
 

stormie

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I usually share after it's published, and show them the article, poem, essay, short story or whatever, in the magazine. Then again, once or twice it's not something I'd want a certain person to read, since it's sort of about them. :D

When I first was published, I wanted to shout if from the rooftops and show everyone everywhere that I was a writer. After awhile, people kind of got tired of it. Their eyes glazed over. Their feet did some tapping. One even hummed a tune. :gone:
 

Alan Yee

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Let's put it this way: If my mom read what I'm writing right now, she would think something's wrong with me and go tell my doctor I'm emotionally disturbed. So I'm not letting any of them read it, due to some of the subject matter and the darkness. I don't like sharing my writing with my family, because they tend to be TOO interested, and I feel like they're reading my personal diary or something. I like keeping it to myself and other writers who can do crits for it.
 

Spirit_Fire

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I don't like to let anybody see my work (in progress - I'm not published).

I find it difficult to write when my wife is around. I don't want her to see my work, because she laughs at my ideas. I don't try to talk to her about it either anymore, because she changes the subject or ignores me.

My family are supportive of my work, but I wouldn't want them to read it either. From time to time they just ask me how it's going, and I say that it's fine.

I do have one friend who I can talk to who is interested, so I can discuss ideas with him when he comes to visit (which is not often).

But for now, my work is secret. When it's published, I'll rub it in their faces. :D
 

jbal

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I show my stuff to my wife when I'm done (never before). She's pretty bright, and definitely not afraid to point out flaws. However, she knows I've written some shorts lately and submitted some of them, but she never asked to read any of it, so I didn't bother shoving it at her.
 

ORION

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My husband has read nearly everything I've written. We share a love of books and have been married nearly 20 years. He admitted just recently though, that it is easier reading and being critical now that I have an agent. Before he did not want to discourage me.
He has helped me enormously with editing (grammar etc.).
My father read my third novel and enjoyed it (he is not a reader) but he had helped in the research for this one and was interested. He said he liked it but maybe I used the F-word too much - I just laughed!
I dearly would love to have had my mother read my work. She was an avid reader but passed away after several years with dementia. She never read any of my novels.
One of my sisters reads and enjoys my work but the other two do not. I have many beta readers that I have gathered over the years - they are extraordinarily useful and have read all of my novels.
My point is (I guess) if your family will not read or enjoy your work you can find other people who will.
Don't let your family's attitudes discourage you.
JMHO
 

Oddsocks

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I show my mum and my friend who also writes as I'm going along. I find feedback useful as I'm writing - it means I can catch some weaknesses early, rather than once the thing's finished.
 

CBeasy

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I share my work with my friends, and most of the time I get a positive reaction. The only issue is that none of them have a clue about writing, so I can't be sure that there praise means anything. As for my family, I very rarely share my work with them. It's not because I'm shy, or because they're not supportive, it's just because I rarely see them in a situation where I would actually be carrying any of my writings with me. When they do read my stuff, I always get a positive reaction, but with my family, I'm not sure they'd actually tell me if they didn't like it.
 

writerterri

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No. They aren't any help at all. They tell me how they would have written the story better or just flat out refuse to read my stuff. I get no support I tell you, none! Which is why when I get my first check I'm going to go out and get my nails and feet done and buy myself a shiny new outfit and go to the Olive Garden, with me. The rest of them can stay in the car and wish they were more supportive of my writing. But first they get to watch me laught all the way to the bank. Ungreatful little...

The above story is supposed to be truth mixed with humor, go ahead and laugh.

Are you on the computer again?

Pissoff!
 

SeanDSchaffer

piscesgirl80 said:
I usually don't, for a variety of reasons. There are one or two people who have a negative reaction to anything I accomplish (for reasons beyond my comprehension.) Another reason is that issues in my writing often are ones not to their taste, another being that I'm simply a very private person.

Are other people similarly quiet, or do you share your work/publishing credits with your family and friends?


If I had any publishing credits, I would not be opposed to my family members and friends knowing about them. However, when I'm just in the process of writing a manuscript, I do not tell people--even my closest friends--what my work is about. My reason for this is that, when I tell someone what my work is about, there is this psychological problem I have, where I tell myself, "This is stupid" and quit working on my project before I even really get started on it.

So I have learned never to tell others what the work I'm presently working on, is about.
 

Moonfish

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I ask for a lot of feedback for my journalistic writing from my mother, and get it too (she is also a journalist so I actually value her input). But my "private" writing - no. My mother actually got a little upset when I told her that I had been accepted by a publisher - she didn't even know I was writing anything. Now I've let her read it even though it's not published yet, and that felt ok.

I gave my msc to hubby to read - and he didn't and lied and said he had... Which I sussed straight away. So I really don't try and make him anymore. He's strangely supportive on a general level though. And he does read some of my journalistic stuff.
 

SherryTex

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Absolutely I share. They are my first critics. They are often the inspiration. My brother was the one that suggested we pool our resources, one is a playwrite and also an English teacher/drama coach, and the other works for Del but he wants to write more and was the brainiac who came up with the idea. My sister writes philosophical and spiritual stuff and pretty good poetry. We collaborated on a piece for our Dad and I've kept writing ever since.

If they hate it, I know it stinks. They'll tell me if its rough, sentimental, or not up to par. My husband is my editor for pieces I submit. He is the best critic of all, he also writes.
 

spike

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My BF and my daughter are my first readers. Sometimes I'll throw ideas to them just after I finish the outline. They love almost everything I write. I think I could give them a shopping list and tell them it is a poem and they'd applaud. But on the few occasions one of them doesn't like my work, I know that project is a real stinker!

My mother and my sister both think I'm a fool for trying to get published. They think I'm wasting my time in an overly competative field. They are both extremely critical, and they don't want to encourage my "pipe dream". So when they like something, it's probably pretty good.
 

RTH

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My loved one is just as impartial and incisive as any editor, so absolutely.

But I never show anything until several drafts are done. I've got to work my own way through it before I ask her to pick it apart.

I think, all in all, it has to depend on the loved one. I know Stephen King relies on his wife heavily as a 1st reader...
 

Bubastes

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No. I don't even let them know about my WIPs (insensitive comments kill projects faster than anything else). I sometimes share my publication credits with friends and loved ones, but not always. No one close to me reads in the genres I write.
 

wordmonkey

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My wife is my prime reader.

I'm afraid to say that as I hand her pages/chapters to read, I sit there watching to see what kinda reaction I get.

Especially when I write humor. I wanna see if she laughs and what she's laughing at.

I know. I'm so sad and needy.

But she will always give me honest feedback, even when I don't wanna hear it. Inevitably I go away, filled with righteous indignance, and make changes based on what she said. Always improves what I had.
 

Scarlett_156

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When I was about 12 and my parents snooped in my personal effects, I think they were expecting to find drugs or birth control pills, or something of that nature. Instead they found notebooks with my first novel in them. I had approximately 3,000 handwritten pages.

I thought the yelling would never stop. In fact it never really did. I finally ran away from home; I did this at my first opportunity, when I was 16. I get along with Mom and Dad ok now, but we don't talk about my writing. We don't really talk about much of anything, in fact. My parents are very hard to talk to. I just mostly listen.

Over the last few years since I started participating in discussion forums on the internet, I've gotten a lot of really good feedback about my writing. That has been a valuable experience for me overall.

My friends try to be complimentary when I show them things that I have written, but I usually don't go that route anymore. I've found that some personal friends will often beg to read one's writing-- then you finally show it to em, and they get angry for some reason. End of friendship. So I don't do that anymore.
 

Pat~

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I have spent most of my life writing, but I never wrote anything personal for anyone else to read until just about 4 years ago. I wrote a book without telling anyone, then let my mom read it because she found out about it and asked if she could. I was extremely nervous about it, but she was very encouraging and supportive. She and a couple of close friends are the only ones who read my unpublished writing--their feedback helps me hone it. My published writing I share only with family (2 sisters are also published writers), and a couple of writing friends. (Oh, and the poor souls my mom sends copies to! :D .) My husband is very emotionally supportive, though he hasn't read everything I've had published. My son is pretty disinterested, but my 14-yr. old daughter is fairly interested, and she'll read and even critique it. (She is an outstanding writer, and I've been saving her writing for years so she can write that 'famous author' memoir someday :) !)
 

Lisamer

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Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But here is an emabarassing story. When I first moved out here, I became ridiculously attracted to a male friend of mine. However, I was, and still am madly in love with my husband, so nothing ever came of it (so to speak!;)).

Nonetheless, I decided that it would be carthartic to use my attraction as the premise for a fiction piece. which contained details about things that I fantasized happening, even though they never did.

Unfortunately, my husband is a techno geek, and when night when he was updating my computer...you guessed it. At first, it was a mess, because he started accusing the guy of things that never happened. Eventually, we worked it out, and my husband started to write a male's version of the story, which is rather humorous. I seriously doubt we will ever publish it!
 

Moonfish

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I am glad that ended up ok...
My mother found a manuscript of mine once on the computer (I was no longer living at home but had used her computer to print it. Not computer-savvy enough to delete all traces of it though...) and read it. I felt incredibly betrayed, even though there was nothing embarrassing about it (it was a children's book). It felt like someone reading my diary.
It is the only time I've hung up on my mom.
 

RhinoMom

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I do share with my husband...but it can backfire.
He is the persnickety type that goes line by line by freaking line and deconstructs every paragraph until I am ready to rip his anal head off.

That said, he's usually right in his analysis.

Debbie
 

sammyig

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I always share my writing with my father. If he hates it, or sees a mistake- I can be assured that there is something wrong. I have always said he would make a great film editor. And trust me, pleasing him is very difficult.
 
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