Share Your First Draft As You Write, or Hide It Under a Bushel?

[kymbrunner]

There seems to be two camps on this issue: share your early work with those in your critique group, or hide it until it makes more sense so you're not embarrassed or swayed by others' opinions. I've always been pretty much in the "rip my chest open and let the bleeding begin" camp.

Comments

Share early

[anonymous]

I definitely try to share early. It's too deflating to learn no one likes my MC after I've sunk 35K words into her world.
Veronica

Re: Share early

[kymbrunner]

Agreed! Especially when the characters are so newly formed, it's not like they're insulting my best friend - just an acquaintance. Insult my best friend and you're going down. :)

[onegrapeshy]

I like to show my first readers a pretty well revised and polished project. My earlier drafts are too disorganized and almost unreadable. Even if they find a major plot hole or inconsistency, I can still go back and fix it.

[kymbrunner]

I'm starting to wonder if that's a more logical approach. I'm in the midst of rewriting my first chapter of a new WIP for like the fifth time (stopping to go back after writing 20K), so I can understand the madness of showing my readers crazy sketches that will be scrapped.

Thanks to this lovely snow day I've been granted (hurray!), I'm determined to nail the basics of my futuristic world just a bit more and then plow (perhaps snowplow?) ahead to where I left off. So many worlds, so little time.

[onegrapeshy]

"So many worlds, so little time."

And sooo very true!

Good luck!