Getting published is harder than you think and that’s not just that process of querying, getting an agent, getting a publisher, and going through that other long process of actually getting it published and printed. These days writers have many choices of they can do with their book, but it’s not always easy to choose.
When writing your novel or short story, a thought that may cross your mind is “Is my story interesting?”. It can be hard to keep your story interesting, especially if it’s your first novel or you hit a wall in the story. This article will help you with finding out what’s wrong with your story.
As writers, we all fear that people will dislike our stories. We think that something may be wrong with our stories, whether it’s the plot or even a simple sentence. This fear deepens a bit more when we post our works online. The thing is, with posting online, we don’t know who’s behind the screen. With that we do not know what they like and what they hate.
So imagine to your shock, that you receive a negative critique or comment on your work. You begin to wonder why this is happening! You thought your work is perfect so why did it get hate? You will start to doubt your writing and your work. But as writers we should not fear hate or bad criticism. Why? No matter what we do and what we write, someone will not like our work. It could be the genre you write, the way your write, or even something simple such as your character’s name. People have their preferences just as you do. If you someone does not like your work, then so be it. We should not care about the one person who does not like your story when we have tons of people who do! This also works if tons of people do not like your work but one person does. This is the person who will enjoy your work and will read it when they are sad. This is the person who will tell their friends about and cannot stop talking about. This is the person you want to write for, not the millions of people who do not like your story. Write for that one person.
If you still believe that people will not like your story, then don’t care about them. They don’t matter. All that matters is that you are proud of what you have created and will keep on being proud of it until they day you die. Your work is something original. It came from your mind and your heart. You put everything you could into it. If what I’ve said so far hasn’t gotten you over the hate you got, then keep on reading.
I remember when someone told me my story needed work. I had posted it online for a critique, hoping I would get the best review. No, I didn’t hope. I expected it to get a great review. You see,I was never told my works needed to be tweaked. I was never told that my descriptions were bland, my characters were flat, and my plot needed, well, plotting. I had been told all the time my stories were amazing and didn’t need improvement. These comments were from my close family and everyone trusts their family so I didn’t think they were lying. The person simply told me that sentences were choppy and some were even too long. They told me they didn’t think it was an opening chapter and that they felt that it would be somewhere in the middle of the book instead. I was devastated. I began to to think that I didn’t have any talent and that my writing was horrible. I lost confidence in myself and my writing. When I lost confidence in writing, I also lost my “talent”. My writing began to fail and got even worse. You want to know why? I was too focused on the comment. It taunted me and made feel my writing was subpar so it became subpar. After a few days of failed writing, I went back to that person and asked them what I could do to improve. They told to keep on practicing and that I did have a talent, I just needed to work on it. After that, I was happier and began to work harder. My writing is much better now. What was the point of that story you may ask? The point was how one comment can affect you and make you feel bad about your writing. While it wasn’t hate, it was a criticism I did not expect. My point is, that you should not let comment or critique that you didn’t expect affect you too much. If it is going to help you, take it and work on it. If it is a simply a hate comment, do not dwell on it. You are an amazing writer with so much opportunity. Your story is something you have taken the time to create. Remember that some people can not read or write, but you can. You are a special person with a special talent and you should be proud of yourself. So go on writers, write and be happy with what you create!
You probably stumbled along this blog, wondering what is in store for you. You are also probably wondering who I am and what this blog is. Well to keep it simple, I am Rose the owner of WritersWeekly and WriterWeekly is a blog for writers. Every week I produce free content full of tips, guides, and resources for writers. I also add in my opinions on all writerly things as well. This blog is to help writers, not to hurt them. What does that mean? “Stupid” questions are allowed, there is no judgment, and everyone is welcome!
Since I first started writing, I was told what is wrong and what is right for writing. No, simply no. There is no wrong or right way to write and if someone tells you this, you should run for the hills. Everything on this blog is a guideline, not an order you have to follow to be an amazing writer. So if you like no judgement, information that could help you, and some fun on the way, then join me on this crazy train we call writing!
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