Hey everyone! Here we are! Last post of the series that I started around a year ago. Haha. Glad that we finally made it here despite all the bumps in the road. Stick around to read the rest of this post or, if you’re jumpy or just want to know what is next go ahead and scroll to the end of the post where the announcement is going to be. For those of you here for the content, without further ado….
Develop As A Writer: Share Your Writing
Something that you can do to develop as writer that seems simple on the surface but is actually really hard is sharing your writing with other writers and with nonwriters. One of the questions I feel like all writers gets asked at some point or another, rather often, is, “Can I read your book when you finish?” which at least for me and the few writers I have asked, is one of the most dreaded questions as a writer right behind, “What’s the title?” and “What’s your book about?”.
Sharing your writing with another person can be one of the scariest things for writers or it can be the msot exciting. Either way, sharing your writing with another person is never easy. But it’s a very useful thing to do to develop as a writer. There are lots of advantages to gain from sharing our writing such as advice (both on your plot, characters, writing, and other things) and appreciation (which is always nice for every writer).
But where do you share your writing? And who do you share it with? Those are the questions I am going to try to answer a little bit in this post.
Writing Groups
The first place that you can share your writing is a writing group. There are lots of kinds of writing groups including Nanowrimo regional groups, local writing groups supported by libraries or other public groups, or personal writing groups created by local writers or writers who all know each other from other places. These types of writing groups can be really fun because they can sometimes give you a bit of anonymity while also being friendly and relatable because it is usually among fellow writers or editors.
The few writing groups that I was able to attend were usually really good because we would begin by having a good conversation about writing, continues by reading each others writings (some groups we would read the writings before coming in preperation), and then give each other advice (both the good parts and the bad parts and how to improve both parts). This is obviously a good way to develop because you are actively developing through advice from others
Personal Writing Friends
Personal writing friends is another way to get good advice and to develop as a writer. It can be really similar to going to writing groups except it has more of a personal nature. If you get more frightened by having people you don’t know read your writing than this is a good way to share your writing in a place where you might feel more safe. Of course, this does imply that you have a writing friend but you can also share it with family or friends even if they aren’t writers themselves. You can get similar types of advice and appreciation for your writing from them but sometimes the writing advice isn’t going to be as detailed as other writers might give.
Anonymous Writing Forums
If you get more scared by sharing your writing with people you know and would prefer to keep some author anonimity than anonymous writing forums is more for you. This type of anonymous writing forum comes in forms such as Nanowrimo.org or online novel sites. If you are looking for mostly other writers to read your writing try sites more like nanowrimo.org that are going to have other writers. If you don’t care who reads your writing (or how harsh they may or may not be) feel free to write on writing sites for online novels such as wattpad, webtoons, tapas, inkitt, and more. If you post on a public forum you are more likely to get more comments but some of them might be more from fans and some might be good writing advice.
But there are so many different other ways to share your writing with other people. I’m sure there are some I have’t covered or didn’t even think of. If you think of some or know of some not included here feel free to comment below. Whichever way you choose to share your writing though, sharing it is a good way to develop your writing and to develop as a writer. If you do want to be published and when you are published someday it will be sharing your writing so this is a good way to develop your skill to share your writing proudly.
That’s all for this post I hope you enjoyed but now it’s time for the part you have all been waiting for…
Announcements!!
Now that we have reached the end of this series it’s time to make an announcement about what we will be doing next. For the rest of the Saturdays in the month of March I will be doing stand alone posts on writing or reading related topics. These will not be part of a series but they should still be interesting. For the month of April I will be taking a break and will be back the first or second Saturday of May with a whole new series (which Saturday it is is dependent on my graduation schedule).
I haven’t decided what the new series will be but I will announce it both on my Instagram and at the end of the last stand alone post. So stay tuned.
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Get Up, Get Writing, and Get Published. See you next week!
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