I’m sure that all writers work slightly differently. Or maybe very differently. Do we write on keyboards, longhand, on phones? Do we meticulously plot out our works or do we get a germ of an idea and just run with it. Regardless of what some might argue, there really is no one right way to write. If it works for you and you are happy with your content, then you are already ahead of the curve.
Even though we all have different processes, there if one aspect that unties so many of us. That time when we have to stop that initial writing process, say that we are finished with the first draft and have it over to another person to read.
This can be nerve wracking. I always wonder how many potential writers are out there that just can’t get past the hump of letting another person read what they created.
Recently I have found a person that I feel I can trust to be my first reader. Not only because I respect his own work as a writer and he is utterly thorough, but I can also trust him to point out all the ways that my first draft falls apart and needs to be tightened up. And, believe me, there are a lot of ways my first draft’s need to be improved.
Just before starting this post, he reached out to me to say that his read through and commentary are finished. The file is sitting here on my computer waiting to be perused. I am insanely curious, eager to read feedback and gain some insight into how to improve, and also terrified of reading how much my writing fell apart this time.
Knowing the medicine makes me better doesn’t make me like the taste any more.
But before I took advantage of this guys talent, I just wanted to publicly thank him and the other readers and editors out there that go through first drafts and help out.
For this particular work, no one else will ever read what I know is the worst version of it. Anything thats improved will be, in no small part, to the help of that first brave reader who puts up with huge continuity problems and what is most likely a physically painful amount of typos.
Yeah, that’s right. I left them in. Because if I know that he is going to help me pull this thing apart so that I can rewrite it to be better, why get bogged down over some spelling that might not even make it past the rewrites.
Yesterday I announced to anyone reading this site that soon you will get to read A Song in Darkness. The words used will be mine. But this first reader, who I want to give more recognition than I think he would like, is helping make sure that you are getting the words that tell the story in the best possible way.
Thank you for your efforts.
And I’ll do my best not to be pissy with you next time we chat.
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Deadly Troubadour 