Hello again

I have started to write the beginning of my novel now. To get some idea of how I was doing - I read some of chapter 1 out to my husband. He isn't really interested in fiction at all and gave very negative feedback (what did I expect).

He has said my writing is really bad and that my novel idea is not new. I have spoken to my friend about the plot and she really thinks it's a great plot.

I am suffering a little bit from confidence now. I know at present my writing style is not the most polished.

Has anyone else experienced this lack of confidence when they first start writing?

Does your writing improve with practice?

Or should I just accept that my vocabulary and writing style are never going to get better?

Probably want some honest answers of how people have got on with their work.

Thanks again. Beverley

The best advice I can give is keep writing, but don't show it to anyone while it's still a first draft - almost everyone's first drafts are awful; or as EmmaD calls them (in one of her blogs), a shitty firstdraft.
There is a great temptation to show people one's early work, so as to get a bit of a confidence boost from them and encouragement to write on, but only do it if they know that - you husband was obviously not primed for compliments before you read it out to him.
Yes, it will improve with practice, and reading it aloud will help you to polish it, as will printing it off the computer and correcting it by hand.
Keep going.


- NaomiM

Hi Naomi

Thanks for your advice - I think I did want someone to say, yes that's a really good start. You have given me encouragement to know that with practice I will improve.

Thanks again - Beverley.

He has said my writing is really bad and that my novel idea is not new.

Ouch! But if he doesn't read fiction, at this stage his opinion isn't any use.

Naomi's right, it's often not helpful to have any kind of feedback at this stage, and if you do want some, you need to pick your feeder-back very carefully, and make it clear that you want to know what's good about it - so you can build on that - as much as what they think doesn't work. But you need quite an experienced feeder-back to be able to disentangle their own reactions to your writing and express them in a way which is helpful to you, not discouraging.

Everyone can become a better writer than they are at the moment. Lots and lots of that learning just comes about if you keep writing. The shitty first draft idea is by Anne Lamott, in her book Bird By Bird, which you might want to have a look at, as it's very good on the encouraging and overcoming unconfidence front. She says something like, Shitty first drafts are what good writers write, so they can write good second drafts and terrific third drafts.

Every decision you make about which word, sentence, event, chapter, is you learning something: by the end of the first draft you'll have learnt the most enormous amount, just by doing it.

Meanwhile, the other key to improving is to read voraciously. Not just the things you naturally like reading, but a bit further beyond their borders. That enlarges not just your vocabulary, but also your ear for voice, rhythm, sentence structure and so on. And read consciously, not just absorbing by osmosis (which you will). When something's really powerful, or really clunky, pause to work out why, before you read on. Think about why a piece of plot is so brilliant, or why you didn't believe it. Use your understanding of how writing happens to think about how that writer might have gone about it. In otherwords, keep mapping what you do across to what others do, and back the other way...

Very good luck with it. There isn't a writer on the planet who doesn't get huge plummets of confidence, so you're not alone - we've all been there.

Emma

Hi Emma

Thanks for your advice as well. I shall get some additional books from the library to read - as I have no reading matter at the moment.

and that my novel idea is not new

I should add that when it comes to plots for novels there really is nothing new under the sun, so don't worry about it. The best writers cherry pick from what lots of others have written before them. Only new writers think they need to come up with something totally original.


- NaomiM

Hi Beverley, I have the opposite problem in that I used to read stuff to my husband and he'd say, yeah, that sounds really good! When in fact ....

I don't bother any longer. Bless him, he's a film man rather than a book man.

You really have to write and write and write. Not all of your ideas are going to see the light of day but if an idea is pushing at you then write it. I wrote as a child and teenager, didn't write at all in my 20's and got back to it about 6 years ago. My writing has been slowly evolving - I've kept the first novel that I wrote and can see a lot more clearly now where my writing was the pits. Even so I know I've still got a way to go but keeping the pleasure in writing is the most important thing.

Have you joined a group here? What sort of writing do you do? If it's women's fiction we're very friendly and very encouraging and not scary at all - really So if you want to come and join us please do.

(Oh, and good advice on reading as much as possible. Since joining the site I've read a wider variety of books and have to say I've been inspired by a good few of them!).

Good luck
Sharon
x

Hi Sharon

Thanks very much for your advice. I did make a mistake asking someone who is not into fiction to make a comment really. I am really enthusiastic about the little projects I have going. Strangely, I enjoy doing the research for my novel and seeing my characters develop. I don't suppose my first novel will ever see the light of day - but as you have all said - it's a learning curve.

Thanks again. Beverley.

Have you joined a group here? What sort of writing do you do? If it's women's fiction we're very friendly and very encouraging and not scary at all - really So if you want to come and join us please do.

Hi Sharon

I am currently a temporary member - if I decide to join (which I probably will) then I will certainly join the women's fiction group. My novel is a romantic thriller.

Thanks and best regards: Beverley

Hello Beverley. Never mind what your other says, just write whatever comes into your head. Setup files so you can have an online rant, get things off your chest. It is surprising how much can flow in that mode. My younger brother, whilst in his late teens, wrote novels - which remained far from finished - featured in our home town. Can you imagine a Professionals-like squad rampaging through an ordinary town, or the town has become a base for an organised crime family, or a hotbed of homegrown terrorism? Unbelievable? So what! It did make for interestingreading, so just go for it.

Ooh, I never show my other half what I've written. Apart from anything else, he's more of a film man than a book man, and he reads non fiction, but not fiction.

However, I do discuss some scenes with him, to get the male perspective right, e.g. to find out what would be going through his head when he meets a, finds himself in situation b, etc. I'm aware that he's only one example of a man's POV, but it's a good start and better than mine as a woman, especially when dealing with relationships.

I wouldn't show anyone a first draft, I was at 3rd or 4th before I let anyone see it. That applies even more so to a first attempt at writing a novel. I'm not sure my 1st ms will ever see the light of day either. It's sort of finished, bar the final polishing, although a new more "perfect" ending hit me just the other day, so that needs to be written in - Emma, your blog on the other novel was spot on, have you been living in my head or what? However, although I don't think it's good enough, and not what I wanted it to be, I don't feel that the time spent on it has been wasted (OK, despite what I thought at numerous times throughout the process, but hey ho, you pick yourself up and carry on). It's been a huge and very steep learning curve and I know that the mistakes I made along the way and had to learn to recognise and correct, have all been good hands on tutorials for the future. I'll approach the next, one a little older and alot wiser, and hopefully a better writer as well.

I've just realised what my most frequent displacement activity is, telling myself I have to read all the new posts on writing websites like this one, and all the best blogs, I mean, you never know what critical piece of advice I might miss if I don't. Oh, and don't forget all that esential research to be done on Google before starting the next chapter.

Sometimes I think it would be a blessing if the internet was only available for a few hours a day.

<Added>

Added ---- Oops, posted in the wrong place, this should be in the members forum, time to write, sorry.

But it's relevant here, because procrastination so often has its roots in lack of confidence...

Emma

Sadly, that's true Emma.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I think I have learned not to share my writing with my husband who is a lovely person, but as he says - he hates fiction.

I think now I have to take on board the advice and tips from you all and get on with the first draft.

Thanks again for all your help.

Beverley