Last week I wrote about the spiraling trap I am in with my work in progress. I can't seem to get it enough off the ground to keep it going, and every overhaul results in starting my draft over again. Today I want to pick up on that topic, but focus on why this all started. Then next week, I'll hone in on what I'm doing to try to escape the cycle.
It all started with a writing group. Now, I must first begin by saying that I love writing groups, and I really enjoyed my time with this particular group. But I have to say that this was the beginning of my vicious trap. I didn't personally know anyone in my group. We were an internet-based group, posting 1000 words each week on a private blog for the others to read and comment. It wasn't an ideal situation, which didn't help the process, but we were all quite eager to begin.
At the time I was five or six thousand words into the first draft of my novel, and I was trucking along at a really good pace of at least a thousand words each day. I was pleased with what I'd accomplished, though I knew it was far from viewer-ready. I started posting my thousand words.
And then I made the mistake of reading the comments that came in.
There were a lot of really good points, and some solid suggestions, all of which began to ruminate in my mind. I was about 12,000 words in when I decided to start over and incorporate what I'd settled on as an improved beginning.
It was a lot better, so I shared my new drafts. I was another 20,000 words in when the group began to fall apart. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who found the dynamics and feedback more of a challenge than I expected. We all began to comment less and less, posting less and less regularly. The group tried to resuscitate itself with an infusion of several new members, though that turned out to simply be one of many signs of death.
As I reflect back on that experience I realize two important things: my work wasn't ready for critiques, and I wasn't stable enough in my story for the feedback I was getting.
Since that time, I've perused several writer-blogs and read more writing books, and the accepted wisdom I've adopted is that the first draft is for me, and only me. No one gets to read my first draft. Period. It's a learning-draft, a practice-draft. And while I am accepting of the at-times crap that I write, there is no reason for me to share it.
What about you... have you ever shared something too early and had it fall apart?
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