Never, ever show anyone a work in progress. Or, as Stephen King said, write with the door closed.
Ideally, fanfic writers won’t start posting until they’ve completed the story – but I know that’s wishful thinking.
Why do I say that? Because unless you’ve got mental shields more impenetrable than Captain America’s shield
, things people say get in your mind, and once they get in your mind, they get into your Story.
Oh, not directly, necessarily, though there are way too many “just a suggestion…” or “you should…” comments out there, as if anyone else has the right to tell you how to write YOUR story.
No, other people’s comments can make you doubt yourself in all kinds of ways.
Sometimes, it can be as simple as they’re expression lack of knowledge/explanation of something that you, as the writer and for valid story reasons, are explaining in a later chapter. But, because they’re asking/demanding for an explanation “now,” you start to wonder if you’ve done something wrong. Odds are that you haven’t, that they’re just impatient.
Their impatience is a good thing, generally speaking – it means they want more of your story. But getting that impatience too soon (i.e., before the story as you, the writer, envisioned it is complete) can derail your creative voice as your critical voice starts saying, “wait, maybe they’re right…”
Sometimes, it’s downright ugly, as they express their dislike for choices you made. (Or
, let’s be honest, sometimes the story (i.e., your Muse, subconscious, whatever you call it) makes the choices.) That can be brutal on your creative voice, as it makes you doubt everything you’re currently writing or, worse, everything you’ve ever written. In the worst case, you stop writing completely, and that would be a shame.
I made that mistake with “Child of Iron” – I started posting it before it was completed. I had at the time (I thought) very valid reasons, but the reality is that writing it isn’t fun anymore – not consistently, anyway. There are bits and bobs that make me enjoy it, but overall, writing it feels like a slog, and I find myself wishing it were finished not so that I can move on to the next story, but so that I didn’t have to deal with it anymore.
Learn from my mistake: write with the door closed. Don’t show any story to anyone until it’s complete.
