How can it be that the very thing you crave most as a novelist—that other people read your book—feels impossible to allow once you’ve finished the darn thing? There’s always a reason to dissemble: Just one more draft … Just your spouse and no one else … Just the first scenes, just your favorite chapters …
When you write a book for your own fulfillment, that’s creative writing; when you write a story designed to entertain readers, that’s a novel. If you’ve just completed the first draft of a novel, it’s time to start thinking about how this thing you created for other people actually works for those other people. It’s time to stop quit beating around the bush. It’s time for feedback.
Critiques and workshopping are the first step in the evolution of your story from a creative project to a commercially viable product. Allowing others to gaze upon the visage of your book can seem all but impossible, but if you mean to be a published author, you don’t have time to be precious about it.
I’ve tried everything to find a writing partner for critiques. Alas, my little corner on the Mediterranean has few English speakers, most of what I write is in English.
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