Writers: Do you get anxious about showing your personal work?

[Doodle Bunny]

Hi other writers! I just want to open up a discussion about writing and the potential anxiety that comes with doing so/how you handle it if you make your work public. Just to hear others opinions on the subject. I'm not looking for advice or anything. I just want to see other people's experiences.

I'll go first.

I write stories as a hobby. I used to make a webcomic that was available to the public, but I have been taking a very long break away from it because my perspective on sharing written work has changed drastically over the years. When I started making them, I was much bolder and was confident that people would enjoy my work. Now, the idea gives me palpitations. No one criticized me harshly or anything like that, but I've been going through some self-examination and realized what vulnerabilities I had been making public. When I write, it comes from some personal stuff and I tend to go to dark places. Granted, I haven't experienced all the things that my characters go through (I'm sure to do careful research when I tackle experiences outside of myself) or if I have, they often have it worse than I ever did. I'm growing afraid that when I write about serious subject matter, whether I experienced them personally or not, that I could potentially harm/trigger people who have gone through these things IRL. Realistically, I could hire sensitivity readers to catch things and make sure my writing is tasteful, but I am very bad at initiating social interaction with strangers and I also know that avoiding harming people is impossible because no piece of media is ever perfect on that front. This will probably need more time and introspection to get over, but I do miss creating for all to see.

I've been focusing on another personal project with my best friend as a co-author and am heavily vetting who I'm allowing to read it. It's a project that I'm very excited about on one hand, but I know it may also be one of the darkest things I've ever written. I have one reader in mind who I am sure can handle it and I can trust to be gentle in her feedback, but I'm terrified that someone could read it and when they get to the parts that deal with very serious and real subject matter, it may send them spiraling.

TL;DR I realized how personal everything I write is and also am afraid my work could cause damage if let it loose on the public.

 

[Kate Marquet]

I'll give it a go. ^^

For me I feel I'm a storyteller so sharing the stories is always part of the process. Possibly the most important for me in terms of long term satisfaction in regards to piece of work. I've got loads and loads of ideas, ranging from the hilarious, to wrenching various emotions, to fucked up darkness and keeping it all bottled in there would likely drive me mad. With that comes a desire, for me, to entertain and capture the reader's attention. No matter the story's tone or content, my fun comes in telling that story in a compelling way that is, if nothing else, never boring hopefully. Course not every story will land and you'll get negative feedback or the more dreaded no feedback. But you'll write more, you'll get better, and time will move on as it always does. Plus you can always edit and adjust. I know once I get one story out I just can't help but start the next one.

The only anxiety I tend to get in sharing is when it's a story for someone, commission or request. My hope is always that they like what I've done for them but I can't help but worry that I borked it badly. But when I have a story where the commissioner doesn't want it shared, while I have no issue doing it for them, I definitely feel a little down not getting to share. Not every story will be a hit with everyone but you'd be surprised. If it's a story that connected with you on some real level it will likely do the same for someone else.

TLR I have to share or my head explodes (probably).

 

[Marius Merganser]

I just want to see other people's experiences.

No matter how excited I was about something I was writing, I would never finish it so I would never have to share it. I had so much anxiety that I didn't even tell anyone I wrote anything. Then after awhile, I would just delete what I wrote.

But a few years ago, you did some artwork for me (I bet you know which one) that inspired a story that took a year to write out. While I was actually happy with it, I was still unwilling to post it anywhere. In the end, I actually adapted it for the story of a DnD campaign so I only had to cautiously share it with 3 others. They came back for 33 weeks to hear the whole thing out and the plan is to tell it again to a new group starting next week, this time with no reservation. Now I'm glad that I shared it and regret not sharing all the stuff I lost.

Incidentally, you might like a video called "Randy Writes Novel" on youtube...it's a comedy show just over an hour long, but the premise is that Randy has written a novel and plans to read some of it to the audience to hear their reaction. He's terrified of how the audience will react, so he goes off on comedic tangents about writing, authors, art and life. The last 5-6 minutes in particularly are relevant, but it's worth watching the whole thing.

 

[Doodle Bunny]

No matter how excited I was about something I was writing, I would never finish it so I would never have to share it. I had so much anxiety that I didn't even tell anyone I wrote anything. Then after awhile, I would just delete what I wrote.

But a few years ago, you did some artwork for me (I bet you know which one) that inspired a story that took a year to write out. While I was actually happy with it, I was still unwilling to post it anywhere. In the end, I actually adapted it for the story of a DnD campaign so I only had to cautiously share it with 3 others. They came back for 33 weeks to hear the whole thing out and the plan is to tell it again to a new group starting next week, this time with no reservation. Now I'm glad that I shared it and regret not sharing all the stuff I lost.

Incidentally, you might like a video called "Randy Writes Novel" on youtube...it's a comedy show just over an hour long, but the premise is that Randy has written a novel and plans to read some of it to the audience to hear their reaction. He's terrified of how the audience will react, so he goes off on comedic tangents about writing, authors, art and life. The last 5-6 minutes in particularly are relevant, but it's worth watching the whole thing.

I'm super flattered that a piece of artwork I made you inspired a whole writing project! That makes me so happy!

 

[Hauke]

Sharing things I've written with strangers over the internet who I've never met seems easier than sharing things I've written with people I know. It's likely due to judging the risk of someone disliking it as more important than the reward of them enjoying it.

I think some artists might feel the same way: I was shocked to find out that a good friend of mine has had a Patreon and accepted commissions for about two years now, and she never breathed a word of it to anyone in a small drawing circle which includes my spouse and some other mutual friends. "I didn't want to make you guys feel like you had to contribute," she said. And part of it had to do with her worrying about the subject matter in the commissions, like we'd assume that since she drew it, she was really into that subject. She wanted some distance from it.

And I totally understand that feeling. There have been times I've hesitated to tell people "Sure, there's a big collection of stories I've written on FA" because stuff you've written, especially stuff you've written just for the fun of it, is a window into parts of yourself. Those parts are easy to be shy about if you think someone's attitude towards you will come in a "before" phase and an "after" phase...treating you differently after a big discovery of "So THAT's what he's into."

 

[reptile logic]

If by 'personal work' you mean writing about one's personal experiences, as in a diary, or personal fantasies, then no. I don't write that, so have nothing to share in the first place.

If 'personal' means that one uses one's own emotions and thought wandering in their stories, then no. I don't get anxious about sharing.

Once I have decided to release something to the public eye, I'm too excited about the "Finally getting it out there!" part to worry about what I might have done better or differently. The inevitable discovery that a goofy typo somehow got through, or that a passage didn't work for the reading public as planned, is all part of the learning curve. If the story is accepted by the reading public that I am writing for, I've done well enough. I'll do better next time.

 

[TrixieFox]

Hi other writers! I just want to open up a discussion about writing and the potential anxiety that comes with doing so/how you handle it if you make your work public. Just to hear others opinions on the subject. I'm not looking for advice or anything. I just want to see other people's experiences.

I'll go first.

I write stories as a hobby. I used to make a webcomic that was available to the public, but I have been taking a very long break away from it because my perspective on sharing written work has changed drastically over the years. When I started making them, I was much bolder and was confident that people would enjoy my work. Now, the idea gives me palpitations. No one criticized me harshly or anything like that, but I've been going through some self-examination and realized what vulnerabilities I had been making public. When I write, it comes from some personal stuff and I tend to go to dark places. Granted, I haven't experienced all the things that my characters go through (I'm sure to do careful research when I tackle experiences outside of myself) or if I have, they often have it worse than I ever did. I'm growing afraid that when I write about serious subject matter, whether I experienced them personally or not, that I could potentially harm/trigger people who have gone through these things IRL. Realistically, I could hire sensitivity readers to catch things and make sure my writing is tasteful, but I am very bad at initiating social interaction with strangers and I also know that avoiding harming people is impossible because no piece of media is ever perfect on that front. This will probably need more time and introspection to get over, but I do miss creating for all to see.

I've been focusing on another personal project with my best friend as a co-author and am heavily vetting who I'm allowing to read it. It's a project that I'm very excited about on one hand, but I know it may also be one of the darkest things I've ever written. I have one reader in mind who I am sure can handle it and I can trust to be gentle in her feedback, but I'm terrified that someone could read it and when they get to the parts that deal with very serious and real subject matter, it may send them spiraling.

TL;DR I realized how personal everything I write is and also am afraid my work could cause damage if let it loose on the public.

EVERY
SINGLE
TIME

 

[EricMalves]

I’ve always struggled to press the submit button. At a few points I would delay a scheduled upload to read it again multiple time over.

It got to the point I write it, hit the upload button before going to bed and immediately go to sleep. Usually by morning there is a comment or two and I can get myself to relax as it’s up and I can’t stop it now.

I always feel like a fool doing it that way, but it’s been working for me, so I’ll probably keep doing it.