Letting Others Read Your Work: A Guest Post By Hanna Rothfuss

   Hey, all! I'm only popping in for a quick second, because I'm not the one posting today ;). Instead, my awesome and talented writer-friend Hanna Rothfuss from Taking My Time is here to talk to y'all about letting others read your writing - which, in my experience, is both terrifying and completely worth it xD. Shall we let her get on with it, then?

   Hello, readers! I’m barging into Savannah’s blog today to talk about a scary subject: letting others read your work. It’s a question every writer has to ask at some point or another, even if they don’t really know they’re asking it: Should I let others read my writing?

   I didn’t happen to ask myself this question for a long time. I started making up stories before I learned how to write, so my “writing” career started by dictating to a family member. As I began writing myself, I continued to let my family read my stories. I was blessed with a very supportive, encouraging family and the idea of letting others read my stories didn’t scare me. (As long as I didn’t have to read them out loud--something I still struggle with!) Everyone told me they were great, and I was a great writer.

   When I started a blog when I was thirteen, it only felt natural to start posting stories. It wasn’t until then that I realized how scary sharing your work can be.

   I got upset once when someone critiqued my writing. When I told my Dad about it, he said there will always be people who dislike my writing. He added that there will probably always be people who say so. I think this is true for all writers. So does that mean we shouldn’t let others read our work? Should we just write for ourselves and bury our precious papers in a drawer? Or--safer yet!--keep our thoughts inside our heads and quit writing?

   My answer to these questions is a resounding no. This post contains two reasons why.

1. It Helps The Author 

   Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another.” One reason I believe it’s invaluable to let others read your work is how helpful it can be. Handing someone something you wrote and asking them to look for problems is hard--especially if you think they’ll actually do it! But having proofreaders makes your story so much better. Having a second person to tell you if something makes sense or if something is grammatically correct makes your writing better. (Just now, I typed your instead of you’re. If my word processor hadn’t caught it and underlined it in red, I probably wouldn’t have noticed!)

   It’s also a good idea to ask people with more life experience than you to proofread. They can coach you through writing things you’ve never felt or done. In the last story I posted on my blog, my main character was a hunter. I asked my parents to proofread it before I posted it. After reading the first chapter, my Dad and I sat down to talk about it. He said, “Hanna, you’ve never shot a deer.” We went back through the scene and revised it with Dad’s added experience deer hunting in mind. I had written from the point of my knowledge of archery. With my Dad’s added knowledge, we came up with something much better than I had done alone. One of my friends even e-mailed me after I posted the story on my blog and asked if I had ever been bowhunting!

   Before we move on to point two, there’s one more thing I want to say about proofreaders: Needing proofreaders doesn’t make you a bad writer, or your story unoriginal. Trust me, your proofreaders couldn’t sit down and write your story without you! No one else can write your story.

2. It Blesses The Readers

   What is it that makes sharing your work so scary in the first place? Well, people can love it, or they can hate it. To be honest, they both scare me. It hurts when people dislike your work, but others loving it almost scares me more.

   Because when you share a story, it’s not all yours anymore. I mean, it’s still your story, you’re the author, and you probably know it better than anyone else. But you’re not the only one that loves it and cares about it anymore. If someone loves your story, they’ll claim it. I feel a sense of possessiveness about my favorite stories--that book is my copy, that series is my favorite. I love them, and it makes me sad when others dislike them. When people fall in love with your world or your characters, they’ll get protective too. They might even get mad at you if you’re not nice to their favorite character.

   And it scares me a bit to let my stories out of my control like that.

   But I still share my work, because I know it blesses others. Think of your favorite book. Now ask yourself: What if the author had gotten scared and just not written and/or published that story? Scary thought, huh? I’ve read early-draft stories that weren’t even completely edited, and still been inspired by them. Stories bless people, writers! Please share them with us.

   *applauds* That was super insightful, thanks for sharing it with us, Hanna! I've had a couple of betas and alphas for Killing Snow, and even though it's so scary to let my work out of my hands - even for only a few weeks! - it's always worth it in the end!  

   Now, scamper on over to Hanna's blog, Taking My Time, and check out the guest post that I did over there! ((especially if you're a fan of Lord Of The Rings or Narnia ;))

~ Savannah Grace

   Have you ever had proofreaders or beta readers (or any other eyes than yours) go over your story? How did it go? Go ahead and ask Hanna any questions you have in the comments!