How do you feel about workshopping your baby?

[Madman Starryteller]

I have a project I've been working on for more than ten years, on and off. And now I'm thinking about workshopping a part of the first chapter here. I'm not worried about what kind of feedback I will get, I'm more worried about putting my main work out there, with title and all the concepts and stuff.

I know, I know, the chance of someone stealing it or abusing it might be slim and if someone does steal it, well I have a post date and stuff. But I can't shake the feeling that this might not be a good idea.

At the same time I want to improve my work more and I know this community will be able to help. I've done most of what I can myself with the work, now I'm editing it just for the sake of editing it.

I'm also slightly worried that publishing the first part of the first chapter might make any future publishing more difficult, though it shouldn't.

With all that said, how do you feel about this? What would you do with your literary child?

 

[Luxuria]

Hello! I totally understand how you feel. That's why I don't share the titles or scope of details of my babies. I have a baby that's like yours, I have been working on since 2009 and I only share it with friends. Might this not be 'the best' way to do it? Maybe. But I need people I can trust not to steal my stuff and I am a bit paranoid. Also, some of the stuff, I couldn't even workshop here, because some of the rules. (Which are rightfully in place, but I write dark historical/mythology stuff that I don't want to change just to post.) So, I think maybe PMing people you trust on here to give feedback would be the best choice. Because then your story is not in the open and you can get more detailed feedback. Also, in return, you could still offer a 1:1 critique. I usually do a chapter for a chapter when I exchange work.

What genre is your story?

 

[Madman Starryteller]

@Luxuria you have good ideas there.

The genre is science fiction with a blend of fantasy. The book has themes such as love, immortality, and war.

 

[Luxuria]

@Luxuria you have good ideas there.

The genre is science fiction with a blend of fantasy. The book has themes such as love, immortality, and war.

Thanks!

And how long is the chapter? The genre and themes sound interesting. Would you be interested in a Chapter for Chapter Critique Swap?

 

[Naomasa298]

To workshop or not to workshop, that is the question...

There are a few things to be wary of, but the genre and themes are not one of them (as long as they're within the rules of whichever site you post them on). Very few people mind, and well, if they do, screw them. It says more about them than it does about you or your work.

The biggest danger comes when your work lies outside conventional workshop aesthetics. Most workshop critique (on almost any site or in any writing group) will tend towards a certain aesthetic. Show, don't tell. Kill your darlings. Cut out all the adverbs. Etc, etc, etc. It's legitimate advice, but it's not universal, and not always correct if you're doing whatever you're doing deliberately and with an understanding of what effect it's having. When asking for feedback, it always helps to make your intentions very clear and be specific about what feedback you want.

As for the fear of exposing your work to the wider world... I get this. You're opening yourself up for potential abuse or ridicule, and you feel vulnerable. But always remember that criticism of your work is not criticism of you as a person. In a well-run workshop, no one should be abusing or ridiculing you.

And unless you're only writing for your own enjoyment, sooner or later, you're going to have to step outside a safe environment and have your work read by people who will look at it with a critical eye. If you only ever have it read by a sympathetic audience, how will you know how good it really is?

Just also be aware that workshopping has limits as to how useful it can be.

 

[Madman Starryteller]

@Luxuria the part of the chapter I want to share is around 2000 words. I'd be happy to do a one chapter swap with you. We can take this further in private messages.

@Naomasa298
Thank you for your post. Yeah I will probably ask a few questions that critics might be able to answer.

I'm not that fussed about what kind of feedback I might get as I have a pretty thick skin.

I might end up sharing the first part of the first chapter here in X time. I need stranger's eyes on it.

 

[Also]

The genre is science fiction with a blend of fantasy. The book has themes such as love, immortality, and war.

Is it only in English, or have you self-translated it?

 

[Stuart Dren]

Theft of a full manuscript has happened. I can't recall if it was lifted when the author paid for some kind of editing service or if a published author's work had simply been published again by the thief.

I can't imagine someone stealing an idea so they can do all the gestation work themselves, however.

 

[Madman Starryteller]

Is it only in English, or have you self-translated it?

It's in English as the original language, no translation.

 

[Also]

The book has themes such as love, immortality, and war.

I could look at and comment 2-4,000 words from that perspective and their surface style. If you want to try that, PM me. I don't edit only literary work, just mostly.

Someone could always steal a good thought or a good line — a generally ethical guy in one group I occasionally attend reused a rare visual image phrase not long after hearing it in one of my live readings, but we can't own similes, and he may not even have noticed if he was prompted by my piece.

But as far as bigger chunks go, it's so hard for us to get noticed and read on purpose that how many people can there be scouring the web to find and steal our samples? I'd be more worried perhaps about getting used to train AI that would rip us off more subtly but wholly. But the WS is, after all, open only to enrolled members, and malefactors tend to make themselves known over time.

 

[Madman Starryteller]

I could look at and comment 2-4,000 words from that perspective and their surface style. If you want to try that, PM me. I don't edit only literary work, just mostly.

Someone could always steal a good thought or a good line — a generally ethical guy in one group I occasionally attend reused a rare visual image phrase not long after hearing it in one of my live readings, but we can't own similes, and he may not even have noticed if he was prompted by my piece.

But as far as bigger chunks go, it's so hard for us to get noticed and read on purpose that how many people can there be scouring the web to find and steal our samples? I'd be more worried perhaps about getting used to train AI that would rip us off more subtly but wholly. But the WS is, after all, open only to enrolled members, and malefactors tend to make themselves known over time.

Thank you. I put it up in the workshop after all. Let me know if you have anything you need eyes on as well.

Yeah AI training can and probably will happen with most of our published texts whether we like it or not, sadly. I have most of my writing on a laptop that isn't connected to the internet (I basically removed the ability for it to connect). But even then, when I need to use my texts outside the laptop, such as in this case, AI will get their hands on it some way or another.