Yesterday I heard back from one of my first readers for Star Wanderers, and the feedback she gave me was awesome. You know you’ve got a good first reader when their comments make you go “aha!” and you find yourself with a host of new ideas for the story.
Anyway, at one point, she asked me: “what was your purpose in writing this?” To which I answered “I don’t know; I was supposed to be working on something else, and all of a sudden I found that I’d written this story!”
Her eyes widened a little, and she kind of got this look on her face that said: “how could you possibly write something like this and not put a ton of thought into it?” Which struck me as amusing, because she’s an editor who writes on the side, and I’m a writer who edits on the side.
This is the thing about discovery writing: it’s not about how much sweat and tears you put into your work, but how much energy you get out of it. If a project just totally drains you, chances are it’s not going to be as good as something so exciting that you can’t not write it. And once you improve your craft to the point where you’re no longer committing all the stupid new writer mistakes, if you’re having fun, chances are that the readers are going to enjoy it too.
Ah, the joys of spontaneous creativity. Would that it was always this much fun.
🙂
That sounds like wonderful feedback. You should take her out on a date. She’s obviously a fan.
As a matter of fact…
I love the joy of spontaneous creativity too!
Joe, when a girl has, on her face, the look of: “how could you possibly write something like this and not put a ton of thought into it?” Then, you are supposed to act like you’re just naturally that talented, and strut.
Strut man.
Lol, what makes you think I didn’t?