Good morning, friends and fans!
A fellow writer recently asked me for my opinion about a story they’re working on and sent me the first five chapters. Is it “worth carrying on with?” they asked.
So here’s my opinion of the matter in its entirety – and I feel it applies to any writer who may be looking at their manuscript and asking the same question:
You are the writer and it’s your story – that’s tantamount to you being the god and creator of that world and all the characters within it – the story will go where you direct it.
Only you will know the story you want to tell and how you want to tell it, and if it doesn’t do that yet, or if your storyline deviates from where you want it to go, it’s up to you to make the changes you see fit to put it back on that path.
In writing a story that’s fighting to get out of you, the only person you need to satisfy in the telling of it is yourself! Yes, others need to be happy afterwards with the overall thing, the story, the flow, the grammar, the plot – the “other stuff” – because people would rarely spend money on something full of spelling errors and grammatical battlefields and plot holes one could hide a star destroyer in! That aside, you are the one who will truly know what goes into it, the blood, the sweat and tears, the pride, the worry and the joy and the sorrow. When it comes to the publishing and release of it, you are the one who needs to be happy with its final form.
Therefore, only you will know what will be required to deliver the final, desired result – and whether or not it will be worth the effort of getting it there!
Writer, please yourself!
Cheers!
All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2022.