Friends & Family as Proofreaders

I took a hiatus for deciding on a permanent career. And as always, I found nothing. Well, back to business. 

Until you become Dan Brown and have a hundred critics raving about you, chances are the only people who are enthusiastic about your work are the people who are interested in you. If you show your friends and family, do so with caution. Here are some things that you should consider:

1. They Love You

This is my biggest qualm. Your friends adore you. That’s why they’re your friends, but that’s also why they might be blind to your faults. In friendship that’s a good thing, but readers and publishers who have never met you, don’t know the brilliant person you are. They are going to see your work for what it is, so don’t always go by what your loved ones say. When asking a friend for an opinion, make sure it’s a friend who can keep a degree of objectivity with your work.

2. They Aren’t Qualified

My father’s always asking me to show him my work. He’s anxious that I should do my best with my writing and he’d be a bad father if he didn’t make a demand like that. The problem is that my father is just about as lyrical as an (trying to think of a cool simile and I got nothing)…he’s just not very artistically bent. His mind works like a machine, so his internal editor will be looking for ways to make my work worthy of a scientific journal and completely miss the point of my work. Just because people have good intentions, they don’t make good editors.

3. They Might Be Too Qualified

My best friend knows me like a book. It's gotten to the point that even if I don't finish my sentences, she'll know what I'm talking about. So in my stories, even if I haven't described the plot effectively, she understands what I'm talking about. I'm happily convinced that my work is a masterpiece and then find other readers baffled about the plot. 

4. They Aren’t Your Intended Readers

If you’re writing about a teenager’s turmoil in high school and you show it to your mum, she might not give you the advice you need. Reason being that she is not your targeted audience. How about giving it your younger sister? As someone who is actively trying to rise up in the school hierarchy, she might be able to give you better insights. When picking someone to read it, make sure it’s someone who can give you valuable feedback.

5. They Don’t Want To Read It

This is a rehash of something I wrote in an earlier post, but it’s true, so I’m bringing it up again. When a library goer picks up your book and doesn’t like what she sees in the synopsis, she will put it back on the shelf. Loved ones don’t get that option. So instead of saying they don’t want to read your book, they will simply pretend that they’ve read it and tell you it’s the best thing they’ve ever read. If they’re more crafty like me, they will skim into a particular line and criticize it just to make their opinion seem more truthful. My advice is that unless you have gone through at least two revisions of your work and are happy with it, don’t push it onto your friends.

If Not Family, Then Who…?

So you might be wondering you will give you that helping hand and the simple answer is you. Writing is like any other task and no matter how much advice you get about riding the damned bicycle at some point you will have to put your butt on the seat and start pedaling.

1. Practice

You’ll only learn to ride a bike if you practice every day and writing is no different. Some people say you must write a page every day, I think each person should go according to his own schedule as long as they are making some progress. Reread your old works to see what elements you like best and what you want to develop further.

2. Learn From the Best

Fortunately for you, the topic you’re probably writing on is well exhausted. Millions of brilliant writers have already churned out their magnum opus on love or hate or whatever else. Should this discourage you? Hardly. Learn from them. Learn from their mistakes, their success and then add your own unique take on the topic.

3. Take a Risk

No matter how much your parents tell you to keep a steady grip on the handle, at some point you will lose your nerve, the bike will topple, and you’re going to fall. With writing, you have to be willing to take the risk of taking that fall. Keats took that risk and today he’s in every good anthology of poetry (granted, the risk eventually killed him, but that’s another story). Take the fall, patch the bruises, and get back up.

And this reminds me of a Golden Girls moment:

Blanche: Honey it’s as easy as riding a bicycle.

Rose: I never learnt how to do that either.

Dorothy: It’s as easy as falling off a bicycle.

Rose: Well, that is easy! Thanks, Dorothy.

Keep writing!