What are the benefits of sharing your writing?

Writing is a personal activity, and sharing your work can be daunting, but there are several benefits to it.

As a Creative Writing student, part of my degree requires me to receive and give critical feedback. I'm not assessed by exams, but rather, coursework assignments and rewrites.

Throughout each module, I submit assignments to my tutors and receive feedback. I attend workshops with other students and receive feedback. And I rewrite my work based on that feedback with the hope of improvement.

Over the years, I've gotten used to receiving feedback. In fact, I actually enjoy sharing my work with fellow writers because I know they won't just tell me it's good — they'll provide useful comments that I can use to improve my writing.

However, there's something different about sending in a piece of work to a magazine, getting it accepted for publication and giving a reading of it.

I did that this month for my university's Creative Writing magazine.

Myself and a few other writers were all selected to be featured in the latest issue of the magazine (I would link it but it's only available to OCA students). I sent in a piece of formally assessed work and now, it's available for all other students and tutors to see, both in a written and verbal format.

Everyone who was featured in the magazine attended a live reading event and shared their work with others. It was scary and I had to remember to breathe when reading aloud, but it made me smile and feel appreciated.

I wanted to share some of the benefits of sharing your work with others so that you could find it inspiring and useful, just like I did.

Receiving feedback

Everyone always has an opinion. Each individual is entitled to their own opinion and view on things, and because everyone has come from different walks of life and had different experiences, we all view things differently.

Therefore, if you share your work, you'll be guaranteed to get a mix of opinions on it, which can only be a good thing. Of course, negative feedback isn't wanted, but constructive criticism is helpful.

Seeing what others think, whether they like a particular character or turn of phrase, or a certain sentence tripped them up, will help you in the long run by providing another set of eyes on your work.

Confidence boost

Sharing your work with others you trust and those who understand what you do can boost your confidence. I know it did mine.

When you can talk to others about your writing and hear their opinion on it, it can prove to you that what you're writing is good. That the impostor syndrome isn't needed because you can produce strong storytelling.

So don't be afraid of sharing your work because it can pick you up, especially when you may be feeling uncertain about specific aspects of it.

Inspiration is all around

Another benefit of sharing your work with others is that it can provide inspiration. You may have your story or poem or script already written. You may want to stick to what you've got.

However, by sharing your work with others, you're opening the door to their opinions and their ideas. It allows you to hear someone else's take on things, and that in turn, can spark a new idea; whether that's for a character, plot twist, or even a whole new story.

Don't be afraid of new inspiration; let it guide you and help you improve and develop.

Creating a pitch

When you're writing, you're probably lost in the story and the desire to get the words down on the page. You may know where your piece ends up. You may know everything that happens.

But if you want to get published, you may not know what's needed to get there. And one thing you'll need to know is how to promote your book.

Sharing your writing can require you to provide a brief description of what it is about. This will help your readers understand the story, but also what you're aiming for as a writer.

By doing this, you'll practice again and again how to quickly and succinctly describe your writing, but in an engaging way that makes people want to read it. That is an invaluable skill.

So, if you're undecided about sharing your writing with others, don't let fear stop you. Think of the benefits it can provide, especially in the long-run.

Until next time...