# Writers - are you secretive? Or an open book?



## JoshuaM (Jun 16, 2013)

*Hey...!

I'm JoshuaM, I'm new here but joined specifically to ask the following question and get answers and feedback -

Are you a secretive writer? Secretive meaning you don't like anyone - that means anyone - looking at your work before it's ready to be shown?

Do you mind when your SO or other person in your life wanders over to your desk and looks at your computer? Do you shoo them?  

For me, the answer is yes, although the word is more "private" than "secretive."

I feel, #1, that the sensitive nature of what I write about - my life, and the people in it, occasionally for publication - warrants that I choose words carefully, and that it's not meant for others to look at until it is done, or almost done. 

I liken it to a diary - doesn't your diary contain the most private and personal thoughts, and isn't it something to be guarded against the naturally nosy? 

#2:  I know we live in an increasingly psuedo-open society, where every millisecond of every life is shared on Facebook and YouTube. That's fine for people who wish to live that way. 

But I have a private life, an internal world, and it's mine - not anyone else's. When my cake is cooked, I will show it to you. But my notes, my personal writings, my feelings, all that - that's meant for me alone. This is why they have passwords on computers.

Do you feel differently? Do you show anyone everything, all the time, right now, "Look for yourself, I have nothing to hide," etc?

For me, I DO have things to hide, and they are unformed thoughts, they are drafts, they are information that might hurt others, and so on.

I'd like to hear your feedback.

Thanks! *


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## Robert_S (Jun 16, 2013)

I like to get opinions on concepts, but for the most part, I don't reveal everything. I may share with a few people whom I trust, but I leave essentials out.


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## escorial (Jun 16, 2013)

I have not been writing long but I think the need to share it is quite important.


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## shadowwalker (Jun 16, 2013)

I have no problem showing people my WIPs, regardless of what stage they're at - it just has to be my decision to do so. I don't like people looking over my shoulder, figuratively or literally.


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## BryanJ62 (Jun 16, 2013)

I'm careful with who I show it to. I think a lot of that comes with confidence in what I'm writing and where the story is at the time. The book I am writing now involves a priest. I contacted a priest in town and he and I have met for the past two weeks. I am not a religious person but we hit it off and it would not surprise me if a friendship developed. I sent him my first draft, which I never do, and I felt at ease doing so. I guess it depends on who sees it and the bond you have with them. When it comes to people looking over my shoulder that is a big no-no. I get up before everyone else and have about an hour or two of silence. For me, the story needs to flow but can only flow with nobody around. Question number two: If I would have experienced this kind of technology in my teens or 20's the whole world would have known my every thought, mood, scratch and crumb on the plate. Thanks God I'm not in my teens or 20's.


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## Deleted member 49710 (Jun 16, 2013)

I don't mind people reading my fiction writing, provided I feel it is tolerably decent, revised, etc.

As for personal writing--no, I don't let people read that. Beginning to think I shouldn't even write it. Sure, I enjoy writing stuff down, but if I have thoughts I don't want others to see, putting them on paper is pretty stupid, really. Better to leave them unexpressed. I started keeping a journal a couple months ago, thinking that was a good thing for a writer to do, and now I have this notebook I have to hide and worry about. Wish I could just discreetly burn it all.


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## BryanJ62 (Jun 16, 2013)

I pulled a stupid many years ago by writing stuff I should have kept inside my head. What was that Forrest Gump quote? Stupid is what Stupid does.....or something like that.


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## WechtleinUns (Jun 16, 2013)

Escorial, I think you're right. It's one thing to have written a lot, but sharing it with others is just as important.

Most of my work is on my other desktop, which a command-line linux distro with cwm, so it would be pretty difficult for others to figure out how to use it, let alone read stuff on it.


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## J Anfinson (Jun 16, 2013)

Robert_S said:


> I like to get opinions on concepts, but for the most part, I don't reveal everything. I may share with a few people whom I trust, but for the most part, I leave essentials out.



Same here. If I choose to post or show someone the works I care most about, I'll edit out certain things unless I feel I can trust the people/person I'm showing it to.


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## philistine (Jun 16, 2013)

In the past I'd show a close writer friend of mine my works in progress; usually short stories that had been drafted all the way through, or works halfway completed. I'd say to him 'keep in mind this is just the first draft- I haven't gone over it with a fine-toothed comb yet', and yet he'd inevitably come back to me at a later date with a thoroughgoing proof or long list of corrections. In many cases, things I would have corrected had I kept the work secret until I deemed it finished.

Now, I reveal next to nothing concerning my writing. I might give a brief explanation or synopsis of whatever it is I'm currently working on, though nobody sees a sample until I'm done.


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## Skodt (Jun 16, 2013)

I tell the story over and over again. My younger brother is a writer as well, and so we share our outlines. I mostly tell him the order of events, the characters, and the bits they play. We don't exchange actual hard copies until the story ends; but he sees the work before I edit. The errors he finds helps me when going back over things, it's less I must worry about. I do the same for him. Sometimes editing is hard because we must critique ourselves, and sometimes we can't be harsh enough; his picking over my mistakes for the first round edit help me see what I did wrong. Then the second edit is less about the silly grammar mistakes I rushed over, or the misspelled words I failed to notice; it actually becomes about my style, structure, and ideas.


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## Novel (Jun 16, 2013)

I'm mostly comfortable with people watching me write, though I've yet to have someone walk in on me writing a sex scene.


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## Staff Deployment (Jun 16, 2013)

Yes and yes.


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## FleshEater (Jun 16, 2013)

I like sharing. It keeps me motivated. I usually bother Squid four times a week. He cries about it a lot, but I think deep down inside it makes him feel special.


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## Quasar (Jun 16, 2013)

I am new to writing fiction so I have to say that I do share my fiction quit a bit but only to get people opinions on it because I lack confidence.  If not for that then  I probably wouldn't want anyone reading it until it was finished.  I am that way about the historical articles and essays that I have written including the Historical Book I am currently working on.  I have not even told anyone the title yet.


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## JoshuaM (Jun 17, 2013)

lasm said:


> I don't mind people reading my fiction writing, provided I feel it is tolerably decent, revised, etc.
> 
> As for personal writing--no, I don't let people read that. Beginning to think I shouldn't even write it. Sure, I enjoy writing stuff down, but if I have thoughts I don't want others to see, putting them on paper is pretty stupid, really. Better to leave them unexpressed. I started keeping a journal a couple months ago, thinking that was a good thing for a writer to do, and now I have this notebook I have to hide and worry about. Wish I could just discreetly burn it all.



Hi -

What's stopping you from discreetly burning it?


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## squidtender (Jun 17, 2013)

FleshEater said:


> I like sharing. It keeps me motivated. I usually bother Squid four times a week. He cries about it a lot, but I think deep down inside it makes him feel special.



I'm sorry, bro . . . you spelled "day" w-e-e-k. Might want to fix that 

As for me, no one gets to see my work until it has gone through an edit. Why show them something that I haven't had time to polish to some extent? Also, I have a gun and a shovel . . . no one reads over my shoulder 
:ChainGunSmiley:


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## Blade (Jun 17, 2013)

philistine said:


> In the past I'd show a close writer friend of mine my works in progress; usually short stories that had been drafted all the way through, or works halfway completed. I'd say to him 'keep in mind this is just the first draft- I haven't gone over it with a fine-toothed comb yet', and yet he'd inevitably come back to me at a later date with a thoroughgoing proof or long list of corrections. In many cases, things I would have corrected had I kept the work secret until I deemed it finished.
> 
> Now, I reveal next to nothing concerning my writing. I might give a brief explanation or synopsis of whatever it is I'm currently working on, though nobody sees a sample until I'm done.



I would agree and pretty well for the same reason. There are some exceptions I have one friend I would go for overall impression on something I am struggling with. Also if you are writing a story for someone or someone's story I like to write through ahead and then get back to them for revisions. Generally it is more productive to chart your own course rather than invite other captains on board.


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## Deleted member 49710 (Jun 17, 2013)

JoshuaM said:


> Hi -
> 
> What's stopping you from discreetly burning it?


I live in a city. Having a fire is a thing we do with friends and beer. I could try casually tossing a diary into the flames when nobody's looking, but I think that would turn into a really humorous scene in which my friends and family run around catching flaming pages on which I have written the reasons why I hate each and every one of them.


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## J Anfinson (Jun 17, 2013)

lasm said:


> I live in a city. Having a fire is a thing we do with friends and beer. I could try casually tossing a diary into the flames when nobody's looking, but I think that would turn into a really humorous scene in which my friends and family run around catching flaming pages on which I have written the reasons why I hate each and every one of them.



Perhaps a cross cutting paper shredder then


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## Novel (Jun 17, 2013)

Rip them up and send them down the toilet, maybe?


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## JoshuaM (Jun 17, 2013)

lasm said:


> I live in a city. Having a fire is a thing we do with friends and beer. I could try casually tossing a diary into the flames when nobody's looking, but I think that would turn into a really humorous scene in which my friends and family run around catching flaming pages on which I have written the reasons why I hate each and every one of them.



I live in a city, too...and this made me laugh.

As it seems you're half-serious, allow me to share some techniques.

1. Gather all the offending pages, fill a sink with water and dump them in, saturating them. Drain the sink and let the soggy papers sit there awhile, draining. Pick 'em up, put them in a plastic bag, crunch them into as small a ball as you can, then wrap the bag completely with duct tape. Dump this mess into another plastic bag, wrap tightly, and tape once again with duct tape. Wrap a third bag around this, and tie it.

Throw it out with the household garbage. 

No one is going to fish that out of the garbage and dig through two thick layers of duct tape to get to a soggy mass of paper containing your private thoughts. If you're really hard core and can stand it, pour urine on the papers before you wrap them for the first time to really make sure anyone willing to cut through the tape will smell it and say "Ok, this isn't a big bundle of cash," and toss it away.

2. Go on the roof of your building with a big aluminum tin and burn, baby, burn. It'll be over soon. A can of lighter fluid helps. If anyone stops you, feign feeble-mindedness and ignorance of the law and promise never to do it again.

3. Hire a cat to shred. Cats work cheap.


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## Staff Deployment (Jun 17, 2013)

Joshua M, that is a frightening amount of thought you have put into this. Should we be alarmed?


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## JosephB (Jun 17, 2013)

Depends on the story. Some of them include somewhat revealing  auto-biographical bits -- and I'm not too anxious to share them some  people. In my novel, I borrow elements from my wife's childhood -- I  don't really know what she'll think about that. I've used some other  personal things from our relationship in several stories and in my novel  -- I doubt people will make the connections -- but you never know. I  hope she'll be OK with it. It's not something we've really discussed.  She will definitely have the opportunity to read the novel before I put  anything out there -- so we'll see.


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## Nickleby (Jun 17, 2013)

Until it's ready for beta readers, my material is on a computer that has no connection to the outside world. To read it, you'd have to break into my house, pick the right computer to turn on, find the right folder, and open the right file. Yeah, I'd call that secretive.

I work slowly. Someone could steal my ideas, churn out a cheap copy, and steal my thunder. My book may not capture the world's attention, but I haven't seen anything else in this genre yet, so I'm keeping it under wraps. I'm not going to give away something I've spent fifteen years of my life on.


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## Ariel (Jun 17, 2013)

I am secretive.  I hate letting people read what I've written when I don't feel it's up to snuff.  I write in notebooks or on my phone.  (It's kind of frightening the things I've posted onto this forum through my phone.  I would say about 80% of my posts are from my phone).

Fella has all my passwords to my computer and my phone so I must trust him.  He can read things whenever he likes but he doesn't.


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## JosephB (Jun 17, 2013)

I definitely don't want people to see anything in progress -- before I'm good and ready to show them. It has to be finished and edited. I know I'll miss a few typos or missing words etc. -- but as long as I know I've done my best to catch them, I can deal with that.


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## Blade (Jun 17, 2013)

Nickleby said:


> Until it's ready for beta readers, my material is on a computer that has no connection to the outside world. To read it, you'd have to break into my house, pick the right computer to turn on, find the right folder, and open the right file. Yeah, I'd call that secretive.


When you put it that way I would have to go with secretive as well. I have files with titles that have nothing to do with the contents (sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose) so it would take an intruder a considerable amount of time and effort to come across any sensitive material. That plus the fact I have a certain quantity of "saved garbage' on file just makes a successful search less likely.

I think secrecy becomes such an ingrained habit that it is no longer noted as such.


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## Leyline (Jun 17, 2013)

I'm not secretive at all. In fact, I have to restrain myself from annoying people with what I think are clever bits and pieces from my many, many works in progress. I post random snippets on Facebook. It's just not a big deal to me.


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## Leyline (Jun 17, 2013)

Novel said:


> Rip them up and send them down the toilet, maybe?



Sure, if you want to give a bunch of mutant alligators blackmail material.


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## Meli (Jun 17, 2013)

I have one good friend whose taste I trust. I share most of my ideas with him just to gauge quality.

I do not like anyone looking at my work unless I specifically ask them to, especially not over the shoulder. Creative space intrusions kill the mood.


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## Gamer_2k4 (Jun 18, 2013)

Besides you guys, only three people even know I write.  My rationale is that everyone is "writing a novel" or "has an idea for a book," and I'm no different from the masses until I'm actually published.  After that, you bet I'll share that I've been writing.


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