Ever had your writing surprise your parents/friends/significant other?

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by Link the Writer, Jun 17, 2011.

  1. Sundae

    Sundae New Member

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    I feel like the only one that can't share my work with my family. I just can't bring myself to do it. And it's mainly because I care about their opinions so much more than anyone else and I'm just afraid of what they'll think.

    I've always been like this. I can get up in front of a crowd of 500 and give a speech. I can show a random stranger, I can easily read my stuff out loud to a class or my teachers... but when it comes to my family I just can't.

    There are other reasons that just begin worried about what they'll think, but it's my main one.

    That being said. I don't know what my family would think as I've never showed them any of my "personal" work. Papers, articles, and stuff for school or work, I can easily show them, just not my stories.

    But I have shown my work to my co-workers, my friends, even some teachers and they've been pretty shocked and amazed that I could write. Even stuff that I've just randomly written that to me is not very good, people have pointed out as "wow, you can really write." 'Tis a good feeling. At work, I now write/help/edit for other people because of it.

    I can totally relate with hiddennovelst though. My mom is pretty religious and I already know that she won't approve pretty much all of my stuff. It really sucks when the people close to sometimes are your enemies in the sense of support.

    I dislike people reading over my shoulder with my stories too... but the best way to work around that is to change your position so that they can't stand behind you to read.
     
  2. hiddennovelist

    hiddennovelist Contributor Contributor

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    It really does, doesn't it? To be honest, most of the stuff I write goes unread by anyone but me--due to some unfortunate events earlier in my life, I don't feel comfortable sharing it--but every once in a while I write something and just want to show everyone. I start to email my family, and then I'm like oh, wait...they'll be upset if they read this.

    Bah.

    At least I have one unreligious sister. So I can show her and my husband. :)

    Edit: Regarding changing your position so they can't see what you're writing--every time I do that to Joel, he thinks I'm moving because I'm writing something bad about him that I don't want him to see. Oy vey...
     
  3. EdFromNY

    EdFromNY Hope to improve with age Supporter Contributor

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    I'm always amazed when people say they disapprove of writing that reflects the darker side of human nature because they're "religious". I think I'm a religious person, and I don't think it is possible to be true to my religious beliefs (in my case, Roman Catholic) without truly understanding the human condition. I mean, how can I help my fellow man if I don't understand his problems?

    My second novel was about a young priest in a very poor parish, where most of his parishioners were illegal immigrants, living on the street or in abandoned buildings. I made the book as realistic as possible, which meant that street people talked and acted like street people. I tried for quite a while to get some interest in it, and I actually had an editor look it over, but he ultimately decided against it. And I realized that mainstream publishers didn't want it because the priest was a hero in the book, and the "religious" publishers didn't want it because there was some sex, some violence and some foul language in it - none of it gratuitous, all of it to give the book an authentic "feel".
     
  4. VM80

    VM80 Contributor Contributor

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    Hmm a couple of things come to mind where I 'surprised' people around me, positively.

    Once I wrote a poem for my parents' wedding anniversary. They were touched, more than I'd expected. I'd been writing for a long time by then but had very rarely shared anything with anyone.

    Around the same time, as I already mentioned in another thread, I started getting the confidence to show those closest to me some of my work. That had taken a long time. I shared a lot of my song lyrics with my then-boyfriend, and he shared much of his work with me. Maybe we both surprised each other. It was a nice time.

    As for surprising someone negatively, that hasn't happened as far as I know.

    Maybe the people around me are open-minded enough to not get shocked by the occasional F-bomb etc. Even if they were, I wouldn't compromise what I want to write.
     
  5. VM80

    VM80 Contributor Contributor

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    But if it was ever published, it becomes public and your family could easily go out and buy it...

    Anyway I can relate to many of the posts on here. I was exactly the same until I was around 21. Now I have writing I'm working on that I haven't shown anyone, of course. But something changed in me and I think I could share - I would say - pretty much anything I've written.

    Much of my writing is political, some contains swearing or satire, but then some of my song lyrics are very emotional/based on my life. My family or close friends wouldn't bat an eyelid I don't think. If anyone else would, I'd wear that badge of honour with pride. ;)
     
  6. Mallory

    Mallory Contributor Contributor

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    Do you mean that they don't approve of the content of your writing, or that they don't approve of you being a writer??

    My family's always been respectful of my privacy, they raised me in a very non-overbearing manner, which I turned out well because of...but I can still see how it'd be harder sharing writing with close family. For me, I think it's weird sharing unfinished stuff with people who aren't writers. Neither of my parents likes to write, but my dad and I talk all the time about one of my novels -- it's a conspiracy thriller about human experimentation and stuff. My boyfriend of a year and a half and I talk about stories, but he's sort of a writer too (he's great with coming up with story ideas, but isn't as proactive with writing them out).

    I like sharing finished stuff, though. My uncle isn't a writer, but he's a huge horror fan, so I email him some of my short horror stories.

    I've been writing for almost 20 years, since I was a tiny little kid, so me being a writer has never surprised anyone. ;)
     
  7. hiddennovelist

    hiddennovelist Contributor Contributor

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    Oh, they're very supportive of me being a writer--actually, a few of my other siblings write, too. It's what I choose to write about that bothers them. And the fact that I use profanity.

    I think it's cool that you can talk about your writing with your dad. I talk to Joel and one of my sisters about mine and show them things I've finished, but with a few rare exceptions (and my blogs, of course), no one else sees anything that I write.
     
  8. Mallory

    Mallory Contributor Contributor

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    Well that's good that they're supportive of you being a writer. :) What kind of stuff do you write? Now I'm curious haha.
     
  9. Quezacotl

    Quezacotl New Member

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    I've shown some things I've written to my parents and my teachers, and both were impressed when they saw what I wanted them to see.

    Of course, my parents took the opportunity to delve deeper and were shocked by the rather saucy or macabre pieces. It was embarrassing, to say the least.
     
  10. hiddennovelist

    hiddennovelist Contributor Contributor

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    Haha nothing terrible. On my blog, I write about religion and politics at times, so I'll never be sending them the link to that because it would start a fight. In my other writing, it's mostly just the language that would bother them. However, I it is implied that some of my characters have sex--gasp!--out of wedlock, and that would upset them. And I recently started getting into horror a little bit...they're not down with that.

    Truthfully, I think the only way I could show my family, my parents especially, my writing would be if I were to write screenplays for rated G animated movies...that's the kind of stuff they like.
     
  11. ink_slinger

    ink_slinger New Member

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    I think the fact that I write at all surprises people. I'm sort of private about it, and for some reason, when people find out, they always ask to read it.

    If I get a book published, then you can read it. I just feel really self-conscious about showing my half-baked efforts to the world. My fiance was kind of surprised when I let him read the first few chapters of my latest endeavor.
     
  12. Adi

    Adi New Member

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    Caught a felony for stealing laptops so I don't think vulgarity would surprise my parents, neither would intelligence because I have a 147 IQ so I'm out of options...
     
  13. hiddennovelist

    hiddennovelist Contributor Contributor

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    Word on the street is IQ tests don't mean much...

    But hey, that is totally relevant to the thread subject, so...yeah. :confused:
     
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  14. EdFromNY

    EdFromNY Hope to improve with age Supporter Contributor

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    A notion that the juxtaposition of his two statements would seem to confirm.
     
  15. The Degenerate

    The Degenerate Active Member

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    If my family and friends read my writing, I don't think they'd like me anymore, considering their ill reputes have graced my pages many times.
     
  16. Gigi_GNR

    Gigi_GNR Guys, come on. WAFFLE-O. Contributor

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    I've been writing since I can remember, and I think it's surprised a lot of my teachers how well I can write for my age.
     
  17. J_Jammer

    J_Jammer Banned

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    I don't like sharing things unless I'm totally done editing it as far as I can at the moment.

    I've written a lot of stuff from children like fables to a rape scene. I think sex scenes are not necessary in most stories anyway, so it's not something I focus on--therefore it's a rarity.

    I think my parents would be shocked with that rape scene...that birthed my current novel. It's not longer part of the story as in actually in the story, but it's alluded to and mentioned. It's not graphic. I think that many things don't need to be graphic to be powerful.

    I can't stand when people read over my shoulder. It's annoying. I start making mistakes and going slow until I annoy the person enough to go "well tell me when you're done" or "When you want me to see it".
     

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