One of the benefits of being the writer of a story is that it is yours. \u00a0It is the product of your perseverance and imagination. \u00a0You can do whatever you want with it.<\/p>\n
You get to decide if it will be published or not. \u00a0You might face challenges getting a publisher or agent to feel the same way about your story, but it is always your story. \u00a0And these days, you don’t necessarily need a publisher. \u00a0If you listen to people like Hugh Howey, it may be in your best interest to self-publish, where you get the lion’s share of profits and all of the control.<\/p>\n
But before you get to the publishing phase, you get to decide if it is even done or not. \u00a0It’s your story, full of your characters and your plots. \u00a0You can change your mind about the direction of a subplot, and make it something different. \u00a0Or you can choose to keep your work exactly as you’ve written, in spite of advice given by editors or critique groups. \u00a0Your story is your story.<\/p>\n
With that last point, just remember that you own your mistakes. \u00a0You have the power to listen to advice just as you have the power to ignore it. \u00a0Imagine how much better the Star Wars prequels could have been if George Lucas been given some advice about the stories. \u00a0While it is unlikely the prequels could have lived up to the expectations, they could have been better.<\/p>\n
But I digress.<\/p>\n
It’s your story, every step of the way. \u00a0Once you’ve finished the first draft, you can choose how much editing it needs. \u00a0Maybe it needs a 3rd or 4th draft before it’s done. \u00a0Perhaps it leaped from your mind onto the page wholly formed in the first draft, as Athena was born from Zeus’s breast (unlikely). \u00a0You get to decide.<\/p>\n
But even before that, you get to decide how your first draft is written. \u00a0It’s up to you how many acts will be in your story, and what emotions you will trigger. \u00a0You get to decide who lives and who dies, which loves are acknowledged, and which ones go unrequited. \u00a0It’s on your shoulders to find the words that express the story and world that lives in your imagination.<\/p>\n
It’s up to you to start your story. \u00a0Perhaps you’re like me, standing just a couple of days away from starting something new and scary. \u00a0The ideas have been dancing in your head for some time. \u00a0Perhaps days, perhaps years. \u00a0It’s on you to build the world, bit by bit. \u00a0It’s your rocket ship designs or magic formula that will be expressed in the pages of your story.<\/p>\n
No one else can write the story that’s in your head. \u00a0Only you can see it and hear it and express it. \u00a0And no one can stop you from writing it. \u00a0It doesn’t matter how old you are, what color your skin is, or what genitals you possess, or wish to possess. \u00a0You are the only one that can write your story, as long as you are willing to write it.<\/p>\n
And somewhere out there, someone is waiting to read it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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