As I finished the first draft of The Pride of Central and was deep into the editing stage, it finally occurred to me that other people were really going to read my story. The events, characters and themes were eventually going to be shared with others.
That is what every author wants, right? To be able to tell their story is the goal. I don't know what will happen later this month when the book goes public, but my greatest hope for my story is for many people to read it.
But that is also my greatest fear.
Even though I have written sports stories for newspapers for twenty years, the thought of putting my own fiction story out for public display is intimidating. When I write a news story about a state championship baseball game, I don't have to worry about people's approval of how the game finished or what the players and coaches said afterwards. I just repeat what really happened.
Printing my own fiction story is considerably more stressful, and I suspect the idea of putting a first story out there is both exhilarating and frightening for most beginning authors. Partially, I felt this because I was afraid that everyone will decide that I am not a good writer. Maybe my grammar is worse than I realize. Maybe my story does not make as much sense on the page as it does in my head.
But there is another fear about putting my story in front of new pairs of eyes. I, and many other new authors, are afraid that our story will be misunderstood. I don't mean that the readers will not understand what happens, I mean that we fear the readers will not get the theme of the book.
The Pride of Central follows a baseball team throughout a season, but will the reader understand that the theme of the book is not about baseball? Some of the players on the team commit a crime, but will the reader understand that I am not approving of that behavior?
Maybe in your story it's thoughts about religion, politics, social issues, sex or a hundred other things. They are part of the story, but you are afraid that the reader will misunderstand what you mean. I have had trouble sleeping worrying about how portions of “The Pride of Central” will be received.
Laura Campbell, author of The 27th Protector Series, gave me the simplest and most important advice on this. It can be hard, but it is the only way to ever get past these fears.
Trust your readers.
Stop fearing the worst possible interpretation of what you wrote. Usually, the reader will understand what you are trying to say about whatever subjects you are writing about. Readers want to understand. That is why they picked up your book in the first place. They are trusting you to give them a good story. Trust them to appreciate it.
Next week: So, who gets to see this first?
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