Part 7 Short Story Series

Hello and welcome back to another installment of my short story series! Last time I covered historical fiction, but this time I’m going to be showing you a fantasy story that I had to write as part of my genre fiction module in second year (three years ago, wow). As you know, fantasy is my favourite genre, so when we were given this task I was excited to get into it. I can’t exactly remember how I came up with this idea, but after writing it I spent ages thinking of where the story could go and whether it could be a full novel idea. This story is called ‘The Wrong Target.’

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The Wrong Target

Nayda turned around, jerking her head to flick the coppery locks out of her face. The figure of a blonde young woman on a dappled grey horse was fast approaching. Nayda faced forward again, leaning deeper into the saddle. She clutched the reins so tightly her knuckles were white, the bones ready to burst from her skin.

“Faster, Storm,” Nayda whispered into the charcoal neck of her horse. Storm obeyed without even a kick or a pull of the reins, lurching into a thundering gallop.

A lake lay ahead, glimmering in the sunlight, and Nayda was forced to bring Storm to a halt, jumping off his back. She dropped to the floor where she lay in the grass, staring up at the hyacinth blanket of sky, her chest heaving.

“I told you this was pointless!” Orla said as she approached, trotting to a stop besides Storm.

“Practice makes perfect,” Nayda smirked.

“It’s no good. I don’t think Misty will ever be as quick as Storm,” Orla said, slipping gracefully from Misty and smoothing her shuddering grey flank.

“You haven’t had her as long as I’ve had Storm,” Nayda shrugged. “You simply need to go for a ride more, bond so she’ll be more willing to push herself.”

“I don’t have as much free time as you, you know,” Orla said, sitting down next to Nayda. “It took me three days to paint a portrait of one of the Dunn boys, you know the eldest, Brenner. The handsome one.”

Nayda nodded. Of course she knew which one. The pompous young man whose family sucked up to the King, wooing all the girls with his shiny new armour for jousting competitions. Flashing his white smile and winking until they were practically hyperventilating. Pathetic, thought Nayda.

“Three days!” Orla continued, bringing Nayda back to reality. “Your job is a little more…shall we say lenient?”

Turning away from what Nayda knew would be Orla’s disapproving glare, she tore blades of grass from the ground, watching them blow away as she opened her fist.

“You are careful, aren’t you Nayda? Ever since that time with the potter I can’t help but worry.”

Goosebumps erupted over Nayda’s arms despite the sun beaming down on them. She tried to rub them away. Her stupid mistake of shuffling in her hiding spot, the vase shattering to the floor. She had no choice but to run, one hand holding her cloak over her face and the other still clinging her murder weapon, a dagger. The burly potter’s footsteps clattering on the stone floor after her, shouting in a gravelly voice. Something hard hitting the back of her head, the dizzying effect making her stumble.

It was the closest she’d ever been to being caught. Until Keaton came to her rescue like she was a damsel in distress. Nayda ripped grass up from its roots even harder, her jaw clenched.

“Of course I am. That was a long time ago.”

“I still don’t know how you do it,” Orla muttered, turning her head away. “Kill people.”

“You know why I do it. Father and Mother would be starving by now if I didn’t. Maybe I wouldn’t even be here,” Nayda snapped, attempting to push herself up off the ground. Away from Orla. Away from her judgement.

Instead Orla pulled at her arm and Nayda collapsed back down with a sigh, unable to walk away from her closest friend who gazed wisely at her with long-lashed eyes.

“I know that. It’s just after painting people, looking at their every detail…I wouldn’t be able to destroy that.”

Nayda had nothing to say to that, for she didn’t feel anything when she took someone’s life. And that scared her.

All she could think of was her mother and father a couple of years ago, struggling to provide even a loaf of bread and some broth, her father’s fletching business not making nearly enough money. With Nayda’s income, they went to bed full each night, pangs of hunger a thing of the past. If her parents were aware of what they she was doing, she was sure they’d banish her from entering the house.

A high-pitched cry made Nayda leap up immediately, her hand going straight to the dagger in her belt. She relaxed when she saw the hawk, its wings outspread and curled beak slightly open as it floated down into the grass. Nayda blinked and in the hawk’s place stood Keaton, his dark hair ruffled. He was looking down his pointed nose at Orla sprawled out on the grass, her red dress spread across the ground, standing out like a rose against the lush green.

“You know I don’t like it when you bring other people along,” Keaton said sharply.

“It’s only Orla, relax. She’s not going to tell anyone,” Nayda said, rolling her eyes.

Keaton looked as if he was about to say something else, but thought better of it and pulled a scroll tied with string from beneath his cloak. He handed it to Nayda and she took it, unravelling the string to reveal the name written scruffily inside. Underneath the name was the money she would earn if she chose to take on the target. Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull at the sum. She had never seen that much money in her life.

“So will you do it?” Keaton asked. “Of course, you don’t have to if you don’t think you’re up for the task.”

Before Nayda could answer or even shoot back some harsh words in her defence, Orla let out a gasp from over her shoulder.

“Brenner Dunn?!” Orla shouted.

“Shush Orla!”

“You know how close the Dunn family is to the King. If you so much as scratched him you’d have the Royal Guard on you! What could he have done to deserve this?”

Nayda swallowed hard, closing her eyes. She never asked why. Usually her targets had done something wrong. The potter, for example, had scammed hundreds of pounds off the man who wanted him killed. Brenner Dunn was a bit of an arse, Nayda thought, but she couldn’t see him doing anything that justified his murder.

But it wasn’t her job to ask why.

“I’ll do it,” Nayda said firmly, disregarding Orla’s screams of outrage. “How long do I have?”

“Until Friday,” Keaton said, taking the scroll back off Nayda and tearing it into a thousand pieces, letting it fly into the lake so it couldn’t be traced.

That left Nayda with five days. Five days to kill Brenner Dunn, one of the most popular men in the kingdom. She fell back into the grass, shaking a little. With a quick burst of light, Keaton turned back into a hawk and flew up into the sky.

“How can you do this?” Orla cried, her golden curls bristling with rage as she shook her head. “He’s done nothing wrong. He’s one of the nicest men I have ever met.”

“It doesn’t matter if he’s nice – or handsome,” added Nayda, ignoring the image of Brenner with his stupid chiselled jaw and hair so dark it was as black as a raven’s wing. She pushed the picture of a bag heaving with coins back into her head instead.

“Well why do you have to be bossed around by other people, do their dirty work for them?”

Nayda looked into Orla’s blue eyes, ice cold and angry.

“Because I’m an assassin. That’s what we do.”

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As mentioned earlier, I honestly can’t remember how the story came to me but I do have some ideas of how to expand it into a novel. Maybe it will be one of my future projects one day! I liked having a protagonist who wasn’t exactly ‘good’ and was flawed. She does bad things, even if it is to provide for her family. I’d like the rest of the story to explore how she comes to terms with her morals and escape the lifestyle she is so used to. It will be interesting to be in the mind of someone like this and I hope it’s an interesting perspective for readers.

I also loved the dynamic between Nayda and Orla. Even though Orla doesn’t approve of Nayda’s job, she sticks by her side, but isn’t afraid to voice her opinion. I think they’re a great example of opposites attract, Orla wearing pretty dresses and being creative, and Nayda being, well, a ruthless killer.

I don’t usually go for a medieval setting either, which is why I wanted to bring in Keaton being a sort of shape shifter too. If I am to expand on the story, I want the world to have lots of different creatures and fantasy aspects to it. To me, that’s my favourite part about writing fantasy!

I do think Nayda being ‘I’m not like the other girls’ is kind of annoying, and I would definitely change this. I think for me growing up, a lot of books that I read had girls who claimed they were different because they didn’t like make up and girly clothes, or liked books instead of boys. As this story would be targeted at teens and young adults, I think my mind just cast itself back to what I read and tried to have a ‘different’ protagonist too. But just because she is an assassin, it doesn’t mean she can’t have a badass dress on or look down her nose at others. Which is why I’m glad I have Orla as a character too, who is more girly but not mocked for it.

I also feel like I focused way too much on eye or hair colour, as well as general colour description. I would tone down on this if I was to rewrite it, and come up with more imaginative horse names than Storm and Misty! It’s interesting to see how my writing of the fantasy genre has changed and I can immediately pick things up that I would alter now.

Overall though, I like these characters and the general story, so it would be cool to return one day and see where it goes! There are definitely many changes I would make but I can see the start of me building my own fantasy world.

What did you think of this story? Let me know down in the comments and thank you for reading!

Low FODMAP Brownies

Hello and welcome back to another blog post! I’ve decided to do something a little bit different this time and show you a recipe that I’ve recently been using. I’ve mentioned it occasionally, but at the moment I’m on the low FODMAP diet. This means I have to be gluten free, which also means a lack of biscuits and cakes. Of course, you can buy Freefrom snacks but they are a lot more expensive.

My mum then bought a low FODMAP recipe book called ‘The Complete Low FODMAP Diet’, and it has been really helpful in giving us more meal ideas, which is always the problem when you have to cut so much out of your diet. However it also has a lot of sweet treats, one of which are brownies. I have made these twice now and they’ve turned out great both times. I thought I’d post the recipe so that others in the same boat could try it out for themselves, or anyone who wants to try something new!

You will need:

• 40g cornflour
• 130g fine rice flour
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 300g brown sugar
• 150g unsalted butter
• 250g dark chocolate chunks
• 100g dark chocolate chips
• 125ml light whipping cream
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 100g chopped pecans (optional)

Cornflour, rice flour and xanthan gum can be found in the Freefrom section of supermarkets and if not, they are also sold in Holland and Barrett’s. I’m sure you could also use milk chocolate to replace the dark chocolate if you’re not on the low FODMAP diet too or don’t like dark chocolate.

The Recipe

1. Grease a baking tin either with butter, or line it with parchment paper and grease. The original recipe calls for a 29 x 12 cm baking tin, but you can use any depending on how thick you want your brownies to be. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.

2. Next, melt the butter and dark chocolate chunks in a saucepan over a low heat. Once you’ve stirred until the mixture is smooth, add the brown sugar and stir constantly until it has fully dissolved (we actually didn’t wait until it had, as it didn’t seem to be dissolving much further and the mixture was getting too hot, but it didn’t affect the recipe). Pour the mixture into a large bowl and wait for it to cool.

3. Get another bowl and mix together the fine rice flour, the xanthan gum and the cornflour with a whisk.

4. Place the beaten eggs into the chocolate mixture one at a time and stir. Add the flour mixture, the pecans, the chocolate chips and the whipping cream. Then spread the mixture into the baking tin.

5. Bake for twenty minutes, then cover with foil and bake again. The original recipe says to bake for another twenty to twenty five minutes until you can stick a toothpick into the brownies and pull it out clean. However, we did it a little longer as it didn’t seem quite ready. Once you think they’re done, take them out and leave them to cool.

6. The recipe then tells you to put the brownies in the fridge for a couple of hours until they are firm, but we left them out in the kitchen and they were fine, so it’s up to you! Then, cut the brownies into squares ready to be eaten. (I recommend warming them up and having them with ice cream!)

And that’s the recipe for low FODMAP brownies! If you end up using the recipe please let me know down in the comments how they came out or how you served them. Thank you for reading!

A-Z of My Favourite Games

Gaming has been a huge part of my life ever since I was just a toddler watching my siblings play on the MegaDrive and the PS1. The first games I remember seeing were Aladdin and the Lion King (so excited to play the remastered versions!) as well as games like Tomb Raider, Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. That means about two decades worth of games that I’ve played in my lifetime! So I thought why not compile some of my favourite games or franchises in alphabet form?

I thought this would be a great way to show you what kind of games I play while also reminiscing on games I haven’t played in ages. Of course, there will be many games left out on the list due to there being multiple that start with the same letter. I will be choosing the ones that mean the most to me, but I will give a shout out to some others if I feel it was close!

A – Animal Crossing

I was first introduced to Animal Crossing on the GameCube round a friend’s house. Being the sucker for cute animals that I am, it’s no wonder I love this game. It’s such a stress free and wholesome game (that I sort of wish I lived in). Though I love games with epic storylines or adventure, it’s nice to just sit down and plant flowers or talk to your animal neighbours for a while. I can’t begin to explain how excited I am for New Horizons!

B – Bioshock Infinite

I actually haven’t played any other Bioshock games which is a shame, but I really loved Bioshock Infinite. The scenery is so beautiful and I love the whole steampunk atmosphere. It’s such an interesting world and combined with the shocking story it blew my mind. It was probably one of the first story games I played too so it felt like a whole new experience.

C – Crash Bandicoot

When the N.Sane trilogy was remastered, I was so happy; the first game in particular I have fond memories of and playing it again brought back waves of nostalgia. Hearing Crash’s ‘woah!’ and Aku Aku, I couldn’t believe I was playing the very same game I played all those years ago. I’m actually still on the first game because I’ve found it so challenging, which I don’t remember it being, though that’s probably as I never got that far as a child. One day I will have finished the entire trilogy (speaking it into existence to encourage me).

D – Destiny

I was so late to the party with Destiny but Jordan and I played through the story of both Destiny and Destiny 2. We’ve also been doing the raids with our friends which are super stressful but so satisfying when you finally complete them! The game has definitely come a long way since the first one and it’ll be interesting to see what Shadowkeep is like. Here’s a GIF of us doing a raid on the first game and half of us getting yeeted.

E – Endless Ocean

This was a game I played on the Wii and I put a lot of hours into it! Which is strange, considering snorkelling is one of my worst nightmares as I’m scared of what lurks under the sea. You basically explore the ocean to find a variety of species and hunt for treasure, before your main goal is to find the ‘White Mother’, a rare albino blue whale. You can also have your own dolphins which swim alongside you! It’s a relaxing game, though it does give me a mini heart-attack when a huge shark or whale approaches you.

F – Fable

I started off with Fable III and adored it,  I’ve actually lost count of the amount of times I’ve replayed it! The whole vibe of Fable is just so unique, with British celebrities playing lots of the characters and the humour being top notch. I’ve recently started playing the first Fable and will move onto Fable II after that, which I’m excited for as lots of people have sung its praises. The age of the first Fable is clear from playing it, but it still has those over exaggerated British accents that make me chuckle.

G – GTA

I borrowed GTA IV off Jordan when I first got my Xbox 360, and I just loved being able to drive around the open world and mess around. GTA V exceeded my expectations with the even bigger map! The story was excellent and it was such a good game to play with friends online (though I do remember the hell that online was when it first came out). And of course, it was fun to play as three very different protagonists. I haven’t actually played it in a while so I must return to it soon. I’d love to visit LA just to see all the locations!

H – Harvest Moon

I still remember the day I bought Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life for PS2. I was at my nan and grandad’s in London, so I didn’t have my Playstation with me. Instead I re-read the booklet inside (I wish games still did that) eager to play it when I got home. I love the farming aspect and exploring the little village. My brother had a go and loved it so much he then bought it for his GameCube! I feel like the next Harvest Moon games haven’t been so good and would love A Wonderful Life remastered, though I know it’s not going to happen. I know it’s now under the name Story of Seasons, so I might pick it up when it comes to Switch to see what it’s like!

I – Inside

I played this recently and really enjoyed it! I loved how you were thrown into the game and though you weren’t outright told the story, you could work it out as you played. There was an eerie atmosphere created by the dark scenery and the quiet soundtrack, as well as the general plot of using mind control to control who seemed to be brain dead people and being on the run. The puzzles were a good difficulty too.

J – Jackbox Party Games

Playing Jackbox for the first time, I thought it was crazy being able to play on your phone and get everyone involved even without owning a console or the game themselves. It’s not exactly ground-breaking technology, but it was the first time I’d played anything like it. It’s perfect for when you have friends and family round, and you can even play it with strangers online if they have the room code.

K – Kingdom Hearts

I spoke about this in my birthday post, but I’d only ever played the first game before I got the third one. It’s a very complicated franchise to keep up with as I haven’t had the right platform to play many of the games on, so I’m more of a casual fan. But I remember getting the first game in Woolworths (RIP) and loved that combination of Disney and anime. The third game is so beautiful as well and it’s cool to see the modern Disney films like Tangled brought to life!

L – Life is Strange

This is actually one of my favourite game series, though I know a lot of people think it’s cringey. I just got so attached to the characters and being able to redo your actions, seeing the various outcomes, was a cool aspect. I cried so much at the ending, then cried at Before the Storm…then cried at the one off prequel episode. I’m waiting until all of the Life is Strange 2 episodes come to Game Pass before I play it, but I’m so excited.

M – Mario Kart

It’s so cool to have seen Mario Kart evolve throughout the years on each console! I think everyone will agree it’s one of the best party games, despite it almost destroying friendships. I like that although the base game is pretty much the same each time, it’s exciting to see new characters and maps added, so you can expect what to get out of the game while also having a few surprises. Yoshi is my go to character! (Have to give a shout out here to Minecraft too, which will never die.)

N – Nintendogs

This was a hard one as I couldn’t find any game that I’ve played beginning with ‘n’ so I’ve had to resort to Nintendogs, though it was a great part of my childhood! My first original DS came with it, so I spent most of Christmas day shouting into the microphone to name my dog and taking them on walks. We also used to have ‘toy days’ in primary school at the end of term, so we would all bring our DS in and trade items. Simpler times!

O – Old Man’s Journey

I was struggling to find something for ‘o’ when Jordan suggested Old Man’s Journey, so I started playing it. The art style is absolutely gorgeous, with hand drawn illustrations which could have come straight from a story book. There is no dialogue, the story of the old man looking back at his past shown through images. It’s a relaxing point and click game, which I would recommend for people looking for a chill, bittersweet experience.

P – Pokemon

I’m not the world’s biggest Pokemon fan as I’ve only played a few games like Mystery Dungeon and Black/White, but I also really enjoy Pokemon Go and recently Pokemon Let’s Go. I’m so excited for Sword/Shield, particularly as it’s inspired by the UK, and to see all the new Pokemon! It looks like it has so many new features too, and it’ll be fun to see it in all its glory with the Switch graphics.

Q – Quantum Break

This is such a good game and I don’t hear people talking about it enough! Combining film and game, and seeing your choices affect the film you get, is so unique. I loved having that mixture of playing through an action packed level and then getting to put down the controller to watch what happens. It’s such a good example of how important story is in games like these. I definitely need to replay this one as it’s been a long time since I finished it for the first time.

R – Red Dead Redemption

I’ve gone on about Red Dead way too much on my blog already like in my review of Red Dead 2 and my soundtracks to listen to, but I honestly can’t explain how much I love this game. It is one of my favourite games of all time, and I was so happy that I loved Arthur just as much as I loved John. It totally exceeded my expectations and I didn’t think anything could top the first game. Jordan hasn’t finished it yet, so when I came out of our room crying my eyes out I couldn’t even explain why! (Shoutout to Rocket League too, I’ve played it for years and it’s a game I always return to despite it making me rage.)

S – Super Smash Bros

Another one of my all time favourite games, Smash Bros Ultimate was mind blowing seeing just how many characters were in it, and we’re still getting more. I started off with Melee, also playing Brawl and the 3DS one, so it’s definitely one of those games I’ll keep buying for every console. It’s such a great party game and even though I’m not exactly into fighting games, I love the whacky items, the cool maps, and my favourite characters. I main Pikachu or Pichu. (Shoutout to Spyro and Sims here too.)

T – Telltale Games: The Walking Dead

Cheating a little as this actually comes under W, but I couldn’t choose just one Telltale game for W. It’s such a shame what happened to them as I would have loved to see what the future held for their games. I’m still yet to play the final season of The Walking Dead, but I loved the first three. I actually think I cried more at the end of season one than I did with both Red Dead Redemptions. I started sobbing before *it* happened as it was spoiled for me so knew what was coming, then cried for half an hour afterwards. I would also tear up every time I thought about it for about two weeks. Yeah, I get attached to characters. As a writer too I love story driven games, though it does stress me out worrying if I made a wrong choice. (Shoutout to Tomb Raider here too.)

U – ?

V – ?

W – The Wolf Among Us

One of my other favourite games by Telltale is The Wolf Among Us. I’m absolutely gutted that we won’t be getting the sequel now, especially as this game ended on a cliffhanger. I loved the dark twist on fairytale characters and Bigby was a great protagonist because of how imperfect he was. It was also fun to work out the mystery and be a detective, which was a little different from the other Telltale Games. I think the artstyle of the Telltale Games in general too is really unique.

X – ?

Y – Yoku’s Island Express

I’ve only recently started playing this game but it’s so cute; you play as a beetle taking on the role of postman for his island. It’s a pinball style game, so you navigate the island using the bumpers to hit your beetle. The world is really pretty and it’s another game that’s quite relaxing which you can pop on when you don’t feel like playing a story game.

Z – Zoo Tycoon

I have such fond memories of Zoo Tycoon when I was younger, though it was stressful trying to please all your animals as well as keep the zoo clean. It helped my love for animals grow and learn more about different species. The latest Zoo Tycoon is good but doesn’t have quite the same feel as the old one. I’m looking forward to Planet Zoo as the graphics look amazing, and I know I can easily put hours into it.

 

I’m actually pretty impressed that I’ve only missed out three letters! But there we have it, that’s an A-Z of my favourite games. Are some of these your favourite games too, or can you help me out with my missing letters? Let me know down in the comments and thank you for reading!

(GIFs found on Giphy.com)

 

 

 

 

 

The Benefits of Sharing Your Writing

If you follow me on social media, you will have seen that recently I finished editing the first draft of my novel! It was such a relief to know that I was capable of writing an entire book and that my hard work left me with a finished product. However, the next step was to share my novel with friends and family for them to be my beta readers. Even though I’ve had lots of experience with sharing my writing at university, it was still daunting. Had my work all been for nothing and would no one enjoy it? Would they be too polite to tell me if they didn’t?

Thankfully, I’ve had lots of positive feedback as well as some great suggestions which will really help me get my novel up to scratch before I query to agents! But I know despite there being nothing to worry about, a lot of writers still have this anxiety surrounding letting others read their work. Which is quite ironic, considering if we want to publish our work it has to be read by others! I’m still not entirely confident whenever I do share my work, but I’m writing this post to encourage you to do so and explain why it’s extremely helpful.

To boost your confidence

One of the biggest problems I think writers face is not thinking we’re good enough. We pour our heart and soul into words, then think it’s terrible. Or sometimes we’re proud of it, but worry that no one else will like it. A lot of writers are shy, introverted people who perhaps struggle with self-confidence. But sharing with others is one of the best ways to overcome this in your writing.

Receiving compliments is a sure way to make you feel good about your writing. After all the work you’ve put into it, you deserve to be told how talented you are! It will inspire you to keep writing while also making you feel less nervous about showing others your work. It may seem a little big headed to enjoy being complimented, but it’s what you need to show you that your writing is worth it. No matter how ‘bad’ you think it is, it most likely isn’t, as you have spent so much time rereading it and analyzing it that you almost become sick to death of it! Of course, it isn’t all about the compliments though.

To become used to constructive criticism

My main worry when I had to share my writing at university was whether or not I’d be able to handle having my work critiqued. I’m a sensitive person, and didn’t want to burst into tears at every negative comment I received! Luckily, the majority of people were really nice and offered great advice, not ripping into my work like I thought they would. Sure, there were a few condescending people, but if they’re not giving you advice in a polite, helpful way, then they’re just being rude. These people clearly aren’t thinking about your feelings and I’d do my best to ignore them!

This will then prepare you if you want to get your work published. You need to go through the editing process where you will receive changes to make, and then comments or reviews when your book is out there. It’s normal to feel protective over your work and feel hurt if someone points out something they didn’t quite like. But you need to remember that your work isn’t going to be perfect or please everyone. Constructive criticism is there to help you, and you don’t always have to take that advice if you really don’t want to. You know your work back to front, but if something isn’t clear or multiple people point out the same thing, it’s worth thinking about changing.

Remember, it’s all about the way people say it though; if someone says ‘I don’t like this, change it, this is bad’, they aren’t being considerate and not people who you should share your hard work with. But if someone says ‘I was a little confused by this, could you elaborate?’ or ‘I’m not too sure about this because of *insert issue here* could you maybe do *this* instead?’, this is constructive. We were taught in university about the ‘shit sandwich’ where if you’re critiquing someone’s work, you say something positive, some constructive criticism, and then something positive again. This is the right way to do it!

To have a fresh set of eyes looking at your writing

As I mentioned earlier, you’ve read your work so many times that it can be hard to not stress about it being bad, and you can easily miss out on typos or editing mistakes. Having beta readers allows you to see what it’s like for a person reading it for the first time with no prior information. This is of course helpful as when your work is published, this is exactly what readers are going to be experiencing.

Other people will spot things you won’t, from spelling errors to continuity mistakes. Don’t feel embarrassed at these, as every writer will have them in their early drafts. You want your novel to be the best it can be before you send it to agents, and though it doesn’t have to be perfectly edited, it will really help get it to a standard which will impress them.

 

I hope this has been helpful for writers out there who are afraid to show their work to others and just go for it! It is easier said than done, but once you do it, it gets a lot easier. Just remember that people are there to help you, and if anyone is rude, they don’t deserve to read your work anyway!

This also doesn’t have to apply to fictional writing, but blog writing too. I know a lot of people don’t like sharing their posts with people they know in real life out of fear they’ll bring it up. However it’s more than likely they’re going to be supportive and you’ll find you had nothing to worry about, but if they’re not…block them.

What are your experiences of sharing your writing? Let me know down in the comments and thank you for reading!