Caleb Wachter
Somewhere it's said that you have to write about a million words of finished product before you've worked most of the kinks out of your style. I'd say this is pretty accurate - but that DOESN'T mean you write a million words and shove them in a box somewhere they'll never see the light of day.
The writing process is as much about incorporating negative feedback as it is about minimizing it. Everyone has their strengths as weaknesses, and you need to discover what those are. You may think you're great at romance, but really what you do well is tightly-written dialogue. You may have a penchant for military science fiction but it turns out your readers prefer your fantasy stories. Setting off down a given path without stopping to ask for directions (receiving criticism/feedback from your audience) is a pretty sure recipe for disaster.
So I'd say this: write something, make it short-ish if you can (a small novella) so you keep the narrative tight and focused. Then show it off and understand when you do so that you're not the next Stephen King, or Dan Abnett, or J.K. Rawlings, or whoever. At least, you aren't that *yet* but the only way to possibly get there is by exposing your work to the target audience and seeing how they like it.
The writing process is as much about incorporating negative feedback as it is about minimizing it. Everyone has their strengths as weaknesses, and you need to discover what those are. You may think you're great at romance, but really what you do well is tightly-written dialogue. You may have a penchant for military science fiction but it turns out your readers prefer your fantasy stories. Setting off down a given path without stopping to ask for directions (receiving criticism/feedback from your audience) is a pretty sure recipe for disaster.
So I'd say this: write something, make it short-ish if you can (a small novella) so you keep the narrative tight and focused. Then show it off and understand when you do so that you're not the next Stephen King, or Dan Abnett, or J.K. Rawlings, or whoever. At least, you aren't that *yet* but the only way to possibly get there is by exposing your work to the target audience and seeing how they like it.
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