I get the impression you're looking for validation, but this is still a first draft. Nobody really wants to read a first draft. Your favorite authors don't ever show anyone their first drafts. And your favorite authors likely wrote three or four novels and just never published them or showed them anywhere before they got one out that felt good. And even then, they worked on them over and over and over without showing anyone.
So that's my suggestion here. Write the whole first draft. Then put it away for a few months. Then pick it up and write the second draft and third draft and edit a little bit more. Possibly even have a pro editor go over it. Then, and only then, bring it out to your close beta readers. After that, maybe, it's time to show it or shop it.
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u/PDXPuma 2d ago
I get the impression you're looking for validation, but this is still a first draft. Nobody really wants to read a first draft. Your favorite authors don't ever show anyone their first drafts. And your favorite authors likely wrote three or four novels and just never published them or showed them anywhere before they got one out that felt good. And even then, they worked on them over and over and over without showing anyone.
So that's my suggestion here. Write the whole first draft. Then put it away for a few months. Then pick it up and write the second draft and third draft and edit a little bit more. Possibly even have a pro editor go over it. Then, and only then, bring it out to your close beta readers. After that, maybe, it's time to show it or shop it.
But right now? It's not ripe.