Hi Pia! Do you share your writing with people IRL? Have you had any experiences doing so that you are ok with sharing? Last week I shared one of my abuse recovery/whump fiction with one of my best friends and she said she thought it was fucked up even though I had told her the premise and given her a warning and she had still asked to read it.
Hi anon!
Okay, so two things.
1. I don't share my writing with people IRL. Like there are some people that I've met (like two people) who have chosen to read my writing after they've met me and learned I'm a writer, because my style of writing appeals to them. But otherwise no, I don't share my writing with anyone I know irl because I just know it's not really going to be their thing, most of the time.
2. Your friend is (at least in this instance) an asshole.
There are so many ways to say you don't really vibe with something that are so much kinder and more respectful to your creative effort.
It's really not hard to say something like: 'Oh wow, this was more intense than I was expecting so I don't know if I can read more, but I hope you write more, since it's really emotional/powerful' or 'this is not my thing, which isn't your fault, and I hope you keep writing in the future!' or 'I thought I could handle this and I couldn't, but I think this is really meaningful for you and I want you to keep writing it anyway' or 'I can't read more of this, I'm sorry, are there other ways I can support you in your writing?'
Instead, your 'friend' took a position of harsh judgement, and imho, best friends are ones who want to lift you up, and not bring you down. Maybe she was just having a bad day, but if she honestly believes that's a great way of communicating, you deserve better friends.
If I ever shared my writing with a friend who asked to read it after I warned them about the content and they said 'that's fucked up' I can tell you that I would a) ditch them and b) keep writing.
Obviously you are not me, anon, but I can pretty categorically say your friend is not a great communicator.
