Showing Drafts

Once you finish writing it is always a huge temptation to start showing all of your hard work to everyone, not just your critique group. The only problem is it isn't the best idea to be waving around your draft of your novel. It isn't that you should be worried of people stealing your ideas. (I mean if someone who wants to write a novel can't come up with their own ideas then you probably don't have to worry. And truthfully I don't know anyone who would want to steal any ideas from me because I haven't proved that my ideas are actually worth anything.) It is that sometimes people don't understand the difference between a draft and a final product. If they are avid readers they may compare your draft to a final product that has gone through dozens of revisions and that can get discouraging. They may also try and give you advice on how you should change your novel including major plot lines and characters. Critique groups normally understand how much they should say when giving suggestions. Those who don't know you as well or your writing techniques may not understand what exactly you are looking for when you show them your draft.