If you're not scared, you're not doing it right?

[Warren_Paul]

I don't think many people of scared of story telling but maybe many fear grammar.

Back to the grammar books.

I think that might come back to the fear of rejection, though, right? Grammar is one of those things that can make or break you, you're afraid of the agent/publisher/reader not being able to understand your writing. It's one thing that scares me, makes me think my story might be rejected because I got my commas wrong - which I have been known to do.

I don't have this fear until I start thinking about submitting it, or letting others read it though, so it's not really the writing of bad grammar that I fear, but other people reading my bad grammar.

 

[Arkose]

I don't have a problem with business rejection. I expect it for most, if not all, my life. Bad grammar has more impacts than just rejection.

 

[Anne Lyle]

Everyone approaches writing with a different life experience. Some have had it drummed into them by teachers or family that they are rubbish at writing, or that it's a waste of time and they'll never get published, or that SFF isn't a worthy genre, or whatever. Others, like myself, are confident in our ability to write but need to learn self-discipline and perseverance in order to Finish The Damned Book

There are a gazillion how-to-write books out there (I know - I've bought them all!), and apart from the nuts'n'bolts of writing correct English, much of their advice is contradictory. I suggest reading a few different ones and picking a "mentor" who inspires you, rather than just assume that the first one you read is gospel.

 

[mithril]

Thanks everyone for your support and suggestions.. Anne's advice about picking a mentor is especially appreciated. Also appreciate having the difference between fear of writing and fear of rejection explained

 

[Peter Graham]

Wrestling an anaconda would be scary.

Walking into 3 Para's mess and airily commenting that you thought only rain and bird poo fell out of the sky would be scary.

Charging the German front line at Ypres with nothing but a swagger stick and a whistle would be really scary.

Writing, by contrast, is fun.

Regards,

Peter

 

[Coragem]

Some have had it drummed into them by teachers or family that they are rubbish at writing, or that it's a waste of time and they'll never get published …

Yes, Anne, I've had a fair bit of the above. And I must say that even here at SFF Chrons I've felt fairly submerged beneath an assumption of "you'll never get published". (Though as I've said, Anne, your always a refreshingly positive change from more negative voices.)

Personally, I do get scared, and I think it's pretty rational fear. Writing a first novel is maybe a bit like climbing a whopping mounting – even if the effort is obviously mental, not a feat of physical stamina. That mountain sometimes scares the crap out of me. Just need to remember, one step at a time!

Also, there's fear coming from the fact that I know I need to push myself so hard to write well. Writing well is not always fun – it's always slow and it can be torturous, at least for a mere mortal such as myself.

Coragem

 

[Esfires]

With me it was just the opposite. I've heard all my life from teachers that my writing was good and that I ought to write something of my own, but it never really interested me. My father is a published crime and P.I. novel author and he's been encouraging me to write for years, but it wasn't until I actually had an idea and set of themes that I was really interested in that I sat down and actually started something. That was last August and I just hit my 100k word mark last night, so it's clipping along at a pretty good pace.

I do understand the intent of the "scared" quote, though. My best work comes when I'm writing a scene or piece of dialogue that is so ambitious that I'm not really sure if I can pull it off. If I write something that just fell out of me without much effort it's usually because that section was just plain flat and uninteresting and I end up scrapping it.

 

[Montero]

@ E Yes, I was just thinking "is it full on "scared" or an adrenaline rush?"

Certainly read actors (especially Maureen Lipman's books) saying that if they are not a bit keyed up, on edge before they go on stage then it is a flop. Not really sure that should apply to writing...
Are artists scared of their paintings, or sculptors of their stone?

Anyway, as we all keep saying, everyone is different.

I think keyed up, enthused, at least some of the time is essential. Equally you cannot expect to be hyper-happy all the time when writing. There is an awful lot of heavy labour involved.

As folks have already said, frustration awaits to say the least of it.

But the feeling when you work out how to fix, get past, whatever is causing the frustration. That's fantastic.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Are artists scared of their paintings, or sculptors of their stone?

Now there's a story idea...

 

[juelz4sure]

Scared... Definitely not the right word to used anxious maybe even doubt may be better words but not scary. Doubtfully is a little harsh too but the undertaking of your first book is daunting. I'm still on my first book and it's been almost 8 months and I'm nowhere near where I'd like to be. Where anxious may work the best, everyone wants to do something in their like that leaves something in the world and this what we think is our opportunity to do so.

juelz

 

[Anne Lyle]

Don't worry, juelz - 8 months is nothing. It took me four years, on and off, to write The Alchemist of Souls!

 

[Vertigo]

Not sure if I'm qualified to comment on this one as I've not actually written anything yet, though I am beginning to take the first steps. And I'm scared. And maybe that does make me qualified to comment.

Actually I'd go further and, without wanting to upset anyone, I think if you are not scared then, well not to put to fine a point on it, maybe, just maybe, you are a little arrogant.

When someone decides to write they are making a number of assumptions, here's just a few of them:
- They have something worth saying
- They have the ability to say it well
- They can tell an engaging story
- They can construct interesting plots, characters, motivations, scenes etc.

Some other things that aren't assumptions but will almost certainly be needed
- The ability to bare your soul and put emotion into your book
- The ability to get inside the heads of your characters to make them distinct and believable

Now maybe a very experienced and well respected author can be confident of their ability to do all these things. But for most to make the assumption that they can is, as I say, quite possibly arrogance.

Writing scares me, but that's not going to stop me. After all I have always said I wouldn't want to climb a mountain with someone who was not scared of heights. I do climb mountains and I am scared of heights!

 

[Coragem]

Not sure if I'm qualified to comment on this one as I've not actually written anything yet, though I am beginning to take the first steps. And I'm scared. And maybe that does make me qualified to comment.

Actually I'd go further and, without wanting to upset anyone, I think if you are not scared then, well not to put to fine a point on it, maybe, just maybe, you are a little arrogant.

When someone decides to write they are making a number of assumptions, here's just a few of them:
- They have something worth saying
- They have the ability to say it well
- They can tell an engaging story
- They can construct interesting plots, characters, motivations, scenes etc.

Some other things that aren't assumptions but will almost certainly be needed
- The ability to bare your soul and put emotion into your book
- The ability to get inside the heads of your characters to make them distinct and believable

Now maybe a very experienced and well respected author can be confident of their ability to do all these things. But for most to make the assumption that they can is, as I say, quite possibly arrogance.

Writing scares me, but that's not going to stop me. After all I have always said I wouldn't want to climb a mountain with someone who was not scared of heights. I do climb mountains and I am scared of heights!

Great post. My sentiments exactly.

 

[Vertigo]

Thank you Coragem, I was a little worried (and still am) that I might upset people with it but, hey, I was always the kid that just had to jab a stick into an ant's nest and stir it up

 

[The Judge]

But why should it scare you? What do you lose if you do it wrong? Are you going to drop dead? No. Are you going to lose thousands of pounds and be thrown onto the streets, destitute? No. Are you going to harm other people and/or become a social pariah? No. (OK.... well that last one might happen depending on what kind of book you write and whether you populate it with thinly veiled caricatures of your former friends and family...)

The most that can happen is that your ego will take a bit of a dent. Well, frankly, anyone who thinks he can write a novel without coming unstuck somewhere perhaps needs his (or her) ego denting a little!!

If you fail then you've failed to write a book, not failed to find a cure for cancer or failed to find a bomber or failed to stop one plane crashing into another. So what's there to be frightened of?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Your critiques?! Only joking....

I don't find the writing scary, but I do find waiting for reactions to it pretty nerve wrecking, although this is definitely easing as I gain confidence and a thicker skin. But regardless of that, the compulsion is there to do it, so the fear mustn't be enough to stop me.

@Vertigo; there was nothing in your post to offend, it was a stated opinion and very interesting.

 

[Mouse]

Damnit, TJ, I was just going to say that the 'scare' comment is bunkum and you come along and say it better. Pah.

This is why I dislike 'how to' books. Filling people's heads full of bilge, telling you that if you're not feeling something then you're doing it wrong. Absolute rot.

I've been writing stories since primary school. If writing ever started to 'scare' me, then I'd go to a doctor and ask they check out my mental state.

I'm the first person to look at something I've written and say it's the biggest pile of donkey doo doo the world's ever seen.

But I'm still not scared. Does that make me arrogant? Okay.

 

[allmywires]

Writing scares me, but that's not going to stop me. After all I have always said I wouldn't want to climb a mountain with someone who was not scared of heights. I do climb mountains and I am scared of heights!

Maybe climbing a mountain with someone who wasn't scared of heights would get you there faster, and someone who was scared would take their time and not rush it. But can't you have both? You don't want someone so scared they refuse to look down, or never make it to the top. You want to know they'll lead you to the summit safely and not tip you off down a ravine or something.
(Apologies for dreadfully stretching the metaphor for my point). Which brings me to...

I've been writing stories since primary school. If writing ever started to 'scare' me, then I'd go to a doctor and ask they check out my mental state.

I'm the first person to look at something I've written and say it's the biggest pile of donkey doo doo the world's ever seen.

But I'm still not scared. Does that make me arrogant? Okay.

...this. Mouse, you got me. I write to have fun. I love writing. I've done it for as long as I could remember. Never once has it scared me. I always look forward to it. Conversely, I'm my biggest critic. I think almost everything I do is drivel: I am not arrogant. By the nature of it being my work, automatically find fault with it. Lord knows if I ever finish my trilogy I'll probably never even have the guts to send it off to publishers.

If that's what you mean by scared, then I am, but that's only to do with other people reading it. I'd never be scared of the actual process: it's the part of me I value above almost anything else I can do.

 

[crystal haven]

The Judge, Mouse, how I wish I had your confidence. The world would seem a very different place, I’m sure.

I can understand this ‘fear’ of writing. I love writing, but can worry about getting it wrong, about not being able to capture that perfect scene, to the point of clamming up, and not being able to write at all. It is definitely a confidence thing. Perhaps one reason why I write with music, is so I block out everything else, including the part of my brain that makes me worry about it. Once I have the writing down, though, I can play around with sentences forever.

But what is classed as writing? If we are talking about putting letters on a page, then I could type a jumbled mess and wouldn’t care less. No, writing to me is getting the message I want to get across, in the way I intend and giving the emotions to the reader I want to give, along with many other things. So I can understand how Coragem and Vertigo feel.

Thank goodness we are all different or books on the shelves would read all the same. We carry life experiences, which can change the way we write, and the emotions we put into our stories, and the way we feel about writing itself.

 

[Mouse]

No, no, no. I'm not confident at all. I worry about my writing all the time. I'm just not scared of it. 'Scared' is the word I think is absolute pish.