Inferiority and Writing

I'm still writing the novel (it's my second attempt after years and years of edits that got nowhere; my main character was flawed), so I'm nowhere near ready to send it out. And I have some very skilled authors willing to look over it once it's finished... but, now I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board and rethink my series plan for book 2+. The series is nowhere near what it could be - and I fear I don't have the skills to make it work. I'm a very... unconfident person in real life, and sometimes I find it difficult not to think my work sucks. Now I'm afraid that, compared to Jordan, my world is flat and boring and this great plot I imagined is not nearly so complex.

I suppose people are right. Maybe it's a good thing that I can see where Jordan excels, in the hope that I can learn from it. I need more action, more plots, more wonder, more... everything. Much more. Mediocre is not good enough. I need to make my world shine.



Excuse me while I find a hole to crawl into.



(And cue someone imagining a little man, a Hobbit, who lives in a hole in the ground... ;))
 
Leisha said:
Thanks for the reply, wulfsbane (and hello! It's nice to see new members here!).

The problem is, I know my work won't be as good..
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THAT is your problem. You've already placed a cap on your potential and don't see any way of achieving something beyond that cap you have set for yourself. You can't think this way.

The only thing that any of us can do as writers is continue to write, day in and day out, for the rest of our lives. If we write something that turns out to be a world wide phenomenon or never publish a thing in our lives, we can all say that we wrote.

As long as you just keep trucking along, writing everyday because you love to do it, you can't help but eventually, someday write a good book that is publishable. How it compares to your novelist hero is something you should not be concerned with. Writing is a lifestyle, and I do prescribe to the idea that we all have a certain amount of talent in whatever we choose to do with our lives. I know plenty of people disagree with this and that's fine, but you must keep writing.

Practice makes nearly perfect. If you out due your hero, congratulations. If you don't, congratulations for trying.
 
Hmmm. Don't limit myself.... hmmm.... I'm a master when it comes to telling myself I'm not good enough... Sometimes I wonder how on earth I've continued with my writing all these years (I just can't stop writing).

But, you're right. I need to start focusing on the positives and just keep going. I need to try my hardest and see what happens. I suppose I would never stand a chance at making something good if I didn't know just how good "good" can be.


Okay, I shall try to find some positivity. Thank you, everyone. Sometimes writers need other writers to keep them going. Or maybe my cold's just got to me! Usually I can keep going through the negativity without letting it get to me as bad as the last few days.
 
Leisha said:
I've written for 11 years, and one of my novelettes will be published in a year or so (the only one I've ever actually sent off in the hope of publication).
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If you're getting something published, then you're doing well. It may not be the novel length piece you are aiming for, but at least it should be confirmation that your writing is of publishable standard.

I'm currently just over 25k into my first novel length story. This is in fact the longest single piece I've ever written. My advice, don't sweat it!
 
I know how you feel -- there are many things I look at and think, "I'll never write characters that work as well as that," but there are, thankfully, plenty of other examples of things I read and think, "I can do that," or "If that can be published, I've got no problems!" :D

I think the best thought I can keep in mind for it is a version of "don't compare your insides to other people's outsides" -- kind of like, "don't compare your drafts to other people's published books." I'm not a positive-thinking rainbows-and-sunshine kind of person, so that doesn't do an awful lot of good, but it helps a bit.
 
TheDustyZebra said:
I think the best thought I can keep in mind for it is a version of "don't compare your insides to other people's outsides" -- kind of like, "don't compare your drafts to other people's published books." I'm not a positive-thinking rainbows-and-sunshine kind of person, so that doesn't do an awful lot of good, but it helps a bit.
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I think the above is good advice.

That aside, this is an awful, awful thread title. "Inferiority". Get rid of that word! Stick a nuke under it! No one is going to write well with words like that floating around their nut!

Coragem.
 
I'm with allmywires; no specific author heroes, though there are some that I feel I'll never be able to compete with. Lots of Asimov has blown me a away (like Robots of Dawn); some not so much (Empire and Earth). Nothing can beat Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster trilogy (I'm willing to fight dissenters) so I won't even try. Then there ones like Alan Dean Foster, who I figure I'm on par with, or at least can be. But the real fun comes going through some of the author posts on Goodreads. There is some real crap out there that'll make your day to read, and a lot of them have quite a few ... I forget what Goodreads calls them: followers, likes, fans, whatever.

Bottom line is, don't give up; keep writing. Someone once said that you have to write a million words before you're any good, and that's probably about right, at least going by my experience. Not that I'm sure I'm any good yet. Giving up is the worst you can do.
 
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I'm fortunate, in that the writers I admire the most are dead and didn't write the same kind of thing as me.

However, why should the fact that the writers you like did very well necessarily deter you from doing the same? Writing is, to a very large extent, a craft that can be learned and practiced. You don't just sit there and suddenly write a work of genius (although the publishers spending vast sums on debut novels like to pretend otherwise). The best thing you can do is try to improve and keep on going.
 
Personally I keep my Big Idea tucked away safely in the darkest corners of my brain until I've had more practice at writing.

I love my current WIP, and when I finally manage to finish it I will try to get it published. I can see the flaws in my own writing, but I can also see what I've done well - although, admittedly, that happened only when I returned to the thing after months of not writing at all.

Maybe that would help you, too, Leisha - take some time off from your WIP, then read through it. Focus on the good parts, remember the good parts, and how it makes you feel to know that YOU wrote those words.
 
Chel said:
Maybe that would help you, too, Leisha - take some time off from your WIP, then read through it. Focus on the good parts, remember the good parts, and how it makes you feel to know that YOU wrote those words.
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Ahh yes, that was the other thing I was going to say! When I've stepped away from my WIP for months, I've been quite pleasantly surprised by bits of it when I come back and discover that I actually wrote that. I even find that twisty things sneak up on me in places, when I've forgotten some of the details. I'm sure you could step away for a while and come back to amaze yourself with what you've written.
 
Honestly I never do. But my work is very different to all of theirs. I was very excited to realise that my dialogue had lot of similarities to Enid Blyton and I reread some Agatha Christie and can see a clear influence on my own work but they were both a pleasant surprise.

I my timidly suggest a book to read. Racing Alone by Nader Khalili. It is the biography of an architect (my favourite architect) that gave up lucrative career designing skyscrapers to design little houses made of rammed Earth and ceramics. I have Dyspraxia and his attitude to life really changed my perception my own. I do not think I would be a writer today or have so much confidence about anything without it.

There is a wonderful story about his son Dastan who was four at the time. I think it was Central Park they were in and Dastan joined group of older children for races. Every time they would run and every time Dastan came last, he was becoming increasingly disillusioned and tears were beginning to appear. He then asked his father to count him down, because he was going to race alone. This time he followed the same course and was much slower - he picked up some bits and pieces, investigated some leaves and finished the race with a smile on his face.

Sometimes it is worth doing the best you can and know it is the best you can achieve. It doesn't matter about others if you race with yourself.
 
Chel said:
Personally I keep my Big Idea tucked away safely in the darkest corners of my brain until I've had more practice at writing.
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Exactly! I have t an idea I started on when I was a teenager that could be a work of art. I've been afraid to give it serious effort because I'm no Steinbeck and expect to squander it. Maybe I'll give it a shot before I die.
 
It's nice to know others have gone through similar things. I've had far too many breaks from my novel, though, tbh. I had a break of about a year when my life was hectic, and I've recently paused to complete a couple of short stories, which, as said, I did something with on one of them (and yes, I AM happy with that, because it was accepted to the first place I sent it to, and it was my first proper try of a short story).

So, yeah, I don't plan to have more breaks - barring any more unforeseen circumstances stopping me. I want to finish my novel. I want to be able to say, "I've done it. I've written a much better version this time". And it's weird, because most people here seem to think that I feel my writing sucks, which isn't the case. I'm always trying to improve, but I'm also happy with the level I'm at right now when I'm not tired, and I'm trying to tighten and strengthen my prose more than ever (I do ramble at times, and I can't afford to with my word count, so HACK!). It's the plot I'm upset about. I thought I had this good idea with lots of intrigue and stuff, and then a particular series by Jordan has made me see what a REALLY amazing plot is. I can't see how I can ever find a series I'll love more! Intertwined, deep, complex...

I WILL make mine better, I have to, but it's... humbling... to read something that has made me so awed. I'd never read anything that had got to me in such a way. And that's with the series' flaws. :eek: The thing is, I'm realistic. I know the chances of publishers liking my work enough to print. First and foremost I've written - and write - my stories for me, and I wouldn't get far if I didn't write something I loved. But now I know what (to me) an exceptional tale is, I'm struggling with thoughts about my own work - even if only I ever read it. Sounds silly, I know...

Fingers crossed I can pick my chin up and do what I must to make my novel not fall flat on its face. At least my partner should be able to tell me which parts work and which don't - he's great at that sort of thing. :)

Okay, Positive Thinking to be commenced in 5... 4.... 3.... 2...

(Imagines Jordan in dirty underpants as per HareBrain's suggestion.)



:eek::eek::eek:
 
Leisha said:
(Imagines Jordan in dirty underpants as per HareBrain's suggestion.)
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Some best-selling authors make this a whole lot easier, Dan Brown, for one. (I am, of course, referring to his prose. What did you think I meant...?)


Anyway, it's good that you're moving away from the 'inferiority' issue and remembering that, as far as writing is concerned, you're in fer the duration. :)
 
Blimey! It's not like I am capable of writing something at Jordan's level, so I'm gonna have to find a way to be more positive about my own work. But it just makes me see what a huuuuuge divide there is between good writers and master storytellers, and I think that's the issue that's bothering me. How can people be so gifted???


And I shall NOT imagine Dan Brown in underpants, thank you very much! :eek::D:eek: (No matter how dire I found the writing in his hit novel.)




On a different note - Ursa, are you spamming this place when I'm not looking?! How the heck can anyone have that many posts?!!! Wow.
 
Jordan is a best selling author - my daughter even reads the banal pony rubbish. It is pink and has ponies what's not to like when you are eight?
 
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