And, remember, if it's published work that's making you feel self doubt that it will have been revised to an inch of its life and its first draft was probably rubbish. It's not comparing like with like!
Writer's doubt
- Thread starter Nick B
- Start date
The problem with self-doubt is that it's so easy to blame yourself. Actually, the randomness of the book world and the randomness of luck are far larger effects.
SevenStars
Bouncin'
I've always had this problem and suspect I will always wrestle with it.
No easy answers because we are all so unique and what works for one might not for another. I have three great friends who have, in varying ways, encouraged and supported me to the extent that my first novel is now going to be published. All I can say is listen to what others say, especially when they're telling you that your writing is better than you think it is
No easy answers because we are all so unique and what works for one might not for another. I have three great friends who have, in varying ways, encouraged and supported me to the extent that my first novel is now going to be published. All I can say is listen to what others say, especially when they're telling you that your writing is better than you think it is
millymollymo
Automaton in disguise
I have a husband. He listens to my rants, woes, and even joys, then tells me to shut up and carry on. Confiscates my chocolate, hides my crisps.
Frustrating, when you want a sugar rush and you can't find any. So I go back to writing to hide from the injustice (And he thinks I don't see his cunning plan.)
Frustrating, when you want a sugar rush and you can't find any. So I go back to writing to hide from the injustice
(And he thinks I don't see his cunning plan.)
lonewolfwanderer
The One and Only
Having the support of your friends and family, and even betas, helps, i find. My brother has said to me if i don't finish my WIP soon (his read the first 2 chapters), he'll shoot me... But what i find gets me the writer's blues, is when you know what it is you want, or where your WIP must go, but you can't think of how to get it there. So you spend most of your time trying to think of something, and not writing.
Several people who had stopped writing due to illness or depression found their confidence again after a few months of contributing to the 75 word challenge. It's nice when you can't work on anything else to be able to look back at the challenges and say to yourself, "Yes, but during that time I wrote (x number) entire stories."
THIS! So much this!
*tearing hair out today*
I got there, realised it wouldn't work, now have to go back and figure out where too many of the things I threw at the wall stuck and unpeel a few.
(there's an image...)
So... yes... if you'd asked two days ago, I'd have said I was highly positive of being done (bar editing and tidying and all that) by the weekend. But now?... ugh... I just hope to have figured out what I need to do to FIX it by the weekend.
To me, this is my writers doubt: the realisation that all the plotting and planning I did went wrong somewhere, I didn't realise it at the time, missed something obvious and frankly, shouldn't have written the last 10 chapters the way I did.
Hermit the frog
Active Member
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
- Messages
- 39
When I first started writing this current manuscript, I would finish a chapter and run round the house laughing at how good it was. Then, further into it the doubts crept in. They would last for a day or two, during which my perception of what I’d written fell through the floor. I realised I had a choice; try to improve or give up.
That cycle has continued endlessly, albeit the laughing has died down, but I still get a kick when I think I’ve written something half decent.
What I wonder is, does the decrease in manic depressive behaviour as I learn this mad pastime mean I might actually be getting somewhere. Do published authors become well adjusted in their writing or am I just wearing myself out.
It certainly is a head trip. A good one BTW.
Mark
That cycle has continued endlessly, albeit the laughing has died down, but I still get a kick when I think I’ve written something half decent.
What I wonder is, does the decrease in manic depressive behaviour as I learn this mad pastime mean I might actually be getting somewhere. Do published authors become well adjusted in their writing or am I just wearing myself out.
It certainly is a head trip. A good one BTW.
Mark
It doesn't change Mark, however successful you become.
It is weirdly reassuring to know that it is actually normal to feel like this at times. I am getting out of this one, and have just sent a short story to a beta to see if it is worth sending to a US publisher looking for shorts for an anthology.
SleepyDormouse
dreaming away....
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2011
- Messages
- 239
I'm in a down at the moment. I was so pleased to have finished my first final draft, but then I was reading it and it just seems so shallow.
anyway I've set it aside and am trying to focus on other things (like the 75 word challenge). Hopefully when I come back to it I will feel more positive and see ways of improving it.
anyway I've set it aside and am trying to focus on other things (like the 75 word challenge). Hopefully when I come back to it I will feel more positive and see ways of improving it.
Hermit the frog
Active Member
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
- Messages
- 39
That’s okay, I can live with the ups and downs.
Years ago, with previous obsessions, (this one’s a slow burner that has recently ignited), the goal of improving came with some type of measure as to how and if you were getting better.
This is totally different. I have to measure myself. Oops, that doesn’t sound right. Up to recently I have done that and in the end you can have as many beta readers and crits as you can get, but it still comes down to you putting fingers to keyboards and making the decision which key to hit.
Within a few keystrokes your options go into the millions. Amazing isn’t it? And nobody can tell you which one to hit. Somehow, through writing, reading, critiquing, talking, bla de bla, you hope to get better. But hardly anyone will probably read it.
Flipping heck. I might be going on one of those down cycles. Ha ha. Just realised I’m okay and just suffering from Friday night glass of wine syndrome. Blabering on.
Phew.
mark
Remember the first draft is just that - first draft. Don't read it until you are ready to add its depth and colour. I'm a bugger for going back and reading passages again and again until it looks boring, but lets face it, if I read the same passage by Gemmel 25 times, no matter how good it was, by the 26th it would be boring...
The advice here is great, when in doubt, keep writing.
Kissmequick
loony
I think everything I have ever written is crap
My husband can tell where I am in a draft by the amount of swearing/"this sucks" comments
If you look at something and think it's no good you are half way there, because you are not thinking "OMG I am a genius!" which is, frankly, fatal
See the Dunning-Kruger effect.
This self doubt will probably not get better (well, not for me) but you need to learn to write past it.
My husband can tell where I am in a draft by the amount of swearing/"this sucks" comments
If you look at something and think it's no good you are half way there, because you are not thinking "OMG I am a genius!" which is, frankly, fatal
See the Dunning-Kruger effect.
This self doubt will probably not get better (well, not for me) but you need to learn to write past it.
I've written a few novels now and I've noticed there seem to be in my case two kinds: the ones that go through tortuous re-writes and eventually come good, sometimes after years; and the ones I seem to get right first time. Very odd. Then there's the ones that never get anywhere, which is the majority...
The "down" period is unpleasant to experience, but you have to develop ways of coping with it. I think writing new stuff is pretty much the best way of dealing with the inevitable disappointments of the writing game.
Also, let's not forget that even geniuses (Wolfe, Banks, Herbert, Aldiss) write poor books that they probably regret doing. You never get it right all the time.
The "down" period is unpleasant to experience, but you have to develop ways of coping with it. I think writing new stuff is pretty much the best way of dealing with the inevitable disappointments of the writing game.
Also, let's not forget that even geniuses (Wolfe, Banks, Herbert, Aldiss) write poor books that they probably regret doing. You never get it right all the time.
Boneman
Well-Known Member
And that happens within books, for me. Some sections just flow off the tip of my word-processor, and others have to be edited, rewritten over and over. And some get dumped...
Indeed, Boneman. I made practically no changes to the first chapter of my last book, but the fourth took ages to start and underwent two massive rewrites. Gives me some hope that even if a chapter's a bugger to start it can eventually come good.
i think my downtime is over for now, got 400 words down this morning. Sadly im off to work till 11pm but thank you all for wisdom and encouragement, i think joining chrons has been the best move for me in a while.
Yeah I've had doubts about stuff I've written in the past, I think it's only natural. Everyone is their own worst critic, but I think this works as a great self-defence tool. No criticism that anyone can give me is worse than the criticism that I give myself!
I just try and remember that this is my dream, and a bit of self doubt won't stop me from trying it. My crappy day job is good motivation too haha.
I just try and remember that this is my dream, and a bit of self doubt won't stop me from trying it. My crappy day job is good motivation too haha.
I seem be very much mired in it right now.
Two weeks ago I was certain I within a couple of sessions of finishing (at least the first draft) and eager and excited to have achieved that.
Since then, I've:...
- had major doubts about my last big scene because I couldn't make it work.
- traced the problem back to adding in too much stuff in the build-up to it (Basically, too many people in the way with wildly different motivations prevented... well... pretty much anything happening in anything approaching a dramatic way ;P)
- decided to take out some of those added bits and re-write the last few chapters and take the opportunity while I did to do a couple of things different that have been bugging me
- gone right back to the original plot and plan that I wrote months and months ago and realised that I'd lost sight of a few details that meant half of what I was trying to do I didn't even need to do...
You get the idea. It's been a bit rough.
In short: I think I got carried away somewhere in the last 1/3 and started to try and layer in too much stuff. Now I'm trying to peel it back and keep it leaner and more to the core of what the first 2/3 of the book is about.
On the plus side, this has shown me where my weaknesses are and where I need to keep a tighter rein on what I'm doing WHILE I'm doing it.
So... silver linings and all that
Two weeks ago I was certain I within a couple of sessions of finishing (at least the first draft) and eager and excited to have achieved that.
Since then, I've:...
- had major doubts about my last big scene because I couldn't make it work.
- traced the problem back to adding in too much stuff in the build-up to it (Basically, too many people in the way with wildly different motivations prevented... well... pretty much anything happening in anything approaching a dramatic way ;P)
- decided to take out some of those added bits and re-write the last few chapters and take the opportunity while I did to do a couple of things different that have been bugging me
- gone right back to the original plot and plan that I wrote months and months ago and realised that I'd lost sight of a few details that meant half of what I was trying to do I didn't even need to do...
You get the idea. It's been a bit rough.
In short: I think I got carried away somewhere in the last 1/3 and started to try and layer in too much stuff. Now I'm trying to peel it back and keep it leaner and more to the core of what the first 2/3 of the book is about.
On the plus side, this has shown me where my weaknesses are and where I need to keep a tighter rein on what I'm doing WHILE I'm doing it.
So... silver linings and all that
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