Question!!!

TypoSlayer · Apr 25, 2008

Okay, I'm quite sure my question has been asked before, but I didn't see anything in the past threads....

So...

I've found quite recently that when I get a really good idea-- you know, the ones that really explode in your brain and you find yourself saying "Ooh, this is SO awesome!! It'll totally fix *insert annoying problem here*!!!"-- the euphora of it is dimmed by this cynical, scared voice in my head that says "I can't do this. I can't do this. I don't know enough. I haven't learned enough." And the Good Idea takes a metaphorical nose dive, becoming not near as good as I know I can make it. Every time it comes I tell it to go back to the dark corner where it came from, but it gets more insistant. Any tips on how to get rid of it?

tallus83 · Apr 25, 2008

Tell yourself to shut up and go away.

Then makes notes on what you want to write and go from there.

C.bronco · Apr 25, 2008

If it were easy then everyone would do it. Just dive in head first and deal with the obstacles when you reach them. Don't waste time worring about them in advance.

On my happy planet, I plug along until I get to the next step. Then I find a way to work out the next step. Then I go merrily for awhile etc..
There are definite advantages to being optimistic and oblivious. Just ignore the scared voice in your head, and I will give you a cookie.

CDarklock · Apr 25, 2008

Just Do It.

You'll do better than the little voice says you will. After you've done that enough times, whenever that little voice starts, you can mentally shake all the things you've done in its face and say "SHUT UP!"

And in time, it will.

Phaeal · Apr 25, 2008

That cynical voice is the Inner Editor, who lives to deflate good ideas. The cure for the Inner Editor is the mantra, "It's just a first draft -- it's allowed to be crap." And yes, the mantra can be modified for second and third and fourth drafts, too -- for everything, in fact, but the final draft.

So recite the mantra, put the good idea into execution, and finish the work. Then go back, let the Inner Editor have his five minute rant about the flaws in the piece, and start over again, mantra on your lips.

ACEnders · Apr 25, 2008

All you can do is ignore it and keep on keepin' on. That's all you can do.

I agree with CDark though - in time, that voice will fade, and eventually, it'll disappear altogether.

eveningstar · Apr 25, 2008

Ignore the voice in your head and just write.

I woke up this morning with a great idea for a short story. I wrote out a very quick draft. It's bad, possibly really bad. But the idea and the structure there and I can go back and fix it and rewrite it and make it better.

You can always keep working on something, but first you have to get it out of your head and onto the page.

windyrdg · Apr 25, 2008

What everyone else said.
I find the best way for me to deal with this is to write something...anything. It's always easier to edit a piece of writing once you have it in hand, or on the screen, than deal with it in the abstract. Some parts of my books where I wanted to get the emotion just right have gone through 20+ revisions. You can't tinker with what you don't got. Get it down on paper.

James D. Macdonald · Apr 25, 2008

That's the Saboteur Self talking. Ignore it.

Execution always fall short of conception; else we'd be unable to learn anything new.

Garpy · Apr 25, 2008

For the 'I don't know anything about blah blah blah' issue...there's Wikipedia/google as a first port of call. There's usually enough you can rustle up in 5 to 10 mins to know if your idea is workable.

When you're working on draft 2, go find an expert to pluck a few handy authoritative buzz-phrases from. Piece-a-cake.

Melenka · Apr 25, 2008

I agree with the folks who say write it down first and fix it later. A professor friend of mine gave me this mantra to get me through my degree, but it works just as well for writing stories: Done is good. Better is the enemy of done.

Better is what betas, editors and revisions are for. It has no place in the initial process.

(The same friend gave me my sig quote, which has not yet been published, nor will be for another year or so.)

Shweta · Apr 25, 2008

I tell myself it's all just words. And mostly words I know. And if I don't have the right words the first time, I'll get them the second, or third, or fourteenth time.

IMO you do know what you need to do to manage it, if not the first time round then the fifth or the seventh or whatever. We all do, if we can write comprehensible sentences. The only thing that can possibly be wrong with writing is, at some level, the wrong words

And they're all just words. You can find the right ones.

(ETA: Yes, I know there's more to it than that, at higher levels, but reminding myself that it's all words at the lowest level is a useful sanity check

)

KTC · Apr 25, 2008

Write through it. To develop as a writer, write through it.

Starwise · Apr 28, 2008

Take Mr. Jiggly (a.k.a. the voice in your head), tie him/her up on a chair, gag him/her. Then, grow four different arms out of your body (more protein in your diet will help speed the process, too). In one hand, arm yourself with a feather. In another hand, arm yourself with a tack hammer. In, yet, another hand, arm yourself with a manual for stereo instructions. In, yet, another hand, arm yourself with an iPod Nano playing the song "Barbie Girl" over and over and over and over again. In, yet, another hand, arm yourself with a video iPod playing the "peanut butter jelly time" video repeated over and over again in double speed. In the final sixth hand, arm yourself with a brick of old, moldy cheese, and hold the old, moldy cheese up to Mr. Jiggly's nose.

THEN...at the same time...proceed to tickle, bash, bore to death, annoy, inundate with insanity and choke Mr. Jiggly to death. (Metaphorically speaking)

HeronW · Apr 28, 2008

First thoughts have power. That's why we panic and second guess and make excuses and futz around. Hold that first thought, stuff it in and let it ferment a few days then go back, read the ms and see if you were right. it's about trusting your instincts, your intuition.

zornhau · Apr 28, 2008

TypoSlayer said:
Any tips on how to get rid of it?

Work from outline. That way you can see the clear path to the end, even as you change it.

Namatu · Apr 28, 2008

I say start researching while you write. Learn more than just what you need to know to get the job done so you feel comfortable with the subject matter. That "I can't do this!" feeling is scared anticipation. That's why it keeps coming back more insistent than before. You have to do something with it or it won't go away.

mikeland · Apr 28, 2008

Starwise said:
Take Mr. Jiggly (a.k.a. the voice in your head), tie him/her up on a chair, gag him/her. Then, grow four different arms out of your body (more protein in your diet will help speed the process, too). In one hand, arm yourself with a feather. In another hand, arm yourself with a tack hammer. In, yet, another hand, arm yourself with a manual for stereo instructions. In, yet, another hand, arm yourself with an iPod Nano playing the song "Barbie Girl" over and over and over and over again. In, yet, another hand, arm yourself with a video iPod playing the "peanut butter jelly time" video repeated over and over again in double speed. In the final sixth hand, arm yourself with a brick of old, moldy cheese, and hold the old, moldy cheese up to Mr. Jiggly's nose.

THEN...at the same time...proceed to tickle, bash, bore to death, annoy, inundate with insanity and choke Mr. Jiggly to death. (Metaphorically speaking)

Hey Starwise. Welcome to AW. I just wanted to say that if you ever decide to write a book on How To Write a Novel, I will definitely buy it. Watch out, Mr. Jiggly!

TypoSlayer, there's a lot of good advice here. I always put my ideas on paper, no matter how unformed or flawed they are. Ideas in my head have a way of dissipating. Ideas on paper wait for me to catch up with them.

ToddWBush · Apr 28, 2008

Doesn't have to do with writing, but I think that other inner voice is a distraction, the Inner Editor, trying to tell you that you can't do something.

Jack Nicklaus, professional golfer, was lining up a putt to win a golf tournament. Just as he was about to hit the ball, a car horn went off in the parking lot. He sunk the putt anyway and won the tournament. After the tournament, someone asked him, "Jack, how'd you make that putt with that loud car horn going off?" Jack's reply should apply to all of us with our Inner Editor trying to throw us off our game:

"What car horn?"

a_sharp · Apr 28, 2008

Indulge me for a quick story.

I spent years working for an electric utility company, surrounded by experts in several fields. Got this great idea for a story about sabotaging the electric grid, an opener about a lineman saving a boy trapped inside an electrified car, yada, yada. Turned out I knew less than I thought. Turned out my whole notion got pre-empted by 9/11, the real life catastrophe to top all catastrophes. How do you trump a conspiracy like a plane hijack that starts a seven-year war?

My initial response was to shelve the book, which I did. Over the years since, technology also unraveled several of my premises, which were perfectly valid at concept time and insightful because I was a firsthand authority.

My regret? That I didn't barge forward and write the dang thing when I had the idea, because it was blockbuster stuff, very high-concept, a sneaky way to lock down the electrical grid that only I and a handful of people knew of at the time.

It often amazes me how far readers will go with a writer in suspending disbelief, or in simply agreeing that the story and the characters are too compelling to care whether it's possible or not.

Question!!!

TypoSlayer

Rawr

tallus83

C.bronco

I have plans...

CDarklock

Yes!

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

ACEnders

Self-Banned

eveningstar

circus girl without a safety net

windyrdg

New kid, be gentle!

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

Garpy

keyboard monkey

Melenka

Better is the enemy of done

Shweta

gone

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Starwise

Debut Urban Fantasy Author

HeronW

Down Under Fan

zornhau

Swordsman

Namatu

Lost in mental space.

mikeland

Call me Pookie

ToddWBush

a_sharp

Somebody give me an A