I feel like I've made no improvement

[DeusExMachina770]

if I don't look back at pieces from months/years ago, I feel like I'm making progress. but if I look back at old works I can't help but compare them to my current work and feel that I've made no progress.

anyone encounter similar problems? any advice?

[Sophia]

Hi,

Can I ask, are you comparing like with like? That is, a current work that is complete and polished to the best of your ability, with an old work, also complete and polished? If so, I would then ask, how long did it take you to write the current work compared to the old work? How long to refine the idea, plan the story (if that's how you write), to write the first draft? How many edits did each take? The final result may not seem as good to your eyes, but can you see an improvement in your skills and your method?

If the final result does seem worse when you compare like with like, it may be that you have made no progress, and you need to work a little more until you push past this plateau. Or it may be that your viewpoint is skewed at the moment simply from being very close to your work. If you leave it for a while, say a couple of months, and then look at it, do you think you might see a difference?

These are just some thoughts, and I hope they help. I have had this reaction when comparing old and new work before, but it's always been when the current work is going badly. Once I work myself out of the slump (and it always takes some active effort on my part), things improve. How are you feeling about your current work -- is it going well? Is anything else in your life affecting your mood, perhaps? (Don't answer that here; it's for you to consider, if you want).

[Aglaia]

Are there particular areas that you struggle with that you identify in your old work that still pop up your newer stuff? For example, I always considered dialogue a serious problem. Couldn't write the stuff. I had to write a play in college - disaster! :tongue Anyway, I devoted my energy to it, paid attention to it in real life and in published work, and just generally worked on it, and I see a difference when I compare my work now to my work then. *shudder*

Now I have new struggles. But if I don't identify them and actually think about them and wrestle with them while I'm writing, then I don't see improvement over time - in my own writing anyway.

[C.M.C.]

I don't mean to be the bringer of bad news, but not everyone is going to improve with every piece that one writes. Sometimes progress plateaus, and sometimes it's in a way that you yourself can't see.

[Riley]

This is peculiar, because there should be changes in word choice, characterization, pacing, etc. How many works are we comparing here? From how long ago? Are they the same genre?

I hesitate to say, 'well, maybe you haven't improved at all', yet I also hesitate to say, 'it's a lack of confidence. You'll recognize your own skill soon enough.' To say you haven't improved at all is a terrible assumption on my part and to say that you haven't recognized your skill yet is an assumption all its own.

Depending on how much, how long, and how diligently you practiced, you may or may not see improvement in any arbitrary amount of time. The writer who spends ten minutes a day in practice will take longer to improve than the writer who spends three hours a day in practice. The writer who writes with an eye to improve their characterization, pacing, etc. with every work will improve faster and more noticeably than the writer who doesn't. The writer who experiments with a multitude of forms and genres has a better chance of have a more marked improvement than a writer who doesn't.

I recommend you take your oldest and newest work you can find. Read the old, then the new. Then lay them side by side and compare. You should find differences in how you write. If you can't, give the pieces to some people you can trust. Ask them if they can see some kind of difference between the two.

They should find at least a couple of differences. Depending on how much time has lapsed between the two pieces, they should find many differences. If you're, say, eighteen years old, have been writing since you were thirteen, and still write like a thirteen-year-old, then you have problems. You derailed somewhere and stopped growing. That's perfectly fine. Once you identify and admit it, you can move on again.

Another thought. How old are you? If you're fairly young or have any learning disability, progress is going to be slower and much less noticeable. Writing from when I was four and nine don't read much differently from each other, through from twelve on they do. One of my friends has a learning disability (high-functioning autism, I believe,) and though she's been writing for near a decade, she still writes as if she were thirteen or fourteen. She'll learn. She just has to work harder and longer.

Feeling is different from being. If you can't look at your own work without bias, have someone else do it.

[gypsyscarlett]

Hi,

Could you be more specific about what is plaguing you about your work? Do you feel you need more help with characterization, plotting, voice, grammar...?

You may want to post some work in SYW. That way you can get impartial opinions. You may be too close to your work to judge it objectively.

And don't worry- your feelings are quite normal. I think just about all of us here can relate! The great thing about writing is it's a lifelong process.

Good luck to ya! :)

[DeusExMachina770]

Hi,

Could you be more specific about what is plaguing you about your work? Do you feel you need more help with characterization, plotting, voice, grammar...?





from a holistic perspective, not any particular element


and thanks to everyone who's answered so far

[gypsyscarlett]

from a holistic perspective, not any particular element


and thanks to everyone who's answered so far

Hi,

Since that's the case- I'd really suggest posting something on SYW. Like I said in my last post, others will be able to be a lot more objective. If you do post on SYW- please mention it on this thread. I'd be interested in taking a look at it.

Btw- how long have you been writing?

[Hummingbird]

I have looked back a couple of times and thought that I was making no progress anywhere. :cry:

But I have learned that I was! :hooray: Even though I could not see it there were little things that I was changing that I did not realize until much later on.

Perhaps you are the same way, DeusExMachina770.

Even though I felt like I was not improving anywhere I kept going. Then I learned that I was improving, so that was awesome. :)

I would say that you should look back every so often to set goals of what you want to work on, but do not take it too seriously. As long as you know what it is that you want to change you can work on it slowly. Then you may learn that you were working on it all along and you can throw a party when you realize. ;)

I treated myself to a huge bowl of icecream; which probably is not the best way to treat oneself, but it was yummy. :D

[DeusExMachina770]

Btw- how long have you been writing?

only a year and a half


again, thanks to everyone who's answered so far. I think I might post something in SYW sometime soon.

[Riley]

A year and a half?

That's no time at all. Try comparison in about three years, two if you work extra hard. Five years if you really want a stark contrast.

(Oh, and I do hope you post to SYW. There are some really great critters around here!)