Lost my confidence!

Move on from the project and start something else?

SecretScribe said:

I have been spending a lot of time here at AW and getting things critted etc. I am now re-editing my ms yet again and suddenly all of it looks awful to me. What do you do when you lose confidence in your writing completely!?

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Don't give up.

I'm sure many writers here have had days where they look at their own work and think 'What in insert-favourite-expletive-here have I been writing?' That feeling usually passes.

Can't say that I've ever lost confidence in my writing. But I've hit plenty of brick walls and I've got a drawerful of half-finished writings to show for it.

That's why I've only ever posted twice in the critique forums. Too afraid my writing won't stand on its own.

One of the things I do when I'm feeling down about my writing is to watch a Sci-Fi Channel original movie. At least I don't write like that.

~DragonHeart~

Read a good book on editing your work, take a break from writing for a week or two, or start something new.

Hang in there! It gets better!

I feel reassured when my writing looks crap because it means I'm reading it with more critical eyes and can see all the mistakes I've made - which in turn enables me to put them right and edit it as best I can.

Of course you could think, "Ah, but what if I learn some more and then see MORE errors in my work?" That's always possible but there comes a point where you've edited it until you feel sick of the sight of it - that's probably the point where you can't do any more with it and should send it out.

I know how you feel, but you have to be confident about your work if you want to put it out there. I just wish there existed a "magic bullet" you could use to get that confidence. I have self-esteem issues (don't all women?), but not where my writing is concerned.

If you feel it isn't "good enough," it probably isn't. On the other hand, if you're a reader as well as a writer, you'll know when it's good. Trust your judgment. And I would definitely continue working with critiquers. My critique group has done so much to improve my writing, I can never thank them enough.

I guess my confidence comes from feedback. Perhaps you can find some there as well. But it ultimately boils down to faith in yourself.

Hang in there! You're not alone.

The fact of the matter is that those crits, painful as they are, are helping you to improve your craft. It shouldn't be a matter of losing your confidence but gaining it. Trust me--I belong to to a meeeeeeeeeeean critique group who have been joyously shredding my dialogue tags and adverbs for close to four years now. If it weren't for their feedback I wouldn't have progressed as far as I have. Keep track of your writerly quirks and work to eliminate them in first drafts. It's the best way to learn.

Above all, however, keep writing. Don't let anything, particularly not a harsh critique, deter you from what is important--getting the story on paper.

On the flip side, I discovered that GIVING critiques helped me to assimilate and accept the critiques I receive. I have no idea whether you critique in return, but if you don't I'd recommend as a surefire method of improving your craft.

Good luck.

Oh...and here's a blog entry from jeff vandermeer that might help you out. I've found it quite useful over recent months.

SecretScribe said:

I have been spending a lot of time here at AW and getting things critted etc. I am now re-editing my ms yet again and suddenly all of it looks awful to me. What do you do when you lose confidence in your writing completely!?

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Doesn't matter how it looks to you. Doesn't matter how it looks to critique groups. Who cares?

What matters is how it looks to agents and editors, and their opinions are very often radically different than the opinions of the writers themselves, or those of any critique group.

DragonHeart said:

One of the things I do when I'm feeling down about my writing is to watch a Sci-Fi Channel original movie. At least I don't write like that.

~DragonHeart~

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LOL Those movies are horrible....who writes that stuff anyway?

SecretScribe said:

I have been spending a lot of time here at AW and getting things critted etc. I am now re-editing my ms yet again and suddenly all of it looks awful to me. What do you do when you lose confidence in your writing completely!?

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When I first joined AW, I was pretty much supremely confident in my abilities. Then, I began to read threads like 'Learn Writing With Uncle Jim', and found my writing to be quite lacking.

My writing, as I tried to follow all the supposed rules and regulations of the Craft, became pretty bad. Some of the worst writing I've ever produced, came from about a year ago, while I was still working with my old account here.

Then, someone told me, very nicely, I should write my stories in the same voice I used to write my posts with. The person -- I'm afraid I cannot remember who it was right now -- said I write pretty well when it comes to my posts here. I slowly began to rebuild my writing style based upon how I post online.

Now I write pretty nicely, though I'm no Robert Louis Stevenson. And my confidence, though not supreme, is decent enough that I've started to submit again.

The point I'm making in this post, is that a lot of times we have to tear ourselves down before we can build ourselves up properly. It's like a broken bone that has started to heal improperly. It's healing, but will be a problem later on down the road. Sadly, the only way to fix this problem is to re-break the bone and set it so it will grow back together in its proper manner. But when a broken bone heals properly, I'm told it's actually stronger than it was before it was broken.

The same thing has to be done, I think, with a lot of people's writing. Many times, their confidence in their writing has to be torn down before it can be built back up properly. But when they heal of this break of confidence, through the help of other writers, editors, etc., they will grow into an even greater confidence than they had at the beginning of their writing aspirations.

So don't give up just yet. You might just be experiencing that re-breaking of the bone that is necessary to make it heal properly. But when your writing grows within the splint of guidance from other writers, it will become even better and stronger.

I hope this helps you out. Best wishes to you.

I get that way now and again, but I chalk it up to a need for two pamprin and a 3-day break from writing!

When I need a confidence boost, I pick up a book and read it - then realize I write as well if not - in many cases - better, so I have the same chance this author did.

Hang tough, sweetie, we've all been there and will be again! I think it just goes with the territory.

If you feel it isn't "good enough," it probably isn't.

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I think the exact opposite is true. It's when you start to feel your work is actually good, that it's often at its worst. I've spend a lot of time around artists and the truly great ones are those that think their work is never good enough and never quite finished. You'll find loads of people that think they've got it all under control that actually haven't got a clue. The moment you're satisfied with your work, is the moment you ought to worry about.

I should note that this theory is very convenient when you feel your work isn't measuring up

Sandy J said:

If you feel it isn't "good enough," it probably isn't.

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I don't think how you feel about your writing has anything at all to do with the quality. Writing I hate the most often sells first time out, and writing I think is great often never sells.

The worst thing a writer can do is judge the quality of his own work. It's an impossible task.

Don't let it get you down SecretScribe! It's probably just a bad day when everything looks bad. And, if you still think your writing isn't up to the level you'd like it to be, then work hard to improve (I'm not saying you need to...writing is subjective after all, and what some people in critique groups hate, others might like).

One of the things I do when I'm feeling down about my writing is to watch a Sci-Fi Channel original movie. At least I don't write like that.

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I couldn't stop laughing when I read this. So true. They used to have decent movies too, now it's just monster movies. Blah.

Guys, guys, wait.

*Holds up Secretscribe's confidence.*

I found it!

Siddow said:

Move on from the project and start something else?

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Not to be rude but given the vague information provided, would that really be a good answer? Just giving up because of a bad day?

I've done it before and each time I felt like such a pussy.

Now, if she's been struggling with it for years and beginning to hate writing because of it, we'd have some reason to believe a rest is best.

I don't think Siddow meant move on from writing, but just switch gears from one story to another, you know. Like starting a short story and putting aside the big 40,000 word novella. At least, that's what I thought. Sometimes that does help too, because a change of scenery and characters can get everything going, then you can go back to the other project fresh.

Jamesaritchie said:

I don't think how you feel about your writing has anything at all to do with the quality. Writing I hate the most often sells first time out, and writing I think is great often never sells.

The worst thing a writer can do is judge the quality of his own work. It's an impossible task.

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We're going to have to agree to disagree. I often find that if I would trust my gut feeling about a piece, I am a very good judge of its quality. Things I feel hinky about are the very things my critique group goes after, and I find myself saying, "I knew that would happen."

Then again, the writing experience is different for everyone. There are no definitive answers. Just MHO.

I've gotten several "HO"'s lately...like anyone's going to give you their totally-lying-their-ass-off opinion. We're all here to help, and we're all being honest. And everything we write is opinion, unless we cite sources.

Hang in there, Secretscribe. Keep reading, keep writing. If you must, put your WIP away for awhile and work on something new. You'll love your MS again when you see it with fresh eyes.

As far as writing goes, I don't think it's a case of familiarity breeding contempt. It could simply be a gap in one's knowledge of the craft.

Also, some are better than others at spotting perceived weaknesses.

When reading and re-reading one's own work one has to know what one is looking for, otherwise the flaws, if any (cough, cough), will never be spotted.

SecretScribe said:

This is really interesting. Can an artist tell if their work is good, or are they always the harshest critics of their own endevours? I think it is also worth noting that as the writer, you have been through your own work a billion times and perhaps that familiarity breeds contempt?

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