Why do you fail?

I fail because I've spent the last week trying to write the next paragraph of my short story but can't manage to spew anything out. I'll write something, delete it, write it slightly different, delete it, write something entirely different, delete it... What's worse is that the story is supposed to be in a stream of consciousness. I fear it won't come off as natural because of how I tend to over-analyze stuff.

blacbird said:

You have friends here. Perhaps you and me should have a failure competition. Winner gets . . . I mean, loser gets . . . oh, hell, forget it.

caw

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A combination of fear of success and fear of commitment. I think I've come to the point in my craft that I can be a success, but that would so drastically change my life that I struggle between doing those things that would make me successful and those things that will keep me forever an also-ran.

NDG

Norman D Gutter said:

A combination of fear of success and fear of commitment. I think I've come to the point in my craft that I can be a success, but that would so drastically change my life that I struggle between doing those things that would make me successful and those things that will keep me forever an also-ran.

NDG

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Good point, but I think it's more like Fear of the expectations after success for me.

For all of you who think you suck, maybe you do--but stop the wallowing and go get better. There are a lot of ways of improving as a writer--I know because I used to suck. Not so much anymore.

Writing is a business. I fail because I sometimes lose track of that notion. I get wildly carried away with some screwball idea, only to realize later that my project's marketability factor is ziltch. (I mean, come on. Modern day elves? A whole trilogy of modern day elves? where did I come up with that gem, anyway?)

So, now a days, I try to keep my eye on the prize before I even sit down to write. I ask myself, where am I going to market this? What are my secondary markets? What is my word length? What is my intended audience, and what are the rules? Can they have sex, not have sex? Am I supposed to focus only on the primary MC's or does the pub appreciate a good sub-plot? Stuff like that.

I've had a few nibbles of interest with my newer, more focused stuff, so I guess it helps.

But, deep in my heart, I still want to write about modern day elves. *sigh*

wannawrite said:

Writing is a business.

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Honestly, I hate that idea. I got into this because I thought it was supposed to be fun, telling stories, entertaining people, creating memorable characters that brighten people's days....

The whole business aspect of it depresses me.

Writing's fun.

PUBLISHING is a business.

scarletpeaches said:

Writing's fun.

PUBLISHING is a business.

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*hugs her*

And that's why we have agents.

We have fun, they do all the work.

Shadow_Ferret said:

*hugs her*

And that's why we have agents.

We have fun, they do all the work.

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Ew, gerrof, Fuzzface.

D)

Oh, Oh, Oh, I just figured it out. I fail because I DON'T KNOW HOW TO WRITE. Just because I love something and practice it relentlessly doesn’t mean I’m any good at it. It just means I’m going to fail at what I love. Ha. And also, it doesn’t mean I’m going to stop inflicting pain upon the people I force to read my stuff. I think it means I’m going to try harder and fail bigger.

I think it’s one of the levels of Hell.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I fail because my writing sucks.

But beyond that, I'm even lazier then KTC. At least he writes something that NEEDS editing, I'm too lazy to even write it in the first place.

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Ditto. That's my biggest problem at the moment. I need to give myself a massive kick up the arse to get working again!

Incredible laziness. It invades all area's of my life, not just this one.

I love sleep, it's what I look forward to all day long. All day i'm thinking about how nice it's gonna be to get into bed and close my eyes and fall asleep and not have to think about anything...

I often sit around and think how nice it'd be to be in a coma.