Fears and Doubts

WannabeWriter · May 9, 2008

Right now, Im' in the writer's phase where I'm wondering if my novel is going to be good. We all have these feelings, no doubt, but I thought I'd post this thread for us to share such moments of worry about our own work, whether currently or in the past.

In addition, tell us how you dealt with it.

TrishD · May 9, 2008

WannabeWriter said:
Right now, Im' in the writer's phase where I'm wondering if my novel is going to be good. We all have these feelings, no doubt, but I thought I'd post this thread for us to share such moments of worry about our own work, whether currently or in the past.

In addition, tell us how you dealt with it.

I wish I had some tip or trick, other than to just push it out of your mind and keep going.

I have moments when I read a favorite author and think, "I'm totally in over my head. I'll never be that good." But the thing is, I'm not supposed to be that good, I'm supposed to be my own kind of good. So reminding myself of that helps.

ORION · May 9, 2008

And you think it's different after you are published?
Get used to it...

SherryTex · May 9, 2008

First, every writer that takes their craft seriously, has a nagging voice of some kind that will try to interrupt the creative/generative process.

The trick is to decide to hell with that self doubting demon and have a ton of fun punching out the story that you think kicks. If you have a blast writing it, others will probably enjoy the ride too. C.S. Lewis had more fun in Narnia than he told in the stories, and that's with going back six more times. Ditto for Rowling, Tolkein and lest you think only fantasy writers get all the fun, Dickens, Austen and O'Connor lost themselves in the worlds they created and loved every minute of it, and thus so do we.

Worry what other people will think when you have the luxury of being able to say, I'm marketing my book or I've just finished my book or even better, I've just published my book and it's going back for a second reprint, would you like me to sign...

In the grudging sludging part of writing my book, love parts, hate parts, need to write the stinking middle...but it's a cool book...I know it.

Straka · May 9, 2008

I love my writing when I write. I usually realize its crap afterwards. Lately I've been getting better at spotting that rough spots as I go.

Curious enough though, I've calculated that I've nearly written (serious works) a million words. Do I think I have a handle of the English language? A little. Do I think I've got a handle of novel writing? I'm getting there.

maestrowork · May 9, 2008

It's natural. Just take a short break, then get back to it.

Just remember, if you don't love your own writing, how do you expect others to?

Seif · May 10, 2008

Straka said:
I love my writing when I write. I usually realize its crap afterwards.

I think I've found my new sig,

Straka do I have to pay you royalties?

Kalyke · May 10, 2008

I think that when you are the only boss on project, you always will have some fear that it is not working out. How many novels have you written? Usually you write several before finally figuring out a technique that works. Often these first projects are abandoned somewhere in the middle because they don't work. This is the way the work is. You get stronger and gain in knowledge with maturity. When I say maturity, I don't mean physical age, I mean how many years you have been at writing, and how many projects you have worked on.

Bruzilla · May 10, 2008

I've learned that no matter how well you write, there will always be somebody who complains about it. This is the same for all endeavors. I knew a guy who spent two years and over $50,000 doing a total restoration of a 1971 Plymouth Roadrunner. He made sure the paint was correct, the engine compartment was correct, the interior was correct. He drove me nuts with the way he hyper-checked every part on that car. Then we go to a show, and some weasly POS who didn't even own a collector car walks by, looks up under the trunk lid, and says the washers on the nuts that hold the spoiler on the back aren't the right ones. The car owner went nuts as months of bottled-up frustration broke loose and he grabbed a crowbar and smashed the spoiler.

I learned a lot from seeing that, and I realized that it doesn't matter how great a job you do, there will always be some pinhead who just has to find something wrong with it. When they do, just thank them for their input and move on. If they could do their own writing they would be writing novels instead of critiques.

Straka · May 10, 2008

Seif said:
I think I've found my new sig,

Straka do I have to pay you royalties?

Lol. Sure have at it, I'm send you my address to forward the checks to

Though let's fix my original typo so "its" is now "it's"

Twizzle · May 10, 2008

Oh, man. I've been having a supremely low few weeks-like bottom of the barrel could I suck any more low few weeks. A friend sent me an email yesterday and I have no idea if it's true, but it said "Saul Bellow was rejected by The New Yorker-after he won his Nobel. So you will never ever ever be good enough. Deal with it, get over yourself, and then get writing."

So, um, yeah. It helped. In a weird way, it really did. I finally got my revisions done and sent them. I might still suck, but eh. She was right. I'll always suck to somebody. The deal is, I might not suck to one person if I keep going-and hey, if I'm lucky that one might be someone who can cut a check, you know?

-twizzle, working hard on getting over herself.

Feathers · May 10, 2008

Hmm. My problem is that I'm too critical of my own work. There was this one guy I looked up to a lot, and he was always telling me that I didn't have a clue, that I wasn't being serious enough, that i was too caught up in trying to get published. So I got in the habit of mistrusting my work. Now it doesn't trust me... *sniff*

*cough* back on topic...How I deal with this is basically, I try to fall in love with my novel again. I get all into the characters and the plot until I forget all about how much it sucks.

-Feathers

L.Jones · May 10, 2008

ORION said:
And you think it's different after you are published?
Get used to it...

Yep. I am tempted every time I sign a book to write - "I promise my next book will be better"

Writing are hard. Make head hurt.
annie jones

kg_crow · May 10, 2008

Writing is not for sissies!

There's a terrific maxim that applies here:

"Fake it 'till you make it."

Very few authors get what they write printed exactly as they write it. That's what editors are for. They'll help you out with rough spots...but you gotta have a manuscript for them to look at first.

Go for it and don't let anyone or anything get in the way.

G'luck!

blacbird · May 10, 2008

Twizzle said:
"Saul Bellow was rejected by The New Yorker-after he won his Nobel.

And Pearl Buck received a rejection the same day she received notification of her own Nobel Prize. There are a lot of similar stories.

Thing is, I'd guess it was a mite easier for Buck and Bellow to deal with those rejections, having won Nobel Prizes, than it is to deal with endless rejections without getting anything accepted for publication. I have to guess about that, of course, knowing only one of those two conditions on a personal basis.

caw

CDarklock · May 10, 2008

WannabeWriter said:
Right now, Im' in the writer's phase where I'm wondering if my novel is going to be good.

Look at it this way.

If you write it, it might be good.

If you don't write it, then it will never be good.

Does that give you enough information to make a decision?

windyrdg · May 10, 2008

Expect a shitty first draft and maybe you'll be surprised.It is always easier to revise, rewrite and/or polish than put words on a blank sheet of paper. Tell yourself, "This is just a first draft, it doesn't matter." It isn't in thw riting, it's in the re-writing.

Annabella863 · May 10, 2008

I am forcing myself not to revise while writing my first draft. When my inner critic gets really noisy about an awkward paragraph or clunky transition or lame piece of dialogue, I change that segment to a different color ink and promise to get back to it after I've finished the whole thing. For me, talking myself out of finishng is the biggest problem.

lakotagirl · May 10, 2008

I've wanted to be a writer all my life. I have written stories all my life but never had the time to seriously attempt being a published writer. Now I have time and I am giving it all I have.

It's not good enough. I want to chuck it all and go fishing. I really do.

But, I LIKE my stories. Other people like my stories. It's my writing that sucks.

I know how you feel. If you believe in yourself, you will succeed.

Just keep believing.

TrishD · May 10, 2008

You want fears and doubts?

Today I received my chapter-by-chapter breakdown from my editor with red pencil notes in the margins noting everything that is wrong with my manuscript. There is so much red, I wondered why she'd wanted to buy the damn thing in the first place!

Then I reminded myself that she DID buy it and she sees the potential there. So nap first, then write.

blacbird · May 10, 2008

We all have fears and doubts. And confidence, too. Otherwise we wouldn't be writers.

For example:

I fear nothing I write will ever be published.

I doubt that anything I write will ever be published.

I have confidence that nothing I write will ever be published.

And I have the track record to back all of them up.

caw

JJ Cooper · May 11, 2008

If you believe you'll never be published, you never will.

JJ

steveg144 · May 11, 2008

I've trained myself to just naturally assume that anything I get down on paper is going to be crap. That way, when I get a bit of distance between me and the piece and discover that in fact it is crap, I'm not surprised. But when the piece turns out not to be crap, I get a pleasant surprise out of the deal. One thing I've noticed: the more writing I do, the more "hey, this ain't half bad" moments of pleasant surprise I've gotten to enjoy.

Straka · May 11, 2008

A lot of times times I does feel like we're Sisyphus pushing that boulder up hill just to see it roll back down again.

I can't really complain, since I've only been rejected twice from agents. But as a write a new work I feel it's still no quiet there. I'm not at the peak. So I keep working it. And starting writing more in the meantime. I hope I'll get over that first peak, get an agent someday, but I know that as soon as I do, I got to start rolling that boulder up the next mountain.

blacbird · May 11, 2008

JJ Cooper said:
If you believe you'll never be published, you never will.

JJ

For a long time I believed with great confidence that I would get stuff published. It had the same result.

caw

Fears and Doubts

WannabeWriter

TrishD

ORION

Sailed away years ago

SherryTex

Working on 2nd WIP

Straka

Bored Fanatic

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Seif

Kalyke

Bruzilla

Straka

Bored Fanatic

Twizzle

Cluck that.

Feathers

emerging from the writing cave

L.Jones

kg_crow

Please hold your applause

blacbird

CDarklock

Yes!

windyrdg

New kid, be gentle!

Annabella863

lakotagirl

Forgot what I was gonna say

TrishD

blacbird

JJ Cooper

.

steveg144

Crusty Polemicist

Straka

Bored Fanatic

blacbird