How to Recover Your Writing Confidence (Even if You Think You Never Had Any)
One of the writers I follow on Twitter posted this. I really enjoyed it and wanted to share. Mostly because I've been having this problem lately with my own work...
How to Recover Your Writing Confidence (Even if You Think You Never Had Any)
A couple of things that stood out for me;
Under "Your Peers Can Drain Your Confidence" this line: Writing ( Read more... )
How to Recover Your Writing Confidence (Even if You Think You Never Had Any)
A couple of things that stood out for me;
Under "Your Peers Can Drain Your Confidence" this line: Writing ( Read more... )
Original fic is different! You need to practice skills you don't really need in fanfic, like worldbuilding and character design and graceful exposition dumps, and you don't need skills you'd previously honed, like remembering every detail of your chosen fandom world, or getting someone else's character voices just right. And there are things it has in common--the rhythm and flow of prose, how to write an eye-catching beginning, how to pace and plot, how to make conflict, how to give the story that "punch" (which you could call the second-act turning point, or the climax--in short fics the second-act turning point often is the climax) and so on and so forth.
I don't think my actual writing process is that different for the two, despite them requiring slightly different skillsets. I do about the same amount of editing/rewriting on both, which is to say, fairly minimal, though I've been playing with it more lately.
My confidence levels are actually pretty good, once I've written something I have no qualms about sharing, but being told about ~publishing~ and ~money~ and ~fame~ puts me off it like maggots would put me off a steak. I do hate that some people seem to think the only value I can get out of it is what people pay me. It's like if I really loved sex, and everyone said, "You should be a hooker! :D"
I agree about writing being subjective, and some people just "don't get it," but the best way I've found to take criticism I don't understand is to shelve it. Not assume it's right or wrong, not let it bother me, simply remember that it was said, but go about my business, pleasing myself, same as ever. Sometimes crit is good, but we're not ready to hear it yet, so we just get hurt and defensive. Years later, we may look back and go, "Of course! That crit was totally right!" Though by that time, we'd have realized it on our own anyway, so its usefulness is debatable.
You can't force a flower to bloom by prying the bud open, and you can't force a writer to grow with harsh crit, even if it's correct.
Also, years later you may look back on that crit and say, "Wow, that was bullshit!" Having that buffer of time really helps you be objective about it, though. I don't think any writer can be rational about the merits of something they just wrote. It's too close to them.
Strangely, something that helps my confidence is remembering I don't owe it to anyone to be good. I post my fiction for free; you get what you pay for. If I write for my own pleasure, it will please someone else too, because my tastes are not completely alien. Even the worst badfic that is written for love has its fans.
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I feel somewhat like this too. I'm iffy about the fame part totally. Though, money... if I could make writing my full time job, I'd do it. Although, I fear I'd hate it after awhile, you know, after it becomes WORK and less fun.
Sometimes crit is good, but we're not ready to hear it yet, so we just get hurt and defensive. Years later, we may look back and go, "Of course! That crit was totally right!" Though by that time, we'd have realized it on our own anyway, so its usefulness is debatable.
Wow, I think this is so true. At least, I feel I've done that before. And as for crit we don't understand or isn't really useful, well, been there too. I too pretty much "note it" and then move on, you know?
I don't think any writer can be rational about the merits of something they just wrote. It's too close to them.
Exactly. I know some writers that can't even stomach their old work anymore. I dunno. I like looking back at it, and see the progression, and then yes, maybe I realize some people were right.
Though I will never understand some peoples' continuous love for one of my older, mediocre fics that I think isn't my greatest work, but whatever. I guess it swings both ways.
Strangely, something that helps my confidence is remembering I don't owe it to anyone to be good.
That's a good motto. I may have to remember that. Mostly I write for my pleasure as well so maybe that's how I get through, and then seeing other people's joy as an added bonus.
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