Your greatest fears as a writer??

Amen!
I also remember hearing someone talking about 1 000 000 words too... to which someone else commented that it was about 14 novels... I haven't checked but it sounds like it would be at least 10 novels. even though that sound a little bit exagerated to me in the opposite direction (or it depends on what we're talking about, if the goal is to master writing completely I think it could be valid, but not for being published, for that it definitely takes less.) 10 000 words is definitely not enough. anyone can write that without being even remotely close to a publishable copy IMHO.

 

Having been through this, Fear comes from being afraid you are not ready to write yet, only you will know when you are ready to write.
The answer is to learn all about the craft on here on the internet and read, read, read, so eventually the fear subsides as your knowledge increases.

 

OP, I know exactly how you feel. I have a novel's worth of false starts on my PC and I have no idea what to do with them all. That inner editor is a real task master, but I know, and most likely you do too, that she will NEVER be satisfied with anything you write. She's never going to pat you on the back and say 'good job' because that's not her purpose. You can't depend on her for validation. She's the future you who'll never be a writer and so, lay on her death bed wondering that perhaps she could have done things differently.

Yet you can't get rid of her, because she's also you, but you can understand her and realise what she's all about. Laugh at her, distract her, find ways to get her off your back for long enough that you can at least write something down. And don't, ever, hit that delete key. Memory is cheap. Put whatever you write somewhere out of sight and maybe you'll think differently about it later.

But what am I saying? I'm not only a serial deleter and screweruperer, but sometimes I let that picky bugger I share my head with simply rule my life. It's hard, but the most worthwhile victories are the ones you almost fail to secure.

 

Ok, I realise this can be so diverse and unique. Some people might just fear never to get published while others might not care at all. Well, the options are so many but would be nice to know what you fear the most as a writer.... Please share your fears, we might all have the same...

 

That I might never muster the self-discipline to finish and publish the novel I've always wanted to write.

There's another concern I have that involves people reviewing my work, especially my historical stories: people are often badly misinformed about the cultures I'm writing about and will stubbornly cling to their misconceptions even when I try to correct them. I don't want to get into specific examples as that would derail this thread, but you will be surprised at how much people invest in their false images of the past.

 

I'm not particularly worried about whether I get published or not, but I'm somewhat worried about two things: first, that if I ever do get published, I'll be published once and forever more be a has-been. Second, that I won't be able to write anything novel-length. My current piece is the longest thing I've ever written, and I'm not sure whether I'll ever be able to write anything longer than this. But I really want to.

 

Ideally I'd fear never being published, but I'm confident I will be published. (I think it's a realistic goal, but also that it helps to think positive.) Actually, I was published in a college magazine once, but that doesn't really count, to me -- I want my manuscripts to be out there.

Sometimes I fear something will happen to me, like death, before I can finish writing my stories.

 

That I'll be in the final polish of the denouement and realize I want to change something in the beginning, causing an enormous rewrite.

 

My greatest fear can be summed up by this quotation from the movie Finding Forrester.

 

Fears?
How about enthusiasm...if you start on a negative note then all you will get is negative.
I don't associate fear writing because writing is the most liberating feeling in the world.
Thinking is a form of writing and so is feelings.
There is not such a thing as fear because the minute you are expressing it the minute you are resolving it.
I write because I am fear or no fear.

 

Well, like most of the others I sometimes think "What if I never get published?" but I can't say it's stopping me much, or that I'm thinking about it all the time. Like crucifiction said I might also wonder "what if I get to publish one novel and then nothing more?" or "what if I get to publish this novel and the critics will say it's the biggest piece of crap someone has ever written?" Yes, that I think would be worse than never being published at all.

 

That, by chance, the people who inspire me most will one day read it. And hate it.

 

My biggest fear is that one day I will run out of imagination or creativity. That I will fall into the "Doesn't that sound just like the last one you wrote?" category of writer.

 

why would you hate that?

 

I meant that they might hate it. That, for me, would be horrible to experience. I don't care what strangers or my family/friends (with one exception) think of my work; but if it's someone I idolise then I will care about their opinion.

 

I see.
I tend not to idolise people I wouldn't know how to.
I am more of a free thinker and usually could not care less wether what I write is liked is disliked.
I am happy with what I write that is why I write.
I would not write otherwise.
At the end of the day the word HATE is rather strong.
Nobody hates a book because if you don't like something you do not usually read it so to hate it would be impossible.
May be I would say I would hate it if I was made to read/watch/listen to something I do not like.
That is different.
You must write accroding to you and not others otherwise it doesn't flow right.

 

Um, have you heard of pop culture? It's easy to hate something, even when you haven't read it. There are songs released recently that idolise drinking and having hangovers that I've heard on the radio. Now, I don't have to listen to them, but I know that a shitload of underage teenagers are listening to this music, and I'm very much against drinking. I hate that it's okay for that sort of song to be popular, and I hate that people let that sort of thing be popular.
I hate Twilight by William Gay because it's terribly, teeerribly written. I didn't even finish it because I hated it so much.
I hate the "Inheritance Cycle" because it's tacky and the main character's name has a single letter of difference from "Dragon". Simply put, it's tacky too.

I don't hate the people who write the music or stories. I don't blame humans for being stupid. I hate the people who put it out there and make it popular, and the easiest way to hate them is to hate the work itself because it's the problem, it's the manifestation of what I see as being wrong with society.

 

I'm not really sure I have any fears related to writing. I don't really care what people think of it, I don't care if I get published (to be honest, all the work to get something published sounds like a lot of hassle...) and I really just write for me, so my need to improve is for my own reading pleasure, as I love to read my own stories. Before I could never get anything done, and some people said it was because I was afraid it wouldn't be good enough, but honestly, I was just being a lazy bum. Once I started forcing myself to finish whether I wanted to write or not, stuff got done.

I guess I'm afraid my dad will read my stories... which is why I will never get published under my real name should I ever muster up the will to hand out my ms to anyone.

 

Isee.
My understanding of things that I consider unpleasant I stay away from.
I can look at book under a section that says SIFI and I know straight away I won't like it.
I don't hate it because I don't have strong feelings of this sort in me.
Bookshops and library and genres make it obvious for me to know which I would prefer.
Pop culture is verymuch related and influenced by the media.
If it was not for what the media is generating there would be no pop culture of this sort.
These things that you mentioned are obvioulsy going unoticed because nobody cares for the youth that much to put a stop to this type of depressive music.
These youth on the other hand have nothing else better/entertaining to do hence it is easy for them to getinvolve with this kind of undermining and dangerous material.
Itis a bit like the happy campers still outside SaintPauls' Cathedral.
The reason for these long ongoing protest is because they have nothing better to do then just camp outside.
I think after a while nowthey have gone pass the cause they were protesting about.
It is now looking like a big squatting happy clappy camping.

 

I fear putting all this work into my novel and people end up hating it completely. Like no one has anything good to say. Kind of an extreme I guess, but it seems in the realm of possibility. I write mostly for me, and to get my stories on paper. I want to share my stories once I have them written though, and I constantly worry that people will hate them. I also fear that if I fail this novel, that I will not have the motivation to start again on a new project. I tell myself now that I would, and that if I fail I would just try again and again to accomplish my version of success in writing, but i don't know. I would be worried if I had no fear though. getting out of your comfort zone is the best part of living and changing in my opinion. As long as a few people I don't know read and have something good to say about my work, I will be happy.

 

i don't have any... unless you can count being cursed with alzheimer's, or anything else that might make me unable to write...

 

Me tooooooo.

 

I fear not being able to write as well as would like to... which isn't so much a fear as a fact. I fear not meeting deadlines because i'm such a perfectionist i can't let go. My worst fear of all: mediocrity. Just being ok, never brilliant.

 

My one and only fear is loosing all motivations and inspiration to make what I make : ( That saddens me to think about.

 

Not being published. Doesn't matter how good or bad I am (well it kinda does), but if I am never published it was all for naught. I have put a lot of effort into achieving an outcome. So I guess it's a fear of failure.