I think all writers have some sort of love-hate relationship with their work, and that's not something that just goes away as we get better. But we can always get better. Though I agree short stories are very different to write than novels, I don't think it hurts to start something you can finish quicker for the experience of reworking and revising if nothing else. @Harmonices -- I saw that you self graded some of your writing. This is one of those things where no one who doesn't put the time in to study is going to produce A work. Hell, even then, your goals will shift. Once you reach a point where you realize you're improving and/or are a lot better, you'll realize how much better than that you actually want to be. Your A becomes a C and you once again reach higher. But with smaller chunks of writing you might see your work go up a whole letter grade or so during revision. The truth is some of us have to revise more than others. I need it. I write my very best even with a first draft. During the actual act of writing I often think something is much better than it is. For me, it's only through revision that a story reaches its actual potential. And as far as time is concerned, I easy put in the same number of revision hours as I do initial writing hours. Sometimes it's double. And sometimes it feels like it will never end. But this is what I have to do to be a so-called (and occasionally) good writer. It's not that I want to work that way. I will say that I edit as I write, but that does little to shave off the time it actually takes me to write at the level I want to. Truth, I still want to be better. And I think I make smarter writing decisions than I used to, but this is always going to be a process for me. If you don't already, learn to love the process. Reading is so important. Read as many great stories as you can. Some of that will rub off on you, and that's a good thing. But it is so necessary to expose yourself to great writing. And none of this is a fast process. That's where I've found a routine or some type of self imposed deadlines and quotas can help. A writing group can be great. Classes helped me. But improvement is slow coming and often unnoticed by the writer as he or she starts to get better. Still, it happens all the time.
Yep, short stories. I'm going to plan one this week and revise it as much as I need to, to get it crafted as well as I can [note to self: start thinking about a plot and characters] 'Learn to love the process' - I do understand this in theory, I love learning. It's one of my big drivers. I'm not happy unless I'm learning something, but I need to be progressing with it. I think that will come when I have some tools under my belt, and no-doubt those will come with experience. Thank you for responding
I have been writing this book for some time now and I came to a spot that I don't know how to continue. Every time I try to continue the story I just don't like how it goes. Help me please get rid of my writers block.
As an artist who's had many a "hiatus" from drawing I can sympathize. Getting back to something you were once more skilled at is different than learning something new though. Old stuff can come quick, like riding a bike, or take a bit of time but it will probably come faster to you than learning something new. I think a lot us want to run before we can even walk. There's this great little speech/video by Ira Glass called "The Creative Gap" or something like that, where he talks about how we have good taste and want to write well but don't have the skills to match. So we write and look at our own work and can tell it's not good and get frustrated. But if you keep at it you'll get better and you'll close the gap. That's the just of it. I'd look for the video and listen to it, it's pretty inspiring. You'll get there, just keep writing -- and keep making art. I know I really missed it when I didn't draw and it can inspire your writing too and it works a different part of your brain and keeps you creative.
Thanks for the video, it's great. And yes, I agree, drawing is motivating me to write. Cheers @Hollowly
Don’t give up. My first draft of Evergreen was at least the consistency of poo. All you can do is separate your writing mind from your editing mind. You can polish said turd once you finish the first 50k words. Learn from your mistakes and imporove your vocabulary. Reading bad books has taught me to understand how to write better. Reading is just as important as writing.
Oh, one more thing. I'm sure you've experienced it when you make art. You finish a drawing and think it's awful but then you go back to it awhile later, maybe a week, or maybe you flip through old sketchbooks a few months later and you realize it wasn't so bad. Or you can see that something was actually totally out of proportion but didn't realize it at the time of drawing because you were still too close to it but can see the glaring mistake now. Leaving things for a time allows you to come back and see if it was really as bad as you thought, or if they were actually good. You may just be too close to your stuff right now and in time it won't look bad at all. There's also a Neil Gaiman video where he talks about this sort of, how there are days when he doesn't want to write and it feels uninspired but then when he's rereading his draft he finds he can't actually tell the difference between those days and good days. It's titled "Neil Gaiman on Writing: From The Nerdist Podcast" and is about five minutes. It's a pretty good little video too about keeping at writing.
I just revised a story from 6+ months ago that I thought was one of my better ones. I was definitely fond of it. But yesterday I fully cut 150+ words of a 1300 word story I thought a had polished by deleting pointless lines and trading out filter words for images. I would like for that sort of cut to be done in the second draft, rather than a huh, let’s look again draft.
In my humble opinion, you learn to write well by writing badly. As someone else whose name I have conspicuously forgotten, said on this form "the first million words are practice."
I've seen articles where both Ray Bradbury and Jerry Pournelle say this about the million words. It's sort of like the 10 000 hour rule. It may be that for some people, it's a good rough figure. But for some people it may be more and a lucky few, less. The thought is right. Get writing, treat it like you would if you were practicing an instrument, doing your scales everyday, or treat it like a workout, doing your reps everyday. Write a lot, even badly and your writing should improve.
Over the past two years, I have reached this phase of hating everything I write. Or at least, I've never really liked what I've written. Tell me what makes you love something you've written. Did you fall in love with your own idea? Or your own writing style? Or are we all incapable of loving what we do?
I like my ideas, they don't always pan out into the quality of writing I'd like. I know I'm able in some departments, but at other times it feel's like I'm bashing at clay with a child's fists. I know I need to write scene X because it's intrinsic to the story; but it's badly done, mainly because I lack ability with that kind of scene (I'm not hot on action or description in particular). I do believe skill in any craft can be cultivated though, with practice and guidance. So it needs to be worked at. Which can be frustrating and disheartening at times. This forum is helping me a lot already. What a fantastic resource! I'd say if you don't like your work, put it away for a few months then reread, it may sound better to you after you forget it. And/or post it on here for feedback. Good luck.
There's a phenomenon runners talk about, of 'hitting the wall' at a certain point in a race. The moment when they start to think of giving up because their legs hurt, they're tired, they can't imagine carrying on for another 10 miles. Runners know they have to push through it and then it becomes easier again. I always hit the wall at some point in a manuscript. I lose all belief in it and that anybody but me would ever want to read it. Just like runners, if I push through it then the crippling doubt will pass. I still don't generally "love" what I'm doing, but in a practical sense I can make a judgement that it might be good enough to be published. When I feel like what I've written that day is crap, usually when I read over it in a few days or weeks I'm pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as bad as I thought. I feel like I have a lot to learn and I'm excited to work with editors, but sometimes I read a sentence or a passage or even a whole chapter and think, "Yeah, this is good." I look at others, probably more often, and think, "This could be handled better by a better writer. Maybe me, one day." I think that's healthy.
That's interesting. I used to get this when I managed creative projects (public events), especially when I'd come up with new ideas. Feeling like it wouldn't be received well. People wouldn't enjoy themselves, no-one would come. It was my job though, so I had to work through those barriers, the self doubt. You're committed. I've also experienced similar when hiking and climbing. Again, you're in it for the long haul, there's no turning back however much it aches / however out of breath you are. You've got to keep on to the end destination, especially if you're with others. It's much easier to quit on ourselves than it is to quit on others. I guess if we treat our personal creative projects with the same degree of objective commitment we do our professional ones. It might make it easier to plough on past the fear / doubt monsters?
Don't ever think it's a handicap. Mistrust in your ability: it keeps you sharp and gives you that edge to always strive to be the best at what you do. You're your first critic, and if it doesn't hit a note in you that it's worth something, then there's a good chance it won't with readers. I hate parts of my writing with venom, but I love that part too because I trust that hate-hate intensity. It's usually telling me a word, sentence, scene, chapter etc isn't working, so I'll keep working and reworking it until it does feel good. Usually by the time I love something I've written, I'm pretty much exhausted by how long hating it has gotten me there. I've wanted to quit time and time again, but in the end, not writing and going through all those emotions hurts more. So don't ever see it as bad thing, more another tool to help you find the right 'feel' into your writing.
It depends on the time, I guess. I've written a few pages into a story and hated it ands filed it away. After over a year, I find it and read it and I actually like it enough to want to continue it. It's like painting. In college, I had to take a painting class as a degree requirement. I enjoyed it, but this one unit on abstract was the most challenging. I spent weeks on it, during class, after class, at night I'd take the shuttle into town to the art studio and work on it. This went on for weeks and I hated it.mi hated the colors. I hated looking at it. I was ready to throw it all out, but my painting instructor say to take a few days and just not look at it. Come back with fresh eyes. I did, and after a few days not looking at it, I found that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was at first and found the inspiration to finish it. To me, writing is like that. Sometimes I won't like my work at first. I'll like the idea but the execution sucked. I'll file it away. I'll pick it up later with new eyes
I have to like what I produce because I wouldn't bother writing if I didn't. I don't think it's the best thing on the planet or anything like that, but it is worth reading, at least that's what readers tell me. My views really don't mean a whole lot in the end.
Hm. I find that the longer I spend re-writing a piece of work, the more I hate it. It ends up sounding forced and uninteresting. Of course, that's just me, but God, I'd love to be able to have your approach.
Meh. I don't really like what I've written... once something's published, I try to avoid looking at it or thinking about it because I can't make changes and seeing the flaws is too frustrating. I agree that there's often an element of Dunning Kruger to liking one's own writing, but I also think some people just read differently than others. Some of us are picky, others are more forgiving. I don't think either approach is the "right" one.
Sometimes I like my writing because I think it's good. Sometimes I like it because it's a compilation of my thoughts into a permanent form, and I value that even if it's not great. For some reason I'm thinking of some home-sewn pajamas that I made, that are dreadful, but that I got so much pleasure from (before they fell apart) that I'm thinking of making some more dreadful home-sewn pajamas. Now, my sewing skills are better than they were when I made those pajamas. If the new pajamas came close to the quality of decent purchased pajamas, would I be so aware of that gap that I would lose the "I made this" charm? Not sure. Maybe I'll sew on some rickrack to make sure they still look home sewn. But that's only mildly relevant to writing, because my goal with writing is to get past "I made this" charm and actually be publishable.
I didn't vote in the poll because none of them adequately describe my experience. I'm that weird writer that doesn't get off on reading my own stuff. It's more like...Did I get the job done? Did I accomplish the challenge of writing it? I kind look at my writing like a stack of freshly-done laundry: It's satisfying to have done it, but I don't sit there admiring how beautifully it's folded.
That's exactly it. It's a job. Once the job is accomplished, I move on. I'm too busy with new stuff to worry about old stuff.
