Right now I'm at the planning stage of a piece of writing. It's just a pet project but I'm really enjoying it. I enjoy all stages of writing but planning might be my favorite, there's so much potential. However, I seem to second guess every decision I make. Nothing about the plot or characters or anything is perfect and every time I plan a detail there are two reactions in my brain: "this is amazing" and "this is stupid". When you write, do you know for sure when a decision you've made is the right one? Or are you constantly second guessing everything you write?
I think the important thing is to get something written. You can always edit or rewrite your work later. I aim to write the types of books or stories that I would like to read, so I feel that if I'm engaged in my own story, I'm headed in the right direction. I am inclined to second-guess myself and over-think things too, but I try really hard to set that aside for the drafting stage. You'll probably also have new ideas about your plot and characters as you're working on your draft too. At least in my case, they always change quite a bit between the planning stage and the end of the first draft.
It's very normal to second-guess everything you write; the trick is to keep going to finish what you're writing regardless.
Yes, very normal. I tend to feel like everything I write should be perfect and when it isn't (which it never is) I despair. Which is ridiculous. You should expect to make lots of mistakes when you write but, and this is the glory of forums such as this, feedback from is essential in both allowing you to get an opinion other than your own and also to allow you to develop your own critical view of your work.
This is why I usually dive right into writing without much planning. I used to fuss over everything and second guess everything - names, ages, genders, who would be the mc, what would he do? I had to get away from it as it was stalling me out. Now the second guessing shifts to my actual writing - lol. But as long as I get the scene I imagined out to my liking, I'm pleased. Now all I have to do is get my grammar under control.
It should be normal. The trick is to create much more than you can possibly use, because most of what you'll create is going to be shit. So create as much as you can, then cut the shit parts.
Writing process is not the same for everyone. Some need to start writing immediately, some need to plan out throughly even it'd still change a lot when actually writing it. I like the planning stage too, but there should be a point where you would just know that it's time to start writing. After first draft you might change things a lot once more. Working on actual writing is better than moving thoughts but working with thoughts is somewhat more exciting. Second guessing is normal but I think that it's extremely subjective. I mean one day you might think all your ideas and writings are just a pile of *** and another day you can say "Wow! I wrote that? Cool!" for the same work. But all these feelings have some truth to it. I am most concerned about overworking something, I think some rawness is good. If you think or edit too much it just doesn't feel like the story you were working on before. Maybe it's just my inability I don't know.
It's normal. Doesn't make it any more pleasant though. As others have said just start writing. You can get way too bogged down in details. I find that once I start writing things tend to fall into place as well as go in directions I otherwise never expected. That's what makes writing fun. Also, remember that a first draft is just that...a draft. Always time later to rework stuff that isn't quite right.
