Writing Fears - An Exercise

[queenoftheskies]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm reading a book that I'm really enjoying entitled Page By Page.

One of the chapters I read today was on fears and anxiety in writing. There were some comments that I liked and a couple of exercises that I thought might actually help me overcome some problems I've had as a writer.

The first part of the exercise was to list 25 writing fears without really stopping to think about them. First thing off the top of your head.

So, I gave it a try. Some of the things that came out didn't surprise me. Some did.



1. I suck as a writer.
2. I have no talent.
3. People will laugh at me when they read what I've written.
4. There is no market for my work.
5. My ideas are stupid.
6. I'll never be able to fix what I write and make it better.
7. Nobody will ever like what I wrote.
8. I'll never make it as a writer.
9. I'll never be as good as everyone else.
10. I don't fit into writing groups where I could get help cause I'm older than everyone, I have kids, and people don't really like me.
11. I'll always be too tired and stressed to regain my focus.
12. I can't develop plots well enough.
13. People will laugh at my ideas and characters.
14. Nobody will ever understand my writing.
15. My writing doesn't fit in anywhere.
16. My writing is too simple.
17. My style sucks.
18. Writing stories with monsters is stupid.
19. I'll never make it without writing classes.
20. I'm too old to improve as a writer.
21. Writing is too important to me.
22. I spend too much time wrapped up in my characters and their lives.
23. People think it's stupid to write such a huge series of books, and maybe it is.
24. I'll never have the self-confidence I need to succeed.
25. I'll never be able to pick out what's right and what's not from the comments people make about my work.


The next part of the exercise is to treat each of these items as "crimes". Pretend the cops caught you and took you before the judge for each one.

You're supposed to present THEIR side of it...which would be support for why you feel that way.

Then, you're supposed to present YOUR side, your testimony, which would be to debunk it or find a reason that feeling that way is okay. Or find some benefit from it.

However, what confused me was that the author of this book doesn't seem to want the reader to find a reason each one is not true. The author wants the reader to find a reason it's okay. To justify these fears.

So, here's my question. Is justifying them and finding something GOOD in them, a way to exorcise them? Or is it just encouraging them to stay around and haunt you forever?

Something to think about.

Comments

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I think (I would guess), you may never be able to get rid of fears like at least some of these. Not completely. And part of dealing with things like that is learning how to live with them, and how not to be crippled by them. This may be a way of doing that. Not the only way, I don't think. But a way.

[cathellisen.livejournal.com]

I had to laugh (bitterly, of course, and at myself) when I read that list. At least 23 of those could be on mine. Us writers - tsk, tsk.

The only time I got up enough courage to let someone begin to crit one of my novels, I ended up feeling like all of those fears were justified because by the SECOND chapter, she told me she didn't like my characters. I was thinking ...but it's only chapter two... you still have to see them develop, and change and oh crap i suck so badly as a writer...

I don't think that I can answer your final question properly though. All I know is that for every person who has looked at my work, and gone "trash" - thus justifying my fears - there has been another who has said "write more - I love it" (and no, it wasn't just my mommy..) So, do I throw away those positive comments because somehow, by not agreeing with my own insecurities, those points are now "invalid" or untrue?

It's weird, I think I find it easier to agree with the negative comments - maybe I just don't have enough courage, or faith in myself, to accept that my work might just be good enough. Typical bloody writer *grin*

[ammepyre.livejournal.com]

I think it's a matter of weeding out the fears you can logically debunk. The others are probably just part of your nature and you never will be rid of them completely - they'll always be around. Thus the author is pointing you toward the fears you need to find a way to accept that you'll always have the thoughts in the back of your head and will just have to work with them around.


*sorry not exactly coherent this early in the morning*

[ultharkitty.livejournal.com]

That sounds interesting, but could be kind of depressing too :P

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

A lot of those are mine too--although "My writing is too simple" for me means it's not pretty / ornate / stained glass enough. This fear rears its ugly head every time I go to post a "Darling Du Jour" in my Progress Reports--I tend to write very simply, for good or ill, what Asimov called the see-through window approached to writing rather than having all the events colored by stained glass.

As I've mentioned before, though, at this point I've become so addicted to writing again that the fears get shoved into the background, aside from the occasional self-censorship. I'm still figuring out what to do about that.

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

That's very interesting, Janice. I think I may have to go and pick up that book.

Now, as for your list, I think that actually a lot of those can be combined with others, such as "I suck as a writer," with "I have no talent" with "I'll never make it as a writer" thus eliminating some from that list. :-)

Seriously though, I think that most, if not all of us, suffer from some of these fears. I sometimes struggle with some of the same issues... are my ideas lame? Does my writing suck as bad as I think it does? I don't know that we can ever completely conquer and stamp out every trace of those insecurities. But I think that we can take steps to better manage them. I think that with some effort, we can render them virtually irrelevant. I think that we have to give negative criticism the attention it's due, but not let it steamroll us. I think also, that we need to weigh positive feedback equally with the negative. It's so easy to get caught in that web of "my writing sucks" when somebody is hammering on your piece. It's easy to say "don't take it personally," but more difficult to put into practice. We all know this. But we also have to realize, to know and to believe that critiquers and even editors and publishers don't know *everything.* They have their opinions, their biases, their preferences and their experiences, but they don't know everything. No matter how much they may try to sound like they do. Only you knows what is best for your piece, only you know it intimately and only you can say for sure what is right for your work.

Believe in yourself, Janice. A lot of us out here do.