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I know that errors, Grammatical and voice have been addressed. I have one - maybe it too has been discussed. Here it goes, I usually experience alot of self-doubt - everytime I read a book or even some of the comments on this web. I start to think maybe my writing or what I want to write isn't up to snuff..does anyone else get these feelings?
Posts: 287 | Registered: Jul 2006
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Oh yes, we've talked about this before many, many times. I think I've been responsible for a dozen or so all by myself.
Orson Scott Card says that good writers should always simultaneously think that they are the best writer in the world and the worst writer in the world. I think it's good advice -- albeit hard to follow. I often end up on a roller coaster, alternating between states of thinking I suck and states of thinking I'm awesome.
It's a normal part of writing. Just keep at it. Practice, practice, practice. Don't forget that all writers have a million words of crap in them before they even get to the good stuff.
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I started reading a best of the year sci fi collection yesterday. From page one of story one, I started doubting myself. More than usual, I mean. But reading them also makes me want to write stories that good, and I am a stubborn human, so I guess I will keep trying.
Posts: 187 | Registered: Jun 2006
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I know exactly what you mean. Hehe. I don't even need to read anything else to wake up some days and feel like crying because 95% of what I've written is crap crap crap. The other 5% is limited to lone sentences and scattered scenes, lost in the sea of awful-things-I've-written.
Cheer up! Christine's right...just keep at it. That's what I'm going to do. (I'm with you, Louiseoneal...I'm stubborn.)
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Every time I begin to write I feel that what I'm writing is not good enough. I keep going, giving up is not easy for me as I'm very stubborn as well Nothing wrong with being an old mule.
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When you run across a story you think is better than what you're writing, you can't let it get to you. I try to concentrate on doing the things I can do---often as not, nobody's doing those things, at least not where I can see.
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I'm the roller-coaster kind of writer. One day, I'll read a "best-of" and think, "hey, I could do that" and then the next day when I'm trying to get my characters to sound like people I realize it isn't so easy and I'm tempted to trash the whole story. One day I send stuff of in flurry of Heinleinism (ie, without much revision) and the next I'm appalled at what I've done and wish I could recall those stories from the slush pile. Other days, I'm so lazy I'd rather think the story isn't salvageable than work at it and get it right. Yes, writing sucks, I'm glad I have a great day-job and that I only do this for fun
Posts: 507 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Heinlein was a brilliant writer who wrote wonderful works that were both a pleasure to read and an influence on me as a writer and a person---but, I've since discovered, Heinlein also was a first-class shoveler-with-both-hands on many matters.
Revision of his literary works was one. I concede there are limits to the value in constant revising---but I like to have everything straightened out as well as possible before I show something to someone else (in particular, to an editor, but it applies to passing something around for criticism and comments, too.)
I gather that, despite Heinlein's broad statements, he did revise, and often quite a bit, before publication or even submission.
(I, too, went through a phase of writing one draft and sending that out, possibly because of what Heinlein said. Probably they were no better or worse than a revised version would have been. But I went back to drafts and more drafts after awhile.)
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Oh, yeah, I have self-doubt in abundance. For this, I've found Richard Rhodes (THE MAKING OF THE ATOMIC BOMB) to be the most helpful. Every word you write, Rhodes says, is put in the balance against the fear of writing. The only way to overcome the fear of writing is by writing and writing and writing.
And since I have a mighty dose of fear myself, I've also found that the less I think about publication and the more I focus on writing the better I am, emotionally speaking. I'm not sure a writer is objective enough to know if what he's written is any good or not, but I do believe a writer should think what he's written is good before he sends it out into the world. Now, I've beleive I've written some pretty good introduction, and some all right middles, and some so-so endings. When I finally believe I've written a pretty good story, I'll send it out. Whether or not it is any good . . . well, that will depend on if its bought or not, huh?
Regarding Heinlein....
From everything I've read, he was one of the rare breeds of slow writers who write X-amount of words a day and will keep on writing until those words are perfect. Vonnegut is one of those kinds of writers, too. Vonnegut writes 2 pages a day. Heinlein wrote 4. And from what I know, sometimes it would take Heinlein six, eight, even ten hours to get those 4 pages right. And, of course, sometimes it might take him only an hour or two.
But, of course, who knows if all of this is fact or fiction?
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