posted
I have a very mean little inner voice that keeps interupting my writing, telling me what not to write, which phrase is dumb or boring, and worst of all, keeps me from working through tough scenes and especially dialogue.
I know I'm not the only one who suffers from this guy or some spectre like him. (Mine is a him.)
I've tried a lot of things over the years, everything from Zen meditation to booze. The booze only made him louder.
Or think just about your story, and not about how you're writing it. I've found that when I get excited about the plot, and just the plot, and all I want is to get that plot on paper, I let myself write first drafts. Then I don't let myself read anything I've written. Constant reassurances that the writing end will get handled in drafts 2-8 help quiet the inner critic to an ignorable grumble.
posted
I find it really easy to turn the little guy off, like a light switch really. I reach over mentally and flick the light off, then the critic is gone, but obviously not every one is not as lucky as I am.
Posts: 384 | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Don't use booze. That's an "at risk" consumption of alcohol because hopefully you write a lot, and that would mean you'd have to drink a lot. I know you guys weren't serious, but I have this inner doctor inside me which needs to speak up when someone says something like that. Freewrite, try self-hypnosis, take a walk, write at night when you're ready to drop and seeing penguins instead of monsters in the closet, multitask: write on the appartment bike in the gym, write while watching commercials in the middle of a very cool film, tell your inner editor to shut up and write regardless of what he says. Stop going back to fix the phrases that he points out, stop trying to fix phrases as they are being typed: you know what they say about boogey monsters: if you'll ignore them, they'll go away
Posts: 507 | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
Tell the little bastard that he can comment after you've written something, but not while you're doing it.
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
I try to re-assure myself that no one will see the childish first draft. I will get to go back later and re-write it once the story is out.
This is a huge struggle for me too. I would like to re-write and crit my stuff to death sometimes. I have a bad habit of re-reading the last paragraph before going onto the next one. that has the effect of tripling the time it takes to write because I have to re-write the earlier chapter twice.
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I guess the inner critic is easier for me to ignore because I have to write on deadlines. If I miss the dealine there are often terrible reprocussions for my clients. Because I do so much writing in the day job, I am confident that: (1) the only one who is going to see my first draft is my assistant and she doesn't laugh at them too often and (2) I will edit the heck out of it before it leaves the office.
Unless I haven't been writing in a bit or am finishing a scene I had to stop writing before the end, I just don't let myself go back and re-read the prior sections. Spell check and the cut and paste options are wonders of modern life. I use them often.
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You know, just yesterday I was wondering how a paralegal would react if I dropped off my fiction WIP for editing, coded for billing writeoff as a "firm matter." It's tempting . . .
Posts: 683 | Registered: Oct 2004
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J- tempting idea. Very tempting. Although the paralegal has to be willing to point out errors. Mine's too nice to really edit. Posts: 1210 | Registered: Feb 2006
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J- I read that without the "a" in front of "firm matter". I think that changed the meaning quite a bit.
Hey Survivor, you wanna be my inner critic for a while?
I know you guys roll your eyes everytime I talk about my book opening - unless you don't really have any concept of who I am. Well, I decided my book was really two books. But I'm kind of afraid about all that.
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I have this problem frequently, sometimes pretty bad. I wish I had an answer, but I'll share a couple suggestions I've heard/read about. One is to write in a distracting environment. Another that I think came from Ray Bradbury is to write and write and write until you're tired (apparently you'll wear down the critic along the way).
I just try to remind myself it can always be fixed later so just get something down and move on. Sometimes I find it happens when I'm writing something that really doesn't belong in the story, like filling time between events and such. Skipping ahead to something with content sometimes helps. I'm doing better with letting my drafts be ugly in exchange for getting things on paper faster. Long way to go, though.
posted
Thanks to everyone. I will try to get a deadline right after I get a paralegal who might give me some stronger booze (which of course I will not use) just as soon as I tell my inner critic to shut up (until after I've finished the first draft) and have spent a lot more of my time writing more stuff.
posted
When you get rid of your inner critic, be it by drugging, killing, or simply turning down the volume, see if you can do something about mine. It's bloody annoying!
Posts: 283 | Registered: Feb 2006
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and (2) I will edit the heck out of it before it leaves the office. 
