Writing Writing Tips: Overcoming Self-Doubt

[Aleth08]

Well, most of the starting authors have their own style, that gets to be improved the longer they study their favorite authors, or the longer they spend in writing school, or in writing itself.

Take note of the word 'study'. It's different from merely copying. I believe that 'study' is identifying the good things to emulate in a work or author, and applying it WHEN APPLICABLE only. As for those parts that it is not applicable, it is where your style comes in.

Copying is just doing everything in the way that story or author did, from start to finish. May or may not Include his bad points.

Hope this answer helps!

It does. Thank you.

 

[ForestDweller]

@ForestDweller also, I forgot to add...if you're lacking in ideas, like for a specific part of your novel, talking out your ideas to someone you trust is a great thing to do. Not only do you get fresh ideas, you might be able to polish it so that the moment you write it, it's smooth sailing from there. So yeah, having a writing buddy or two, or even a group, is good.

I already do that with my readers.

I'm not necessarily out of ideas. In fact, it's the opposite. The difficult part is to insert every single idea I want to write into my story, and not make the story an incoherent mess in the process. That's why the longer the story goes, the more set parts there are, and the less room I have to add ideas. I don't like that.

 

[Deleted member 29316]

I already do that with my readers.

I'm not necessarily out of ideas. In fact, it's the opposite. The difficult part is to insert every single idea I want to write into my story, and not make the story an incoherent mess in the process. That's why the longer the story goes, the more set parts there are, and the less room I have to add ideas. I don't like that.

Ah for that, you can write down those ideas so that you can polish them. Some ideas may be fused so that you can write a better narrative. Others, you write them down as well, because who knows when you may insert it to your story?

Take note, just write those ideas down without concern if they'd be coherent or not. It's considered your first draft. Then take a bit of a rest.

Once rested, go over your ideas again. Usually, you'd be able to fuse some of those scenes into a better part of your story. Those that were not taken, set it aside as drafts you might use in the future.

Not only do you let out that 'idea stream', you also get to organize your drafts.

 

[OvidLemma]

Different authors are motivated by different things - that's so obvious that it almost goes without saying. I think it's important to understand how you are motivated to write, though, because the framing is actually really important for deep introspection - for figuring out both how you tick as an artist and how you can maximize your motivation while increasing your confidence as an author (or reducing your self-doubt).

There's a concept in psychology of loci of control - do you control your destiny or is it controlled by forces beyond your influence? Motivation works the same way. You can be internally motivated by things like your desire to tell a good story, to write well, to gain experience as a writer, or just to get your idea out into the world. These are things that are internal - nobody but you controls them, and they are independent of whatever anybody else thinks about your work. You can also be externally motivated by things like reader feedback, making money as a writer, or getting the most readers. Personally, I think it is important to have both internal and external motivations, because internal motivations give you an intrinsic drive than nobody and nothing can take away. However, external motivations give you real-world metrics and goals to guide yourself. Both are important. However, when you find yourself encountering doubt because of how your audience or the world in general views (or doesn't view) your writing, then it's time to turn to your internal motivations and give your externalizing a rest.

To some extent, whether you internalize or externalize is inherent to your psychology, so you can't just flip it on a switch. But understanding how your motivations are a mixture of both can help you to focus on one or the other, depending on how your work needs to evolve and improve as you develop as a writer. And, if you find yourself beset by self-doubt, it may be useful to ignore externalities and think about your own self-driven motivations.