Never compare yourself to anyone · 6:46am Feb 22nd, 2013
You will never measure up to your own standards if you let those standards be defined by another person's success.
As a writer, that took me a while to come to terms with. I still struggle with it. Someone will always do something "better" than you, someone will always have "better" ideas and execute them "better" and people will leave "better" comments on their stories instead of yours.
You will always find ways to have done things "better."
Better is an evil word. It is vague, utterly subjective, and in some cases totally false. Could I have done "better" on a math test I fail? Probably... I could have answered so many questions correctly. But when it comes to writing, "better" is often a matter of taste.
Now, before you jump on me... you all know I support good grammar. I support well framed narratives and well developed characters and so on and so forth. You've seen me create things that people (well, SOME people, I have yet to really take off like some authors I know... there I go, defying my own advice) praise. You've seen me churn out some pretty good stuff.
And yet every so often I look at other big authors... not just in the fandom, but in published works... and I realize "Sweet Celestia stab me with her horn, my writing kind of sucks compared to that."
But does it? I mean, popularity is never an accurate measure of quality. Ever. I don't need to drag out the tired examples. I've seen lots of fairly successful authors that I know, for a fact, have worse writing than me. That just means a lot of people happen to like the subject, or the characters, or they are just having some positive emotional reaction to... whatever is in the story. But that doesn't mean squat when it comes to my writing. I've been here a while and written some fairly good stuff, but I wouldn't call myself "well known" by any stretch of the imagination. I wouldn't even say I'm doing this whole "pony author" thing right. I'm not very well connected to the community, my update schedule is as inconsistent as all get out, my stories—while FAIRLY original—do not cater to any specific tastes and so do not draw in swathes of readers, and despite being featured on EQD three times I bet you most people would go "Kinda?" if asked if they knew my (online) name.
But does that mean I'm a bad writer?
No. I do not think so. In fact, I'm going to go against the grain here and say that yes, I do believe that my writing is quite good. By whose standards? Well, mine obviously... but that is educated by many long years of staring at other stories and slowly but surely unraveling some of the mysteries of what makes a story "bad" or "good."
Good and bad are so subjective that what makes them that way is often lost in translation. The thing is, we have rules about grammar and behavior and social modifiers that I have absolutely no time to go into right now, that all inform us of what exactly is a good or bad thing. F I wriet lik dis den u tink im a bA d wrighter. There's no question there. But these sentences that I'm churning out right now, in a coherent manner, are just the basic framework that we all work off of. I'm following rules of grammar and punctuation right now, but that can either make me "good" or just "competent." Goodness is something that we feel. It's the feeling we get when we finally put the last period on a long awaited chapter. When we nail a question in class or pass a test or finally ask that cute girl out (that last one hasn't happened to me yet). When we look at our lives and feel that little spark of satisfaction. I feel like that when I complete a chapter. So I can without shame say that my writing is indeed "good."
So this blog is dedicated to anyone who has ever had the same doubts and insecurities as the ones just ranted about here. Yes, there are people out there who are legitimately "better" at writing than you. That's one (but not the only by any means) reason they make lots of money and a lot of us on Fim Fic don't. Yes, there are times when you are wrong and your writing is bad and needs a flamethrower or two to torch out the unnecessary dialogue, the weighty exposition, and the horrifying self-inserts.
But sometimes, just sometimes, I think people need to sit back, relax, stop worrying so much, and just take a look at what they've accomplished after a hard day's work without thinking about how things could be "better". I think a lot of people would be pleasantly surprised at what they find.
Thanks for posting this, I was having a moment of doubt in my writing, so to speak, and this brought me back to my feet.
You have no idea how hard it was for me to pound that thought into the head of a friend. Popularity isn't everything, people, and in the grand scheme of it all it matters so very little. My friend right now is writing what is probably his magnum opus, and he's having so much fun with it popularity no longer concerns him. That's what it's all about, people: having fun. If everything's a competition in your eyes, then maybe it's time to stop running. Your goals are probably too far-fetched to begin with—there's no problem with settling for what's within arm's reach. You might even have fun with it.
Haha. That's exactly the opposite of what my dad always says.
"Always compare yourself to people better than you."
Mmmm, this is truth.
Though if I have to compare myself to someone, it'd be myself - either me before, or what I want me to be in the future. Occasionally, I read my old work and cringe and then pat myself on the back for not being that idiot (even though I am); occasionally, I read my current work and think, "Am I going to cringe when I read this in six months' time?" While the first is purely
masturbatorycathartic, the second is what I ask myself when I edit. Well, that, and "is this boring?" though it's been more of "why is this boring?" lately.While I don't love my style, I'm at peace with it, as is the case for things which I take long, hard looks at over fairly long periods of time.
P.S. you and Bob From Bottles are my first answer whenever people ask me "who's your favourite under-appreciated author?"
Yup! :)
I wouldn't mind having some recognition though.
I'm a scriptwriter, and every so often I see a movie that is so awesome I'm just sitting there with my mouth wide open and think 'man, no way I'd ever have thought to do that'. But I don't let that dissappoint me, because this writing is something that has to be learned, so instead of moping at people who get more views and recognition and, yes, better ideas, I look at them as a guide and sort of menthors.
This blog is amazingly true. What I've found, is that comparing yourself to another whom is better only seems to stomp on your confidence.
And I will back you up and say that, yes, you are a good writer, great, even. And I know I'm breaking the entire purpose of the blog by saying this, but better than I am for sure.
Well, I guess this applies to my drawing as well. Compared to what the other boys in my grade churn out, it's actually quite good. But when I look at it, it's just bleh, how can something be that horrible?
I know that objectively it's at least somewhat competent and I need to build on that, but my own opinions are seriously dragging me down on that.
In other words, I get that spark of satisfaction whenever I know something(a little like an "AHA! I knew it!" moment) and whenever I learn something new.
Guess I could try to apply that to learning to draw properly.