Aug
16th
2014
Low · 5:42pm Aug 16th, 2014
I don't think my confidence has ever been quite this shot before—not even when I deleted those affronts to literature I called stories. After writing for eight years, you'd think I'd be better at this, but apparently I'm just literature-impaired. I used to love writing, but the past couple of weeks all it has served to do is grind me to dust. I simply cannot grasp what it is that makes a story good. It is clearly beyond my comprehension. I think it may be time to admit to my obvious faults and throw in the towel altogether.
TL;DR — everything is on hiatus or cancelled.
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DemonBrightSpirit · 464 views
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I'm sorry to hear that you're no longer enjoying writing. I thought you were a wonderful writer. Maybe you're burned out and need to take a break. Whether or not you continue writing is up to you, but I wish you well no matter what. Even if you decide to stop writing, you're still welcome to hang around here and I hope you do stick around. We can talk about not the highs and lows of writing a story, but about stories that we enjoy reading or something else.
Wow. I never would have guessed you feel that way, judging by your normal approval ratings.
But, who am I to judge the standards you've set for yourself?
In any case, do what you want, what you feel is best for you.
Dude you're bullshitting yourself if you don't consider yourself a good writer. And I'm not just saying this to cheer you up like most people (I'm the last person to do something like that). I've read and favorited Caged and can honestly say that it's a good story that is written well, MUCH better than I could've written it. If you feel that you're not a good writer by the standards you've set for yourself then fine, but by my standards and many other people's (106) you are.
Well, I hope you feel better, dude; I enjoyed your writing enough to upvote a number of your stories and to follow you, so I think you're pretty solid.
Good luck whatever you do.
I've always been firmly in the write if you want to write, and if you need to take a hiatus then do so. But...you're a better writer than I am, and you're a better writer than 95% of the authors on this site. One of the frustrating things about being creative is that you never feel like your work is good enough because you always compare it to the mythical idea you have in your head. If you're really done writing then I'm sorry we don't get to see the end of Inferno, but I hope that maybe this is just a rough patch and you'll be back after you charge your batteries.
That's sad.
You're making me sad too.
I'm sad to hear that. You are a fantastic writer.
But that's how art works. It's a mystery.
We don't exactly know what makes it good or bad. In fact, we can't really put a definition on what art really is or isn't.
The truest definition of art that i've ever heard is the following: Communicate. There are no rules.
And so, what happens? We like to add rules. We like to grade ourselves and others. We say, "It must be this good, or this way, or do this thing to be worth something." And when it doesn't do that, or we find ourselves incapable of creating something that fits that "standard", we get angry, impatient, and fed up with the entire process of creating art.
That happens. It's a cycle. No matter what art you use, be it writing, drawing, composing, dancing... They're all something that we are free to do whatever we want with. The problem comes when we want it to meet certain expectations, and we try to live up to that.
Does anything really constitute "a good story"? That depends on how you feel about it, and how others feel about it. And most people like, if not love, what you have written once they've read it. The things you have written have reached out and touched us, and made us want to read more. I love your stories.
You write good stories.
Don't bring yourself down simply because you don't know what makes a good story. You're not supposed to know. We'll all find out once you've written it. And what you have written so far is good.
Don't give up writing because you're unsure about what you will write. Though, maybe you can take a break, let your mind rest. It'll help you. You'll be happier, and feel better. And when you come back to writing, should you so choose, it will also be better for it.
We'll miss your words, though.
I hope you feel better soon.
This breaks my heart, I enjoy reading your work and knowing now that is on hiatus or cancelled just makes it worse. I can understand if you need to take some time and step back to better evaluate your situation. It is completely relatable, and I am sure everyone here can agree with me. Take a break, do some other things, chill, and return when you are ready. All of us will be waiting.
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I'd like to start off by saying thank you to all of you who have given me a vote of confidence. Kind of makes me feel worse, though, letting so many down.
I've been thinking about this all day, incessantly. I can't let it go. Why am I doing no better? What is it that I'm doing wrong? And it occurs to me that my rut is, of course, my own fault.
Recently, I've become obsessed with making everything flawless, thinking, in my infinite naiveté, that it was essential to a good story. Obviously not. I've become so consumed by my drive for perfection, that I've gone from writing a thousand words a day to barely a hundred. I spend all my time fretting. Is this correct? Is this OOC? Is the pacing too fast? Too slow? No! No, book saidisms! Book saidisms bad! Rewrite that. Refine this. And on and on and on...
It's gotten to the point that writing has gone from an enjoyable hobby to a soul-draining job. Little by little, learning my mistakes and how to avoid them has altered my behavior, bit by bit, until, now, I have to force myself to write because it's become so tedious. And it's not even really improving what matters. Keeping the reader interested and telling a compelling, believable story.
Truth be told, I suck at English in general. No, I seriously fail at it. I took remedial English in high school and barely passed it. Can I identify a prepositional phrase? Do I even know what a dangling participle is? No. I can't even articulate what "syntax" is. All my grammatical skills are comprised of pattern recognition, trial and error, and the graces of those kind enough to point out what I'm doing wrong. That's it. (Thanks American educational system!)
My popularity also flounders due to my own incompetence. I've never been good at socializing, and even online I'm cripplingly shy and socially awkward. I might be a part of dozens of groups, but I rarely have the gall to stand up and speak... relatively speaking. Which makes me rather unheard of outside of my stories. Not exactly a grand way to gain attention to myself or my stories.
It's not like I haven't tried, though. I've entered a contest or two (with strikingly dismal results) and tried to get my stories featured in group that have a weekly/monthly feature, but to no avail whatsoever. I can't even pass muster for EqD or The Royal Guard, either.
And so... what can I do? I've changed my writing so much, that I can barely remember how it was when I wrote a thousand words a day. My best efforts at socializing or garnering attention are, quite frankly, hilarious. And my overall story quality seemingly hasn't changed, either.
I just don't know what to do.
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Your problem isn't perfectionism. It is a lack of confidence. Self-esteem comes from within, not without; we can only do so much for you if you don't believe in yourself.
If you're freaking out over the same section of text, here's what you do:
Move on, and come back to it later.
It doesn't have to be perfect now, that's what editing is for. You go through, write your story, then go back through and rewrite it, and improve it. Trying to make everything perfect the first time you write it down on the page is a mistake; you're likely to waste effort that way. Once you've written the entire story, then you can go back and chew it over and fix it. That's not to say that you shouldn't fix stuff as you go, or tweak passages or whatever as you write. But don't obessess.
You can always go back and fix it later, and it also means you don't lose several revisions if you need to cut out a passage or rework a section for plot or pacing reasons. It also gives you a better view of how the section fits into the text and how it can be made to fit better.
2376531 You want some promotion, do you want some people to talk to..?
I'll help as much as I can to make you feel better.
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Perfectionism is the death of art, and artists.
Don't fret over the tiny things. Just write. Let bad writing be bad writing. Then go back and fix anything major that really concerns you, when you're done.
Try it and see how you start feeling. You'll get so much written, and so many story ideas down. You'll love it again.
As for getting your stories promoted, I must say that attempting to get anything through EqD is like trying to throw a soccer-ball through the eye of a needle at 100 yards. I you got to EqD, then you are either a prolific prodigy writer, or insanely lucky. Actually, it's just mostly luck (You don't even need to be really good with English, you just need to pander to their tastes. And that is something I consider to be creative suicide.)
Remember, that your stories aren't rated by how popular they get or whether or not it gets onto a certain fic site. They're rated by you and your readers.
We like them, a lot.
But if you really want to get it promoted, there are a few tricks. Post your story on a weekday afternoon (more traffic). Find as many relevant groups as possible and put your story in them. Give your story a title that grabs one's attention and sticks out from the rest of the stories, and add an equally hooking description.
Aaaaand, that's about it.
We're here for you. If you need anything, we're willing to help.
2376531 You don't have to worry about disappointing me. If writing is really not fun for you, then yes go off and find something you enjoy, writing should never feel like a chore.
It sounds like you're suffering from some form of burn out, in which case I echo all the "take some time off" comments. Maybe you'll come back to writing and maybe you won't, your stories are good. that they don't have the recognition they deserve is a fault of the system, not you.
If writing is really a soul draining experience and you're happier without it then fimficition will have lost a great writer and I wish you well. If however you take some time off and discover what made you like writing in the first place (you enjoyed it at some point right?) then I eagerly await the next chapter of inferno.
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No, I have always loved writing. It's only recently that it's become a chore. I think I might take some advice and go back to indulge my previous fandom for a bit and come back to writing here once I've worked out my troubles. I still have two stories that have been waiting for a conclusion for over half a decade.
2377417 then godspeed on your journey.
hmm
the only thing that reminds me of how you feel is from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'
if you feel terrible about something while doing something, the work that will come out of that will reflect your feelings
you know
The chocolate i make is bad because i feel bad
and with perceived flops and crashes you keep accumulating this negative feeling which in turn will affect your work, in this case your words.
Just hope you feel better my friend
here have a pinkie