Feeling stuck

Not idea wise. I have plenty of those (although there are some I know I've forgotten). But talent or skill wise. I have to believe that with all the years of practice and the sheer volume I've written even since I have been here has meant that I've improved, but it honestly doesn't feel like it. It feels more to me like I've hit stagnation. That what I'm writing now is not getting any better than what it was, say, around this time last year.

I'm not going to stop writing any time soon, so those who like my work have no need to worry about that. I love writing. I'm just worried that I've reached a plateau, where I can't really improve any more, and that what I have is mediocre: nothing that people hate or get upset over, pointing it out at me to improve, but nothing great or amazing that they love either.

Hopefully I'm wrong, and just not noticing the improvements because it is slow and constant.

I don't know...

Comments

[ShadowLDrago]

It's easier to level up when you're a novice. Now that you've grown in skill and experience, it's not as easy.

[Comickook]

Yeah, I can definitely sympathize concerning feeling like you've reached a level where you can't go up any higher. But, hey, none of us are professionals here, so we don't have room to judge. Besides, I WOULD call your writing better than mediocre (in fact, I would call it quite good).

[Mr cold ghost]

I am so sorry. Hopefully things will get better for you soon. Stay happy man.

[harts fire]

OK first your style of righting is awesome i love it.

It's easier to level up when you're a novice. Now that you've grown in skill and experience, it's not as easy.

i agree the better you get some times the harder you need to work to move forward.

I do have a idea that i have shared with a few authors that may help.
pick something out of your norm a totally new story line , style.
as most of your story's are below 20k words set a goal for the new style of 500k.
this will take planing make a story bible with goals get a good bit on paper before you post any thing so you can see how it is going to flow or move along.
make your self a big chilagon for your self and see how things play out for you.

[forbloodysummer]

I think you're right to recognise the problem. And the further from novice you venture, the more you have to nitpick, criticise, analyse, and be really honest with yourself about whatever's not working as well as it could, because the easy lessons have already been learned.

So, a few suggestions off the top of my head (and I've only read a few of your stories, so I can't say to any extent whether or not these are things you're already doing, they'd just be my general suggestions at that level):

• The more stories you write, the more entrenched in your style/genre/tastes you become unless you make conscious efforts to mix it up. You have to strive to break free of your comfort zone. Maybe aim to, say, have at least every alternate new story you write be something totally new for you?
• Improvement rarely happens at this stage by itself. You have to work to make it happen. Submit your stories to review groups, because they'll notice problems you've overlooked. If normal reviews aren't coming up with much, try a more critical, harsher group - the less inclined they are to spare your feelings, the more they might tell you things which are actually wrong with your story, and the absence of sugarcoating will make it seem more like a serious problem worth doing something about in future.
• You can do this yourself, too. Try to reread a story a while after you've written it, so you're a bit more detached from it, and then weigh up what works and what doesn't work as well as you'd like. Does each scene start and end at the best point? How much of the characterisation in your head actually made it onto the page? What are the characters' motivations in each scene, and how much does that come across?
• Reader comments can of course also be very useful in this respect, so ask people to be as critical as they can be in the hope of putting your finger on any problems and so being able to spot them next time.
• Read stories by expert authors! Lots of them, across a wide variety of authors, characters and genres. Something like this for in-character narration, this for efficiency of prose, achieving so much with so few words, this for comic timing, this for knowing a character inside-out, I've heard very good things about ColdInGardez's Lost Cities etc...

You've written 7 times the number of stories I have, so realistically I have no idea how things work at that level. But the above is my best guess!