How do you overcome the feeling of failure and inability when it comes to writing? Every time I sit down to write something I keep feeling awful.

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Anonymous Fri Mar 13 09:56:53 2015 No.6263690 [Reply] [Original]

How do you overcome the feeling of failure and inability when it comes to writing? Every time I sit down to write something I keep feeling awful.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 10:05:04 2015 No.6263707

By practicing and reading books about how to write better. Stop worrying about the quality of your writing, just write down what you have in mind and don't think about what others might think of it, because you're not gonna show anything what you're writing, it belongs to you and no one else.
Plus, let me tell you this. The more you write, the faster you write, and the faster you write, the easier it is for you to get into a state of a some kind of a trance when putting down your thoughts.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 10:12:44 2015 No.6263722
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That's because you are judging your own writing before and while you do it. You think the only writing worth writing is the good one and that blocks you because you keep struggling to figure out what that means and how to do it without doing it. And the minute you start you're already thinking whether it is worth it or not and where it will lead and so on.

Writing itself is not bad, it's just words on paper (or screen, whatever). What makes you feel awful is the weight you're putting onto these words, as if every sentence you wrote had a responsibility on a finished piece that doesn't even exist yet. You're thinking of failure because you're thinking of success, you are thinking of inability because you're thinking of what you able or not to do.

The way to overcome this is to think that every word you put down is a success in the sense that from all the possible things that run over your head, it is that very little word that got out and succeeded to jump onto the paper. Do not judge that word harshly or before its time. Do not think ahead of a book, learn to write without knowing where it will lead. Practice automatic writing, observation writing, stream of consciousness. It can be much more natural than you'd have imagined, like bleeding as Hemingway puts it, or you could say less dramatically, like breathing out or sweating, letting it flow. At the start you may hate on it very much, because a lot of crap will come out, but after you get a lot of it out, the pearls will begin to appear and you'll be able to do something with them. If you just sit and think on what is worth writing for, nothing will come. Write first, do first, think about what it later. Sometimes a diary entry can become a short story and a short story can become a poem, complete gibberish can become a novel, but you'll only know if you go through the gibberish first and accept it for what it is.

In order to solve an artist's block, you must put things into movement without judgement. A painter can grab a chalk and scratch the paper like a young child. You see one of it and it will suck, nothing to do with that crap. But when he's done with a 100 of them, he, because he is a sensible person, will perceive beauty in it and have new ideas and think of new colors and have other kinds of artistic insights that will fuel his production. That's the very same thing with writing.

If you meet the devil, make him work for you.

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 10:21:29 2015 No.6263740 Who is this semen slurper?

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 10:22:35 2015 No.6263743 >>6263740 Hayley Atwell.

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 10:23:09 2015 No.6263744 >>6263740 The OP is the first poster, the one that starts the thread.

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 11:44:18 2015 No.6263956 >>6263722 Thanks for this, anon.

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 11:59:08 2015 No.6263993 >>6263690 >How do you overcome the feeling of failure and inability when it comes to writing? I stare a boobs

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 12:04:34 2015 No.6264009 >>6263690 It's probably because you suck at it and you should move on to something else.

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 12:06:10 2015 No.6264014 >>6263722 good advice.

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 12:10:13 2015 No.6264020 >>6263690 just write it's as simple as staring at boobs dem white shirt tho <_<

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 12:14:29 2015 No.6264031

Yay I found a way to write more!

This is what you do. Look at the time. Write a paragraph/half page worth of writing then wait until the next hour. This means you up to 60 minutes before you write the next part. If you wrote at 5.25pm then you wait until at least 6pm to write the next part. Then you have an hour and so on. I find I write more this way. Taking a step back and letting your mind wander, coming back and continuing with a fresh mind is a lot easier.

Word.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 12:15:25 2015 No.6264032

>>6263722
Nicely written, but total bullshit.

I guess it would make sense if you wrote a book that's 3 times the length you need, then you cut it down to just the good stuff. Not really how writing works though, the more you write the more integral everything is.

You're also missing that even if somebody believes it's good, which most writers do, it can still suck hard.

If you want to write, go ahead, it's probably up to others to judge whether it's good or not. Just statistically, it's a good bet it's shit, but go ahead and write if you want. Or not.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 12:26:06 2015 No.6264066

>>6264032

>nicely written
Thanks
>total bullshit

Do I have to add that you should plan and think about your idea before you start getting down and dirty with your writing? I'm talking about post-idea formulation, when you have the idea but find it a challenge, or damn near impossible, to get those words on the page.

This is me because I can't bring myself to write in long stretches. It's too much of a chore. Does that make me a shitty writer? Probably. But what I've written so far today is, I think, pretty good and it's telling me what my story is and where it can go. I write this little paragraphs of story, each in their own scene and time frame, like soundbites of what the entire scene could be, and then I move on. Getting caught up in one chapter or time frame isn't good for writing because, frankly, it's boring as hell.

This is my method at the moment, I'm known to come up with a lot of them until something sticks for a little while.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 12:28:51 2015 No.6264081

>>6264066
>Do I have to add that you should plan and think about your idea before you start getting down and dirty with your writing?

Oh really? wow...holy shit. Here I thought you whack your head off an anvil then sit down and see what comes out on the keyboard. Thanks zen master.

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 12:30:39 2015 No.6264088 >>6264032 You're an idiot. Many books get cut down by tens of thousands of words before publication and your obliviousness to this highlights you as someone who doesn't know what they're talking about and hasn't been published.

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 12:35:36 2015 No.6264108 >>6264088 Not really. Most books get cut down by AROUND 10,000 words. You figure that a manuscript will loose maybe 10%. Are you going to write a 300,000 word novel and cut it down to 100,000? No, you're not.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 12:40:29 2015 No.6264130

>>6264066
>Do I have to add that you should plan and think about your idea before you start getting down and dirty with your writing?

Some writers don't. I heard george rr martin talk about how he thinks there's two types of writers. The architects and the sandbox writers. Architects think things through, they have the plot and the direction all figured out before they start writing. Sandbox writers just sit down and type and see what happens.

From what i've seen, sandbox writers like martin tend to put out huge quantities of work, but they don't tend be all that great. Architects put out much less work, but it's better quality.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 12:49:21 2015 No.6264154

>>6264130

It's clear George RR Martin has a gamplan for the series. He gets to make a lot of detours because of the way he's set it up. It's obvious now that the young starks are the game changers and are the ones who are going to be the end all heroes of the thing. Everyone else is expendable.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 12:49:26 2015 No.6264155

>>6263956
No problem.
>>6264014
Thanks.

>>6264032
Yes, but it's not that the book will 3 times the lenght and then be cut. You have to think that any writer has probably written 3 times more than what they have published. Scrapped material, drafts, studies. It doesn't have to make it to the final work and that's precisely the point of it as an exercise. The artist may not exhibit the crayon drawings, but he can derive an idea for a good painting from doing them, ideas that he wouldn't have if he just sat in front of the blank canvas.

Not to mention a lot of books do get cut out.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this is not solely about lenght. You may start a story and let it unfold in a certain way and, in the middle of it, you get a better idea altogether and even abandon your initial concepts to work on that secondary insight.

The quality of it shouldn't be a point at this stage of the argument. To try and figure out whether it will be good or not by the end of it and who will think that is one of the reasons people are blocked. In fact, I wouldn't say "blocked" as in facing an obstacle, that's just fine. The problem is that people find "resistances". That is, they keep that creative energy flowing at a low pace while getting exhausted thinking of this kind of stuff.

I believe it is essential to have a notebook/sketchbook and take notes and develop them without worrying whether they will serve or not. And to get back to OP's question, this is what will remind the writer that writing is just good.

>>6264066
>Thanks
FIuck you, you're not me. That's not cool at all, bro.

I disagree with a lot of things you said. The planning gets in the way. Some people here get stuck at thinking of how their book covers are going to look like but can't write a whole paragraph. That's exactly what I'm criticizing here. People get hypnotized about finding a method and not realize that constant work naturally brings forth a productive method that suits each person.

>>6264081
He is not me.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 13:32:34 2015 No.6264269

>>6264155
Dude, you're just a conjecturing faggot. If a writer wrote 3 times what he needed for a project, i'd think something was seriously wrong with him. 25% more is common, maybe 50% on a big project, ok. But if you're producing 3 times the shit, then you're doing something seriously wrong.

>Another thing to keep in mind is that this is not solely about lenght.

Oh really? wow, thanks for that brainstorm.

>The quality of it shouldn't be a point at this stage of the argument
The quality is always a concern. Every single person I know who thought the shit they were writing was shit, in the end it always turns out being shit. That's why I always say, if you don't like it, if you think it's terrible, why the fuck are you writing it? Stop, regroup and do something else.

>To try and figure out whether it will be good or not by the end of it and who will think that is one of the reasons people are blocked

I guarantee you'll produce shit with this attitude. You do have to think if it's good or if anyone will like it. A first draft is rough, you may think "Well, this isn't quite what i would like yet," but at the same time you have to know what you're doing is basically good and any flaws it have are minor and can be fixed.

If you're just typing away like an methed up, blind piano player, without any thought as to what you're doing is good, then you're not trying. You're not attempting to make something good, you're just hoping something good comes along.

There's a pretty old saying: if you don't like it, why would anyone else?

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 13:48:03 2015 No.6264315

>>6264269
You seem pissed.

>If a writer wrote 3 times what he needed for a project
I'm not talking about a project. I'm talking about dropping the idea of a project for a moment. Everyday a new wannabe writer comes along saying he wants to make the greatest novel in the world without have ever stopped to look at things through a writer's eye. There is a time and place for that mindset to work, just like there is a time and place for what I'm talking about, that is, the block and the misery that OP is going through.

>Every single person I know who thought the shit they were writing was shit
I completely agree with you on that. We shouldn't try to put out there the things that we consider to be shit. But that's not the issue here, when I say to forget about quality also means not to think of your own writings to be neither shit nor good, because good ideas can come from things that we once thought was shit. The thought of not writing something because you think it will be shit cuts people's production. I'm telling not to hesitate in that situations and write it anyway, to allow these ideas to take life, whatever the ideas are. Then, later, you'll look through your notebook and see what is worth saving and working on and what's not. I'm telling OP to access a state of mind in which writing is caused by this itch to put things out.

>You do have to think if it's good or if anyone will like it
Later.
>you have to know what you're doing is basically good and any flaws it have are minor and can be fixed.
Later. Yes, I'm all forth being critical of what we do, but first, we must do them. We must drop the judgement down a notch, shut down the criticism a little and produce something. Then you observe what you're doing. There must be an aspect of play to the work, not in cheerful way I mean, but in the sense of allow the story to evolve beyond the early expectations. Let people criticize what they write, not what they think before writing it.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 14:41:13 2015 No.6264460

At least you people can write.

I didn't even want to make a thread because it's not worth it so i might as well post it here.

I got ADHD and i cannot read fucking books, i wanted to ask if this board knows what i can try to practice reading, i tried The Art of War and i just keep stopping.

Although i am very bitchy with grammar, i just can't read very long stuff.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 14:45:05 2015 No.6264476

>>6264315
>You seem pissed.
Nope, not at all, just confronting your faggot shit.

>I'm not talking about a project. I'm talking about dropping the idea of a project for a momen
No, you're just changing topics because you know you're beaten.

>But that's not the issue here,
well that was the issue, but you're changing topics again now that you know you're an idiot.

>The thought of not writing something because you think it will be shit cuts people's production
So? if all you're writing is shit, who cares how much you're producing?

> Yes, I'm all forth being critical of what we do, but first, we must do them
Not really. Everything i read that's bad is usually bad straight from conception. It wasn't a matter of execution. Writing something good is easy, thinking up something good is the hard part.

> Let people criticize what they write, not what they think before writing it.
Really, so if a faggot wanted to write a 1 word book, that was 700 pages of the letter "k", would you really say, "You know, you should really do it first, then criticize it later,"?

No, sorry, all the bad writing i see, especially the shit on /lit/ is bad just because it's a horrible idea. You're a queer btw. shutup.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 14:49:06 2015 No.6264488

>>6264460
Well fucking gack up on adderall or whatever you got to do and go read.

I kinda doubt you got add so bad that you can't read because you're obviously reading this thread. You're probably just selective about your "disability" like all adhd faggots are. I remember in the military people pulling that shit.

Wow, you graduated high school huh? Passed your driver's exam did ya? You can sure play those video games for 4 hours straight, can't ya? Oh, but now that i'm asking you to do something you don't want to, suddenly you're disabled.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 14:56:50 2015 No.6264514

You can't really. You just have to get over it for an hour or so and day and then put something out there in the world for people to read. Not assholes on 4chan but maybe some creative writing group. They'll tell you what's wrong and they'll encourage you. You write more and you read more and you get more feedback. Eventually you'll not-suck enough to submit pieces to a publication and eventually you'll get enough validation to go "I suck, but what I am saying is interesting to some people."

What is key and something you need to develop to be a good writer is to remeber you are an artist. Remember you are trying to create a piece of work that will move people. You're not trying to win awards or praise.

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 15:02:01 2015 No.6264532 >>6263690 If you can be discouraged from writing, you should be discouraged from writing.

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 15:05:00 2015 No.6264546 >>6263690 >Every time I sit down to write something I keep feeling awful Don't write on boats. At least not if you get seasick. #twocents

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 15:07:50 2015 No.6264552

>>6264514
>They'll tell you what's wrong and they'll encourage you. You write more and you read more and you get more feedback

Great idea. Take creative input from a bunch of unpublished failures, so that your work looks exactly like theirs, then you can all submit it together and be failures.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 15:26:56 2015 No.6264600
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>>6264476
>confronting your faggot shit
>you're beaten
>You're a queer btw. shutup.
You mad as hell, bro.

>well that was the issue,
The issue is OP can't write because he feels awful doing it, he is stuck. People like you jump to solve the problem by adding more problems to it. You're teaching how to sell a book or how the habitual writer can gather his energy into a project, but not about OPs problem. And I'm changing topic?

>So? if all you're writing is shit, who cares how much you're producing?
You don't know it's shit, you haven't written a thing. You'll know what's shit or what's not after you're writing. Instead of biting pencils, writers should be writing. If all you produce is a sentence a year, who cares if it is a good sentence? You can't get better if you don't practice. The shit you write can hint you to where you can fix it and ake it better.

>Writing something good is easy, thinking up something good is the hard part.
It will be easier to think something good after you've written a few things. ;)

>Really, so if a faggot wanted to write a 1 word book, that was 700 pages of the letter "k", would you really say, "You know, you should really do it first, then criticize it later,"?
What a cool example, so real. Even so, I'd say, what's the harm? If the idiot wants to do that, who are us to stop him? After such a project is done, perhaps he'll gain the writing discipline to use in more fruitful endeavours later. There is always something to learn. Creatively, it is better to do than to not do, because if you don't do, you can't tell what it could have been and if you do, the least you'll have is the experience.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 15:40:00 2015 No.6264635

>>6264600
>You mad as hell, bro.
Not really, but if makes you feel better, go with it fag.

> People like you jump to solve the problem by adding more problems to it.
what? By saying what he's writing probably does suck? Sorry about that, guess that would be problem for somebody who sucks.

>Instead of biting pencils, writers should be writing.
Shows what you know.
>If all you produce is a sentence a year, who cares if it is a good sentence?
I'd rather have a good sentence than a terrible book. At least you could tweet the sentence, have some semblance of success with that.
>You can't get better if you don't practice.
You consider writing garbage to be practice? You could practice MMA by karate kicking potato bags and swinging your katana around, but it's not really adding to actual MMA skills.

>It will be easier to think something good after you've written a few things. ;)
You're good at well written bullshit, that's clear. How's it easier? Hmm? You seem to think writing starts at the end of the process. Thinking up good ideas generally has nothing to do with writing, and can be applied anywhere, you're just using writing as the medium.

>If the idiot wants to do that, who are us to stop him?
I won't stop him, but it won't stop me from making fun of the fag. I think the harm would be promoting the idea like it's valid, like you are. Like a fag.

>Creatively, it is better to do than to not do
I dunno, check out a student art gallery sometime. You seem to think if you keep practicing and pounding away, maybe one day it'll happen. Not necessarily, it's entirely possible, in fact it's highly statistically likely that you'll just be wasting your time. You generally have to get into writing with a skillset that most people don't have to be successful.

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 15:47:10 2015 No.6264649 >>6264600 Fuck, that water is fast, it's even a bit scary. How i'm supposed to relax with that shit?

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 16:01:29 2015 No.6264689 >>6264649 Think of it as a neverending stream of excited puppies running past you to play.

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 16:07:21 2015 No.6264709

>>6263690
Munro said in an interview that she keeps rewriting her published works, as in she actually takes her book and corrects words and sentences in it, which i think is a true representation of a writer, who is never content with what he has done. Bulgakov wrote 42 versions of Master and Margarita, never published one. Kafka wanted all of his works burned after his death (thank god that didn't happen). I don't know if you've ever written anything, but the fact that you're struggling with it is really good. Writing is hard. Every single word is important. You don't know how the choice of words will effect the reader. Few good poets in history were the kind that just threw up a song without thinking about it, and few were uneducated. The thing is, you can't decide when or if you are going to write something. It will just come to you. Your mind is thinking about it always. I came to a point when everything I hear, I try to figure out how I can use it in a story. Not everything, but my mind does it without asking. It recognizes a good idea and tries to use it. It's not always good, sometimes it's just bc. I don't really know.

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 17:03:01 2015 No.6264892 >>6263690 read a really good book

>>	Anonymous Fri Mar 13 17:20:46 2015 No.6264948 >>6263744 laughed hard

Anonymous Fri Mar 13 17:27:49 2015 No.6264972

>>6263722
>Do not think ahead of a book, learn to write without knowing where it will lead. Practice automatic writing, observation writing, stream of consciousness. It can be much more natural than you'd have imagined, like bleeding as Hemingway puts it, or you could say less dramatically, like breathing out or sweating, letting it flow.

this is bullshit. stream of conscious describes the voice of the character, not the writing of the author. the actual writing is always calculated. do not listen to this hack, or that other one hemingway for that matter

>>	« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » Fri Mar 13 21:53:29 2015 No.6266105 >>6263690 I know that feel. I go back to reading. They looks really good in my head though.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 14 06:57:00 2015 No.6267277 >>6263722 >>6264532 Great advice.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 14 07:02:55 2015 No.6267292 >>6264269 >if you don't like it, why would anyone else? Because they are stupider than me

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 14 07:03:21 2015 No.6267294 >>6263690 Stop being a pussy and just write or >>6264009

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 14 07:16:25 2015 No.6267325 These threads always make me feel better because they remind me that there are no right or wrong ways to approach writing and that anyone who tells you there are is talking out of their arse.

Anonymous Sat Mar 14 07:22:23 2015 No.6267338

>>6267325
Essentially. If you can write well you know you can, and you do, and if you can't, you can't. Some can draw, some can sing, some can throw fast, some can jump high. Writing is a skill, it takes discipline and training, but really you need to feel it within, otherwise you'll never write worth shite.

Anonymous Sat Mar 14 14:03:43 2015 No.6268672

They had gathered at the finish line.
Mother and father, once divorced.
My sisters and brothers, once estranged.
Old friends, new friends; protesters to my cause.
They had gathered behind two postmarks bandaged in an unbroken ribbon.

My classmates: tormentors, associates, teachers.
Those of my street: neighbours, tradesman, thieves, retirees.

All laughing: heads thrown back and the roar of a laughter alive with mirth - tears in the eyes of some.
I couldn't help it, as it was funny after all.
I ran to the finish, and as that fine line drew near, as the laughter became deafening, as the smiles came closer, I joined in.

In the end, I laughed too.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 14 14:12:35 2015 No.6268698 >>6268672 It's a good rule of thumb to never make your work autobiographical, unless you already famous and you know people will want to hear it.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 14 14:23:05 2015 No.6268733 >>6268698 But I am, bub.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 14 16:37:45 2015 No.6269178 >>6263744 rekt

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/lit/ - Literature