Is It just Me Or Does Everything I Write Seem To Suck?!

[redneckwitch18]

I got into writing fiction novels in high school. I do pretty well, but I hit major blocks constantly, have trouble with getting the info I don't know, and think everything that I write sucks more than I brand new Hoover vaccum. Instead, I spend my time reading someone else's published novel, which (although it's good) makes me a very depressed person. Am I the only one?

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

I got into writing fiction novels in high school. I do pretty well, but I hit major blocks constantly, have trouble with getting the info I don't know, and think everything that I write sucks more than I brand new Hoover vaccum. Instead, I spend my time reading someone else's published novel, which (although it's good) makes me a very depressed person. Am I the only one?

I've met a reasonable number of really good published writers, and they all without exception go through patches of thinking their stuff isn't working.  It also seems that having a bulletproof ego about your work correlates very well with writing complete twaddle.  So thinking it sucks is probably a good sign.

A writing group, or test-readers in general, who are about at your level or slightly better in terms of how much they have written and what they read, is the best way to get a solid handle on this.  People who understand the mechanics of writing enough to say useful things going beyond "this sucks" or "this rocks" to "this does not quite work because of X, and have you considered doing Y with it"; people a lot worse than you won't be able to do that meaningfully because they won't get what you are doing, and people a lot better than you may not offer advice that you can usefully implement [ not to mention that I always get very guilty at the thought of someone a lot better than me spending time reading my work that they could be using on things of their own that would benefit the world much more. ]

[redneckwitch18]

A writing group, or test-readers in general, who are about at your level or slightly better in terms of how much they have written and what they read, is the best way to get a solid handle on this.

How would I find out about any of these test readers?

[Murphy's Stunt Double]

I found a group of writers at Meetup.com. I love my writers group,because they give me feedback just like Neurovore was saying... beyond the this rocks, this sucks level. We have a newspaper copy editor, a horror magazine editor, a retired writing professor who has published in the non-fiction field more than once, a really promising novelist, and a talented short-horror writer, a poet, a stand up comic, some guy who writes his rants about society down in the voices of other characters, and me, who is writing a non-fiction horror memoir. 

Start there. Having an educated point of view giving me feedback has made all the difference in the world for me. Good luck!

[redneckwitch18]

Thanks. Will do. I just get so frustrated w/ myself for not doing better. Kills the self-confidence, ya know?!

[Cyclone Jack]

How would I find out about any of these test readers?

RNW, try Critters. It's an astute, supportive and -- most importantly -- very diplomatic online workshop for critique and improvement.

I'd go out on a limb and say you more than likely do NOT suck. I've never read anything that came from the heart that truly sucked? Could your writing be flawed or problem ridden or not as good as it could be? Of course -- but that goes for every pen scratching. That's why we write in drafts, get critiques and attempt to outdo ourselves with every story.

Take heart, and keep trying. Best of luck!

[redneckwitch18]

RNW, try Critters.

Thanks for the suggestion. Will take to mind. Might take a while to come back out again but will get there

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

I've never read anything that came from the heart that truly sucked?

Oh, these things exist; but anyone who understands the possibility that their writing can be flawed and there are ways to make it better is not going to perprtrate them.  It's the bulletproof egos that Feel More Deeply Than Anyone Else and therefore don't have to bother with spelling or punctuation, let alone more sophisticated virtues like character or plot, that perpetrate the real monstrosities in this regard.

[Murphy's Stunt Double]

Oh, these things exist; but anyone who understands the possibility that their writing can be flawed and there are ways to make it better is not going to perprtrate them.  It's the bulletproof egos that Feel More Deeply Than Anyone Else and therefore don't have to bother with spelling or punctuation, let alone more sophisticated virtues like character or plot, that perpetrate the real monstrosities in this regard.

Have to second that one. There is one gentleman in our writer's group who has particular points of view about *everything* and goes on very long rants about them in the guise of "characters" and "points of view" but his readings are so..... well, boring. Way too many words to get his point across. Compete stream of consciousness, no editing.  It's a punishment to listen.

[Kathleen Dante]

I got into writing fiction novels in high school. I do pretty well, but I hit major blocks constantly, have trouble with getting the info I don't know, and think everything that I write sucks more than I brand new Hoover vaccum. Instead, I spend my time reading someone else's published novel, which (although it's good) makes me a very depressed person. Am I the only one?

I went through that stage with my last novella and my last novel. The stories were done, I had no idea about how to improve them, BUT I wasn't sure they worked ... so I sent them in anyway. Luckily, my agent loved them and my editor thought the novella was great. No word yet on the novel, though. Sometimes our noses are so buried in bark that we can't see the forest.

[Mickey Finn]

William Gibson almost threw away his near-complete Neuromancer after seeing Blade Runner.

That novel created a new genre.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

William Gibson almost threw away his near-complete Neuromancer after seeing Blade Runner.

The first time I read Neuromancer and the sequels, I "heard" the narrative in the Harrison-Ford-impersonator Blade Runner voiceover.  Some years later, I was at a Gibson signing and heard him read from Virtual Light, and now I hear his books in his voice, which is a drastically different experience.  They're about three times longer, for one thing; Gibson drawls.

[Drew]

I think all my stories bite at first.  But after a six pack they get A LOT better.

[blgarver]

I to up and down with this...when i'm rolling the story in my head or telling someone about it I'm really excited and very pleased with myself.  However, once I start writing and it's right there in front of me, I get self conscious and discourage myself.  That's my most common writer's block. 

that's when I have to find an ear and talk about the story some more to get myself hyped back up about it. 

I've been in that spot for several months with this novel; soooooo soooooo close, and yet I'm experiencing that first time novel anxiety or something, and I'm having real trouble pulling through these last 50 pages.  I did switch gears and started to write the last chapter, and that seemed to help; gave me a place to go and such. 

[prophet224]

I have to say, I find myself feeling that way alot.  "Why am I trying to write?", "Who do I think I am?", or just "This is garbage".

I have been an avid reader since before I can remember.  In elementary school I'd sit and read Star Trek books under my desk instead of listen (I got all the school info eventually ). 

The last few years I've had a number of ideas but I find myself procrastinating; I realized recently that all of the 'method' books I've been reading about characters, dialog, plot, genre, etc have been excuses not to write.

I had gone back to school to finish my Computer Science degree and had to take an english course.  It was creative writing, and we just wrote short stories and discussed them with each other, critiquing our work to improve it. 

The one thing that has finally given me a clue about my own writing ability, apart from my innate disbelief in said ability, was when it was my day (we each got a class period) and the teacher started off with "well, I expect this will be a fairly short session".    It wasn't, but it was all fine tweaking, and I walked out with a sense of accomplishment and possibility that I had never had before.

I still procrastinate, but I have a little extra core of confidence that says 'maybe I can' now.  I think that, for many people, is the first and greatest gift you will get from a good writing group.