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[Duke 2.0]

Kinda comforting to know that paralyzing self-deprecation is such a common issue.  I've got a couple writing ideas of my own that have been brewing for years that I just keep pushing back, ostensibly because I have too many prior commitments to work on personal stuff, but really because I know I just won't be happy with the result.

I guess the worst sign is that on some level I already knew of these solutions.

Which is a much more painful situation than being in ignorance to the solutions.

 Still, I'm sure we are all capable of manning up and doing what we have to do.

[LASD]

Another self-deprecator reporting in.

I know that I can write well based on all the feedback I've got, at least in Finnish, but damn it if I'm ever happy with anything I manage to blurt out. And that's what I do if I'm required to (or make myself) write something, I blurt it out, because I always wait for the last possible moment to do it or sometimes even beyond, convincing myself that the more I think about it beforehand, the happier I'll be with it in the end.

The only situations where I'm at least partially happy of some writing I've done is when I come up with an original idea or a gimmick in the text, but in those cases I usually hate the way I wrote it.

This bothered me quite much when I started posting on forums as every post I wrote looked like it was produced by an idiot and every single one didn't have enough point or length to justify it's existence. What helped me stop being overly critical of my posts was taking part in Sean's RTD (which I didn't expect to become so incredibly big) as playing that game I was "forced" to make short posts with little substance (though I still don't think I have any posts there that consist of one action and nothing else)

So, I join all the people who say that you just have to write more, it really should help.


Also, when playing an instrument, there's always so much to improve that it's not even funny, especially when performing to people, no matter what they say.

However, when I do something that I don't consider myself good at, I can be immensely happy with the outcome.


P.S. I still use quite large quantities of time to make my longer posts "perfecter" and almost always feel that they're inadequate, like I do with this one right here.

EDIT: Also, I use the edit-button more than is healthy, a terrifyingly large number of my posts have faced some "enhancements" few minutes after posting them.

[Awayfarer]

Josh. I'm pretty much the same. The only thing to do is keep writing and get used to it.

The first time I submitted something to a lit. mag I nearly threw up from nerves. I still shake when something I've written is being critiqued. There's nothing wrong with any of that, you just have to go ahead and do it anyway.

I have a fuckton of anxiety and when faced with anything I tend to assume that I will fail. At this point there are two directions in which I can turn.

1: I will fail, so there's no point in trying.
2: Lets see how much damage I can do on the way out.

I think in terms of "2". There's very little to stop someone who thinks they have nothing to lose.


On a more practical note, it is really damaging to try and edit something as you are writing it. Just write until you run out of steam. If you're writing a story, finish it entirely before you edit. Otherwise you're just spinning your wheels.

[Electronic Phantom]

Hah!  As a writer, I fit right in!  I tend to write something, reread it and think: what kind of 8-year old thinks up this crap?  I don't delete it, however.

-(e)EP

[ThreeToe]

I think the best way to get comfortable writing is to do a lot of it.  I think I remember someone in school telling me that professional writers write at least 10 pages a day.  I don’t write that much, but I do put in about four hours on the days I don’t work.  It has gotten a lot easier.  Now my only problem is breaking out my old patterns or writing about something I don’t know much about.

I also heard that Robert E. Howard (Conan!) used to scream out the sentences he typed to make his stories sound badass.  I’m not afraid to admit I tried this technique.

[Dasleah]

I also heard that Robert E. Howard (Conan!) used to scream out the sentences he typed to make his stories sound badass.  I’m not afraid to admit I tried this technique.

Sounds like a great technique for action / barbarian literature. And I have to admit, I'm intrigued what a writer doing this could do to the romance genre

[Neonivek]

So basically you are a perfectionist. It's not a bad thing actually. 

Well there are two kinds of perfectionists

1) People who try too hard to be perfect and thus lose sight of the larger picture

and

2) People who know they cannot be perfect and thus do not try

The problem comes with people who fall in the second category. Which I call Perfectionist Procrastinator.

[Yanlin]

I'm calling myself an optimalist. I'm trying to make something as good as possible. Not perfect. Just as good as POSSIBLE.

[Eagleon]

I have this problem. It doesn't just affect my creative stuff though. I haven't been able to really start college because of it. But yeah, just plowing through is the way to go. Forget about how good it is because you can change it later, just get the overall story down and finished. With composition, it's easy to find lots of little faults, which is very discouraging with this kind of thinking. If you're working for the plot, you have a more simple goal and your creative side can take over. I've gotten through a good quarter of the book I'm writing now using this. I still get stuck sometimes but that's because I hadn't thought things through completely in some way, not because I put too many semicolons in two related paragraphs.

[MoonDancer]

I'm a weird guy, I can go up on stage, in front of lots of people. I can speak, and sing, and tell jokes with near perfect execution.

In this vein, I have a lot of fantasies, deep, personal, moving fantasies about interesting worlds and interesting characters. I want to dedicate my thoughts to paper, but something is interfering, a neurosis of sorts.

No one is judging me, or has ever harshly criticised my work. Every single person that has ever seen my work has showered me with praise.

The problem is: whenever I aim to write something down, even when I'm only into the first paragraph or so, a perfectionistic habit born of insecurity kicks in, and begins viciously critiquing every word.

It feels as though a small person in my head is yelling frantically "IS IT PERFECT? HEH? IS THAT GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT? IS THAT SPELT CORRECTLY? BEST GO ONLINE AND CHECK! IS THAT PARTICULAR SCENE CONVEY JUST THE RIGHT FEELING? IT'S NOT GOING TO BE WORTH SHIT IF IT ISN'T PERFECT! THIS IS YOUR CHILD, YOU BEST NOT LET IT DOWN! IF WHAT YOU PRODUCE ISN'T PERFECT, YOU AREN'T FIT TO WRITE AT ALL!!!"

It is quite perturbing, so perturbing in fact, that it prevents me from writing. Does anyone else experience feelings like this? And is there any way to prevent my psyche from crippling itself?

I would like to contribute more to the creative projects forum, is what I'm trying to say.

I'm the same except for me it's OCD. I've learned to ignore that annoying little voice in the back of my mind. I wrote poetry a lot, but never let anyone read it because it wasn't "perfect"...most of my poems don't rhyme very well, but they tell a story. I thought that because they didn't rhyme that they weren't any good. Some where along the way I got the bright idea that I wanted to publish my poems. That was the first time I ignored that voice. I gathered my poems and submitted them to a publishing company....all the while that little voice telling me that they weren't any good that no one's going to like them. Long story short....my book of poetry can be found on Amazon.com and BN.com (and probably some others.) Also I'm working on a creating a story for the first time. ^_^

You are your own worst critic...if you can learn to shut up or ignore that little voice it could go along way in helping you overcome things. Good luck!

~MoonDancer

[sonerohi]

I do the same to my artwork. I like the whole midevil scene, making cool armors and nice looking swords and pictures of horsemen bearing down on uncouth pedestrians with lances couched. But even though people who are, admittedly, much more knowledgable of proper and good art giving me praise over the drawings I make, I can't stand how certain lines are or how that helmet is angled or that the lance tip isn't centered perfectly. The way I deal with it. I punch myself when in private. It works.

[JoshuaFH]

I'm not sure if that's a good coping technique Sonerohi.

[Idiom]

my book of poetry can be found on Amazon.com and BN.com

Where? Under the screen name you use here?

chaoticjosh:
I have a vague OCD about this too. It's why I've never published ANYTHING.

[MoonDancer]

my book of poetry can be found on Amazon.com and BN.com

Where? Under the screen name you use here?

No, it's under my own name. I'll provide a link for anyone who's interested...just PM me.

[sonerohi]

I'm not sure if that's a good coping technique Sonerohi.

It's not exactly healthy but it's not like I beat myself silly. It's more of just a quick punch to the face and a stern warning to stop being a dipshit.