Beat the Negativity!

[kitty_fic]

When you hear that little voice telling you that you're not a good writer or everything you're doing is wrong. How do you combat that?

I've had several friends tell me that their writing has been crippled by negative thoughts and attitude.

What do you do when you start to compare yourself to others or have that niggling voice in the back of your mind telling you that you can't do it?

What are some things you have done or can do to quiet that negativity and push forward with a positive attitude?


“Comparison is the thief of joy.” ~Dwight Edwards

Comments

[nimielle.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, how to start. For me, writing something is usually incredibly exciting, all the possibilities open up before me and I'm excited to see where the story will take me. As I write more and more of it, routes I could have taken fall by the wayside as the plot becomes clearer and more set and when I've reached the only about a third of that big bag of potential I've had, has made it onto the page. That's exactly when I get the "post-finishing-blues", that's when I sit there, looking at it and thinking, well, this is shit! But then I start the next project and get sucked into the excitement all over again and the cycle starts anew. I'm so focussed on creating, that I don't have time to worry of whether I'm any good, because my goal is to finish this. I approach every new fic or every new idea as a kind of adventure and experiment. It doesn't matter if it goes wrong and I think it's shit because think about Edison and how many lightbulbs he had to try out before he found the one that worked.

If I do struggle it's because I can't quite figure out how to spin something and what I do is ask other people. This isn't a writer's support group for nothing. Everyone here is super helpful and one is stuck, everyone is full of advice and encouragement. Sarcasm doesn't help anyone and isn't part of concrit, nor should it be part of a beta. We all want to grow as a community and I think we did. This is a beautifully welcoming place, where everyone is welcome to share in the joys of writing and it doesn't matter if you consider yourself a writer or not, it's all about the ride of creation and that's pretty much WHY this place is so amazing!


What I want to say to you, and I don't even know whether anyone really cares, but here it is:

You got out of bed that day, you are creating something that comes out yourself, something that will be part of you and that wasn't there before. It doesn't matter whether it'll change the world, or if it "only" made you happy when you created it. What matters is that you created something. Think about how many people get up and dream about creating things, every morning they get up and then they decided not to, they decide to wait, because they are not good enough, they decide to not create something, because some twat told them they were not good enough. But you created something.

Every human being in my head is a piece of art, everything you achieved makes your more interesting and adds a facet to who you are, things you create are a part of that and you should never ever let anyone tell you that you are no good or worthless. You are the person you have become, you are loveable and wonderful.

It doesn't matter if people don't like what you create, or if that nagging voice says "you suck, stop creating" because it's just not true. People have different tastes in things all the time. How sad would it be, if there was only one thing we would consider beautiful or useful?

I know people often say they don't want to be a great writer, they don't want to create art, but frankly, we all do. We all want to create art and be great writers and do you know what the beauty of it is? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, each and every one of us can decide for ourselves what we think makes a writer great. Does it make a writer great if they win lots of awards, does it make them great if they are published? Does it make them great if the story we just read changes our perception of life, or shows us parts of ourselves we don't like? What about if the story makes you laugh and makes you wear that tiny smile of "I've read something I enjoyed" all day long. Does it make it art or not? The point is, it doesn't matter! The value of writing is what we allow it to be, what we judge it to be.

If someone walks up to you and tells you everything you do is shit, go tell them to go fuck themselves. Yes, positive validation is nice, but frankly, if someone has nothing better to do than make themselves feel better by bashing something someone else created, they don't deserve your time or your attention. The only way they get attention is through being dipshits, because they have no other way to validate themselves.

[nimielle.livejournal.com]

I tend to hold it with Beth Ditto from Gossip, who just doesn't give a shit about what other people think and it's liberating. I know it's harder than it sounds.

You're the 8th wonder of the world, undisputed
not just another bleeding heart
but a master piece or work of art

In conclusion:
You rock my world! All of you! Because you create things. These things might be big or small, they might be the next Mona Lisa or they might not be, but how do you know, if you don't try? And that's why every single one of you, is fucking amazing, because you keep trying!

So instead of listening to that voice inside your head, remember, there's millions of people who never create anything, because they wait for life to give them some clue or chance to get started, but it's up to you and you're already halfway into your story, so the hard part is already over. You might not be able to see it, but you're already racing downhill and there's wind at your back, pushing you on.

And to all of those overly busy bashers out there, tell them to go lick a fire hydrant in winter! It'll shut them up and being stuck out there keeps them off the internet!

[imera.livejournal.com]

I love it how you explain creativity, refreshing. I think I'm basically born with it, and if I'm not creative I will be depressed.

You write a lot of good things here, how we have to be different, have different tastes and so on, and how we should not worry about the negativity. And I'm with you on the negative comments. I don't like using the fuck word like that, but I would gladly say when people are rude to make themselves feel better.

I love all you wrote, refreshing, creative, and not at all rude. Especially loved this line "tell them to go lick a fire hydrant in winter!"

[sara-holmes.livejournal.com]

You're totally right about personal preference - If someone doesn't like my stuff I just think "well, they probably don't like cake, therefore their judgement is debatable anyway."

I think the crux of the matter is the attitudes of the writer and the people around them. Yeah, you can write something that's not great but if people still commend your effort and suggest how to improve rather than just saying YOU SUCK, you learn. Especially in this community - I kind of like to think we're all in this together.

[crazyparakiss.livejournal.com]

BEING STUCK OUT THERE KEEPS THEM OFF THE INTERNET! OMFG *ded with the laughters*

You my dear make me smile like WHOA!

And creativity for the win, being negatively analytical for the SUUUUCK. *squishes*

[misbehavingmom.livejournal.com]

love you so much for saying this bb!!! exactly what i needed to read today, you're amazing and i love you!!

[curiouslyfic.livejournal.com]

This! This so much, ajkkjfdjdfjdsfjlsdg you are delightful to me, Rike-of-awesome, and now I must tackle-glomp. Because there is so much negativity in the marketization/commodification of work, and there is so much positivity in this space, and I think it really does all come down to the understanding that all of it, every single fannish thing we do, is taking a bit of ourselves and expressing it to others through our own means.

Oh, how very tempting it is to nerd things now about self-selection and community and shared semiotic spaces, or like to nerdsplain the expressive value of fanworks and identity performance, but really all of that rolls up to this: I'm here because there is one place in the whole world where I feel like I can express myself creatively and be understood or possibly appreciated. And I don't think I'm the only one who feels that way.

So my two cents in response to your fabulousness is that every single thing that gets posted to a fannish community functions as a gift. Shitting all over that to appease external metrics of "quality" or whatever--which is entirely subjective, as you've said--is the exact opposite of what makes fandom amazing to me.

[kinky-kneazle.livejournal.com]

Yes, you're exactly right! Everyone around here helps me get past negativity, with word wars, brainstorming, encouragement and love. Everyone is awesome! Especially you ♥

[winterstorrm.livejournal.com]

I love you so much right now!
This is just what I needed to hear.