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

[tariana.livejournal.com]

I struggle with this all the time. I wouldn't say I'm exactly jealous of people who write really long, plotty things, more confused about how they actually do it. I've got a few abandoned WIPs that I'll never finish, I'm sure, and they're discouraging to even look at or think about because I feel like I failed by not finishing them.

I think I'm honestly just better at writing shorter things, so I try to focus on that. I find that if I can write a short thing that is complete and postable, that makes me happier than writing something longer that'll never see the light of day.

I've also been thinking of ideas I had and making them prompts for various fests. I'm not sure if any of them have been claimed yet, but it'll be interesting if they are.

[curiouslyfic.livejournal.com]

Yes! I am totally the same about longfic! Fabulous when it happens, but that's just not how I operate. So glad to hear I'm not the only one, you know? *g* The longer the fic gets, the more chance I have to start overthinking it, which inevitably means second-guessing myself, which rarely ends well. Shortficcers unite!

[tariana.livejournal.com]

Shortficcers unite indeed! <3

[kinky-kneazle.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking of putting my abandoned ideas in as fest prompts as well - it'll be interesting to see what other people do with them.

And any writing you do is useful - as practice, as working through ideas... one day you'll go back to it and use a passage, or half an idea from that WIP will make it's way into your masterpiece. Any writing you do is helpful - never think of it as failing. <3

[tariana.livejournal.com]

I think I need to look at it more this way -- and maybe there are things in some of those old WIPs that could be pulled out of the existing story and worked into a shorter thing that I could have some hope of finishing!

That would be nice -- thanks for thinking of it!