HELP! I'm reconsidering my ability to write... - Writers Forum

Kikster · 06-21-2005, 02:37 PM

ok... maybe this happens to everyone and it's perfectly normal, but I don't have any friends who are writers, so I really don't know how to overcome this problem...

to make a long story short, I wrote a novel 4 years ago, and then never really did anything with it. now I've decided to actually edit it and try to gt it published, and guess what? now I think it sucks!!!

the plot is pretty good, and it has some good parts, but there is sooooo much about it that I don't like anymore... I would have to re-write most of it, and it kind of depressed me.

is that normal? I mean, does it happen to you guys too? how do you deal with it?

a15haddad · 06-21-2005, 02:39 PM

For the past year I have been very into this sort of thriller-drama hybrid novel I've been working on. I spent an inordinate amount of time hammering out the plot and ordering everything, and I made all sorts of decisions on characters. I loved it all the way through. I wrote 125 pages (250 novel-sized), which was about halfway through the story. Everything was going great. In fact, the last 10 or so chapters I wrote, I thought were fantastic. But then I had a problem (very complicated) and the last 10 or so pages of my story were deleted. I began to rewrite them from memory, but as I was looking at my story I realized I didn't like it... at all. There were so many flaws and seeing how I conceived it a year ago, it was completely against everything I stand for as a writer now. I've pretty much abandoned it now.

gohn67 · 06-21-2005, 02:42 PM

Don't worry about it. I wrote a novella, 33k in words, and I absoultely hate it. That doesn't discourage me. It just tells me I have a things to learn still. I work mainly with short stories now, just to get the basics down of plot character developlemnt, style. And hopefully get a few short stories published first, then work on a novel. When I have some confidence and some taste of success.

Anidazen · 06-21-2005, 02:59 PM

Ok - well I'm pretty young, so perhaps my writing ability's developed at faster pace, but here's what happened to me:

I began the first draft of my book, did about 5 chapters and gave up. Moved to another project for a few months. When I came back, I decided to have a proper go at the old book, but a lot of stuff had changed -- not least my writing ability. I began at chapter 5, with a view to rewriting 1-4 later.

Draft 1 completed, I had a warm fuzzy feeling inside. This lasted about 5 minutes-- by the time I'd completed it, my writing ability had changed to the extent where even 5+ (the earlier chapters) were unreadable to me without grimacing. So I rewrote the whole thing. And I mean completely redrafted, adding a lot of stuff and changing a lot of content as well as writing.

Draft 2 completed, and I'd finally caught up... Although, once again, the earlier chapters seem juvenile to me.

But I've abandoned (for the time being) my 2.5 rewrite (half way between proofreading and rewriting

), because my new project, a more humour based book, just gains SO much more interest. (Recent sections posted on here are from that.)

Maybe I will return to it in future though.

Kikster · 06-21-2005, 03:10 PM

so I guess it is normal...

now I'm re-reading EVERYTHING I've ever written, and I'm starting to realize that my way of writing changed constantly, so this it's not really the first time it happens...

thanks for the advice, gohn67... I think I'll try to write something short to begin with, and then try with the novel again!

Farror · 06-21-2005, 03:19 PM

I would wait until you develop a fairly consistent style before begining to write your masterpiece. When I write, I can generally go about two months before I'm disgusted with myself and have to restart. It's great practise but not much fun.

Ilan Bouchard · 06-21-2005, 05:26 PM

Yep, I'm with Farror. My attempts at novels never make it past the second chapter, and so I content myself with poetry and short stories to develop my craft.

Just think to yourself, "what's the hurry?" and take the time it takes to write something good, even if it means re-writing it two or three times before you're happy with it.

Xeen · 06-21-2005, 05:48 PM

Ack! That is so normal it's scary. I do that constantly.

BUT!

You will have those days when you find something you wrote years ago and you'll have a hard time believing that you actually wrote it because it is soooo, like, totally cool.

Hang in there. I know where you're coming from.

bobothegoat · 06-21-2005, 05:48 PM

I think it's fairly common. I read that Tolkien, for example, said that looking back on The Hobbit, he cringed.

I actually have stuff on this forum that makes me cringe. Fortunately it's buried in the depths of the forums, probably not to be seen in a long, long time.

Kikster · 06-21-2005, 07:34 PM

thanks everyone...
I feel better now that I know that all of us cringe some times when reading our stories(and if tolkien cringed... well, that really makes me feel better).

Talia_Brie · 06-21-2005, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kikster

so I guess it is normal...

Well, I certainly think you need to be careful using that word around here. Just because we're all suffering the same neurosis, doesn't necessarily make it normal.

In your case, though, I just think it's an indication that you are a better writer now than you were four years ago. I am also suffering through the same problems at the moment.

So I guess that makes all three of us normal. You, me, and me.

Kikster · 06-21-2005, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talia_Brie

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kikster

so I guess it is normal...

Well, I certainly think you need to be careful using that word around here. Just because we're all suffering the same neurosis, doesn't necessarily make it normal.

In your case, though, I just think it's an indication that you are a better writer now than you were four years ago. I am also suffering through the same problems at the moment.

So I guess that makes all three of us normal. You, me, and me.

HA HA HA... yeah... I guess that you have a point!

mammamaia · 06-22-2005, 09:13 AM

sorry, kikster, but that IS 'normal' for both young writers and beginning ones of any age!... live with it...

scrap that first mess and start learning how to write better with smaller projects... you wouldn't start out building a skyscraper if you don't even know how to build a one-story building, would you?...

so, why do so many folks think they can write a novel when they can't even turn out a decent short story?... or, in many cases, even a good paragraph of any kind?...

work on your basic skills with short stories, and when you're sure you can write well [have some you're not related to or sleeping with tell you], THEN tackle the everest of the writing art--the novel...

doesn't that make sense?

love and hugs, maia

jaben · 06-23-2005, 11:30 AM

I think you have to keep moving forward. I used to spend too much time rewriting and trying to bring old stuff up to standard. Now, I write, edit for a bit, and then pretty much move on. After all, published writers can't change what has already been printed.

Stephen King said it best in On Writing. If he doesn't write the whole novel fast enough, he'll wind up scrapping it. To me, writing a novel is a race between your inspiration and your doubts.

- J

valeca · 06-23-2005, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaben

To me, writing a novel is a race between your inspiration and your doubts.

What a great quote that is! I can easily relate.