Hey guys I’m currently working on a project however I seem to have run into something of a problem you see I’m worried about the quality of my writing and whether or not it’s good enough
one of my biggest fears is that because I’m not the best with grammar my story is going to suck
have any of you guys ever dealt with something like this? or am I just particularly crazy
sincerely indominus
Hello Indominus, it’s good to hear about your current work. I think your dilemma is a more common occurrence than you think, and you’re certainly not alone in your worries. I’m currently authoring a work in progress, and I ran into a major problem regarding the fact that I used a lot of plural pronouns to replace singular ones, which was bad. It was everywhere. I spend a good long while going back through it to fix the issue, but I will say one thing: This is perhaps one of the best places to share your work if you’re anxious about it.
There are some authors here in which English is not even their primary language. The point of you sharing is so that you can gain feedback and grow as a writer. No one is perfect, especially starting, and peer-review is one of the best methods to really hone what you love to do.
The people here are very forthcoming and sincere in their feedback, and rarely no one will flat-out rip anything you share to shreds.
This is something that most writers, even those that are published and experienced feel at one time or another. It is called the Impostor Syndrome – there might be a thread or two on this already.
The big takeaway from this is that the feelings you are experiencing are normal and that many of us (including myself) have felt the same way before.
The best way to get over this is to just write and leave it all out. I’m not saying this is easy to do, just the best thing to do.
There are programs and services available to help you overcome bad grammar. Once you get your story written, as a first step, you can decide what to do from there with regard to the grammar.
every time I try to write something, be it terror, romance, science fiction, I end up deeply disappointed in myself as if I had committed the worst crime against humanity and against myself
help
I think the best thing to quote is, “You’re your own worst critic.”
I believe almost every author has a time in which they look at what they write and rip it to pieces. It could be a want for perfection, or a consideration that your own skills aren’t good enough. The best thing I can say to you is that you’re human. Writing is ever-developing, and quality is perceptive to the individual.
I would say write something that you enjoy, and share it. See what others think of your work, and improve it based on an outside critique. Enjoy what you write. You won’t get very far in your writing if the only thing giving you feedback is yourself. You know what you want to write, so you know the holes in your writing, but that doesn’t mean you know how to fix them. Other people are a good way to find those fixes, as well as learn more regarding your writing.
I really appreciate your advice
Someone told me once that you should just ‘write crap, then polish it.’ That helps me a lot. Whenever I encounter bad writer’s block or self-loathing of my writing, I tell myself “I’ll just write something bad for now and fix it later.” But so many times, the ‘something bad’ turns out to be just fine when I read over it the next day. It helps a lot to big chunks: write a lot of ‘bad stuff’ and then read over it once a week or when the chapter’s done.
The other good thing about writing is that it’s one of those skills that only gets better with practice. Almost all authors improve as they get older, so it’s not like math where people feel like "I’m a failure if I haven’t figured it out at 30’. No, the more practice they get the better:
So I would recommend that you just keep writing, and that you read your writing and change anything that looks bad, and that you take editor’s and beta tester’s advice seriously. If you do those things, then even writing crap will eventually let you write gold. (I hope!)
If you’re worried about being ripped to shreds, don’t be. The CoG audience and forumgoers are all very kind and constructive, and we’re quick to shut down anyone who tries to tear other people down. People here only want to help and they’d be glad to assist you with grammar!
first off I would like to thank everyone for their kind words and advice you guys are the reason why this community is so great
You know, I don’t know how other people work for writing, though I’ll just say what works for me.
Three things. First, spellcheck is everyone’s best friend(I need to visit him more often as well.)
Second, is what a highschool teacher one told me when I was having trouble. Write the parts you want to first and then fill in the gaps of how it got there after. There’s a few reasons to this. One, motivation is an important factor. Two, if you have a part you want to write that means you already have an idea of what you want to do.
Then the third thing which is ironically, harder to put into words. I’m not exactly a wise mountain sage when it comes to the ways of the pen and keyboard. That being said, I’d say I’m drastically better at writing than when I was a teenager. Confidence comes with time and practice. Which comes with it’s own risk of people assuming they have nowhere they need to improve on, which has never been true for anybody.
Think of it like this: “Learning is not child’s play; we cannot learn without pain.” Aristotle
So, if even a genius like Aristotle calls learning a painful process that isn’t easy, what does that say about most of us? That improvement doesn’t come easy. Which ties into another thing thing he said. “Happiness depends upon ourselves.” So, if learning is tough and the road to happiness is one we have to do ourselves? That definitely means most of us have our work cut out for us, and at the same time, the self satisfaction that comes with it , is truly something that’s our own accomplishment. Challenging? Yes. Worth doing? Also yes.
So my anxiety about writing is worst when talking about it, or sharing it; I described the feeling recently as trying to talk while your own voice is screaming in your own head that your stuff is dumb.
Weirdly or not, I actually have found the imposter syndrome get worse as I’ve become a better writer, which sure is frustrating! But none of us are alone in feeling uncomfortable and worried - writing is such a huge, emotionally vulnerable activity, it’s hard to avoid feeling some conflict there!
Honestly, if the biggest worry you have when it comes to writing is about your grammar or spelling, the best thing I could suggest would be to simply ask someone you trust to be kind but honest to go through your work and check it for you.
Mistakes in grammar happen to even the best of writers and there is absolutely nothing wrong with feeling the need for someone to proofread for you.
hello fellas!
Sooo I’ve been struggling with a weird kind of anxiety lately.
I wanted to know if it’s common among writers and, if you experience it, how you cope with it.
It happens in relation to projects I’m writing:
I’m always very passionate about my projects and I not only write them as a hobby but I also use the characters and stuff it to cope a bit, and when I see other projects, series or books with a story or style that I feel to be similar to mine, I get really, REALLY anxious and I don’t know why…
If you’ve ever felt this you know exactly what I’m talking about. It really sucks because while it bothers me I’m also very aware of the fact that it’s pretty irrational, I mean every idea is bound to have been thought about before and just because someone else made something similar doesn’t mean mine is worth less, but I can’t help but feeling this way when I come across stuff like that and I really hate it cause this not only makes me stress over my own projects (which are supposed to make me feel better) but it also prevents me from enjoying stuff that if it wasn’t for this dumb reaction of mine would actually be very pleasent to look at/watch/read.
I feel like it might be the fear of people saying I copied someone else while talking about something I’ve actually been working on really hard, or maybe it’s that I start feeling like that thing that is special to me is not supposed to be special because someone else has already done it… It’s stupid I know but I’m having trouble putting a finger on why it bothers me so much and these are some hypotesis
(Oh and I would like to point out that I feel absolutely NO resentment torwards the people that create the stuff that triggers whatever this is, when I get upset it’s always because of the stuff I do, not them, it’s not like it’s their fault lol! I know this is obvious but I just wanted to make it clear ahah 
)
I would really like to get over it and enjoy stuff that is similar to mine without feeling bad about it but I don’t know how??
If you have ever felt this and want to share your experience and/or have any tips, I’d be really grateful to hear them…
thank you
I’m not sure this will be a good advice, but I’ll try.
I can relate. Heck, I get so anxious every time I read something good that’s in the same genre as mine is. That feeling never leaves in my case, but what I try to do is use it as a learning tool. Find out what makes this work successful compared to others, and how that knowledge helps me cultivate my own.
On another note, having similar concepts may be unavoidable, but you can still make yours unique.
Insert something in your story that’s purely your own. A peculiar concept that you never find in your genre, or a character that has tons of interesting development, or an event that happens differently compared to existing stories. Finding/Creating your story’s unique point will help you gain a little bit of confidence, and that motivation would be good enough to make you appreciate other stuff (and yours).
I’m aspiring writer and I feel what you’re going through. The best thing to do is believe in yourself and power through.
I also have a constant anxiety over whether my writing is good enough. My friends constantly tell me that I’m good, but I always doubt them. Therefore, second opinions always seems to be the way to go since I criticize myself too much.
thanks it’s nice to see I’m not the only one experiencing this! It’s like, you read similar stuff and suddenly there’s that nagging feeling of “since this one appears to be so similar, I should cange mine” and it’s very unnerving cause you like what you’re writing and since your work is so closely related to you as a person you know can’t just change it unless you were to make it less personal (and you ACTUALLY don’t need to change it at all, it’s just the feeling that is distressing) so yeah maybe that’s it, the “I should change my work cause that one is similar, but my work is very important to me so that means I really shouldn’t see it as that important to me anymore, build a distance between me and this thing I love so much and change it” and you feel like you have to even if you don’t, and you just can’t.
It could be this… I don’t know I’m thinking about it as I’m writing…
One thing that I’ve learned is that when I write, I can not read books, stories or virtual novel types of games.
By keeping your focus on you, you will bring forth your vision, as only you see it.
When you focus on others, you lose your connection to your vision and other’s visions start clouding your own.
If, at the end, after you have brought your writing to others, you need to revise, rewrite or change something… that is o.k.
If you loop yourself into constantly changing things in the middle of creating your writing, then you will send yourself into a death spiral of a feedback loop to yourself… one that only ends with a crash and burn, or a bail-out.
I am funny in the sense that I don’t have anxiety while I writing. I have anxiety before writing and after, thinking that I am a failure and nobody likes what I write. I feel like I am letting people down. But during the writing, I am focused and happy, I love to jolt down and wringing my ideas to life.
I just saw this and I wanted to add an extra short message of support. I also suffer terribly from anxiety when it comes to sharing work. But equally I feel if it is a story you love and want to share, then you have to hope that it will bring pleasure to others to. Keep on doing your best to ignore the negative voice that tries to get you down. He says knowing he has exactly the same problem.