misscousins
Active Member
Hi, I'm wondering how some writers handle their fears when they are writing?
What I mean exactly, is; when you are writing a story you've been working on a while, but then after months or a year or two down the line you find a show on TV or another book, which has almost an identical plot to your work in progress, do you lose heart and stop, or do you continue anyways?
Also, I thought of a great name for a character and it doesnt feel right to give her any other name, but a friend of mine said that the name was too similar to a Jane Austen heroine and she felt this was a problem.
The name of my character was Amber Woodhouse, and the name of the Jane Austen heroine was Emma Woodhouse.
Though my story is not a victorian romance, but a children's fantasy, should I rename my character, despite it not feeling right in my heart?
There's been lots of times I thought I have thought up unique titles and character names and creature names in my stories, but I always somehow find out it's already been done. Are names something to worry about? Are names copyrighted, not story titles, but names of creatures etc which are not mythological.
I have a story I have been working on for years, and I felt it was original, and it's about a race of people who turn into ravens in order to ambush their enemies and I decided to call the race the raven warriors. They have a matriarch who is called the raven mother, however, this seems to have already been done in a 1970s comic - well the name of matriarch has been done, and I've heard from a friend that there is already a story about raven warriors. Is this something to worry about?
Am I right to panic that my new ideas have already been done, or is there room for my stories as well?
This is one of the main reasons why I've not approached a publisher yet, I worry all my work has been done in some way or another. And this is my biggest fear.
I love writing, but I do get very disheartened when I hear it's been done or that after I've finished my work, I find something about 80% exact to the plot of my story.
Another fear of mine is, I type 80wpm when I know what I want to say on the computer, but I do make a lot of mistakes, (so typewriters aren't an option) and my computer is known to update microsoft word so much that it corrupts my documents; I've lost hundreds of pages of stories, songs and poems over the years because of this problem.
How do writers avoid that?
I thought I would be safe with a floppy disk and a USB key but it doesnt seem to be safe. The safest method seems to be printing everything I do, but I tend to have so much scrap paper of ideas anyways, that I would need another house just to store ideas ha-ha!
All in all, I've finished a lot of work, and it's those fears above which has made me stagnant in approaching agents and publishers.
I worked out a way of getting out of my fear of being known and famous, with creating a psuedonym. I just love writing, and I want people to enjoy my stories and talk about them, and be inspired by them.
That would make me really happy! I'm just not into the idea of being famous anytime soon, as I am afraid of having my personal space invaded too much!
Tina xxx
What I mean exactly, is; when you are writing a story you've been working on a while, but then after months or a year or two down the line you find a show on TV or another book, which has almost an identical plot to your work in progress, do you lose heart and stop, or do you continue anyways?
Also, I thought of a great name for a character and it doesnt feel right to give her any other name, but a friend of mine said that the name was too similar to a Jane Austen heroine and she felt this was a problem.
The name of my character was Amber Woodhouse, and the name of the Jane Austen heroine was Emma Woodhouse.
Though my story is not a victorian romance, but a children's fantasy, should I rename my character, despite it not feeling right in my heart?
There's been lots of times I thought I have thought up unique titles and character names and creature names in my stories, but I always somehow find out it's already been done. Are names something to worry about? Are names copyrighted, not story titles, but names of creatures etc which are not mythological.
I have a story I have been working on for years, and I felt it was original, and it's about a race of people who turn into ravens in order to ambush their enemies and I decided to call the race the raven warriors. They have a matriarch who is called the raven mother, however, this seems to have already been done in a 1970s comic - well the name of matriarch has been done, and I've heard from a friend that there is already a story about raven warriors. Is this something to worry about?
Am I right to panic that my new ideas have already been done, or is there room for my stories as well?
This is one of the main reasons why I've not approached a publisher yet, I worry all my work has been done in some way or another. And this is my biggest fear.
I love writing, but I do get very disheartened when I hear it's been done or that after I've finished my work, I find something about 80% exact to the plot of my story.
Another fear of mine is, I type 80wpm when I know what I want to say on the computer, but I do make a lot of mistakes, (so typewriters aren't an option) and my computer is known to update microsoft word so much that it corrupts my documents; I've lost hundreds of pages of stories, songs and poems over the years because of this problem.
How do writers avoid that?
I thought I would be safe with a floppy disk and a USB key but it doesnt seem to be safe. The safest method seems to be printing everything I do, but I tend to have so much scrap paper of ideas anyways, that I would need another house just to store ideas ha-ha!
All in all, I've finished a lot of work, and it's those fears above which has made me stagnant in approaching agents and publishers.
I worked out a way of getting out of my fear of being known and famous, with creating a psuedonym. I just love writing, and I want people to enjoy my stories and talk about them, and be inspired by them.
That would make me really happy! I'm just not into the idea of being famous anytime soon, as I am afraid of having my personal space invaded too much!
Tina xxx