I keep comparing myself to other established writers

[RightersBlock]

I'm getting no where with book. I recently read a very good book on how to develop your characters and plot and followed their step and suddenly my characters took on a life of their own! Amazing! Then I do what i always do, immediately think of another writers (or movie or cartoon) and how they wouldn't do what I was doing because what i am doing is to dark or too weird or too whatever and I suddenly am back to Square 0. Does any one else do this? I am so afraid of being myself when writing nowadays. For me I think it might be a self-confidence issue, something I have struggled with all of my life. The time I had the most fun writing was when I was super-confident and and more outgoing.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Yep, loads of us get it (I'm having a dip in confidence at the moment). Sometimes after reading a story, I think I can't ever write something like that and sit stupified for a day or two. Or I think mine are too drab, not original, too dark etc etc.

It's normal.

For me, I keep writing through it. And try to get think of the positives of why I'm writing and what I'm getting (for me) from it.

Hugs. I'm thinking we need a cake shop in the lounge for writers who need a pick me up. I might get round to it one of these days.

 

[Ashleyne]

they wouldn't do what I was doing because what i am doing is to dark or too weird or too whatever...

This sounds interesting, to me. The only reason that I ever compare myself to other writers is to make sure I'm that not doing what they're doing.

Don't be paralyzed by self-consciousness. Maintain your individuality.

 

[Susan Boulton]

Don't compare. I know that is hard, but you have to do. It's your story, you have to tell it your way. You might fail or spend ages editing it and get nowhere (done both myself) but you need to slog through it. You learn a lot about writing and yourself and you might find that you are as good as anyone else.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Yes and no. I've never really compared my writing to other writers but I do get pleasant surprises when I read a favourite author and realise we have something in common. I've no desire to write like someone else.

However I get the dip in self-confidence and how it affects happiness levels with writing. My first novel had been going round agents, getting good feedback, but it began to have me feeling that maybe my writing was good but not good enough to make it. That was the lowest point in my confidence and the only time I have dreaded writing.

I've had a recent boost/affirmation and for the first time in about six months I'm really connecting with characters and writing. (Trouble is they've all come back in a deluge and that's giving me a bit of writer's block because I don't know where to start).

 

[chopper]

exactly what Sue said. be yer own writer.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

It's an extremely difficult tightrope to walk, being yourself and being true to the visions you want to bring about, and being part of a group. The fatal mistake is to compare yourself with other writers, but before you've acquired a style, or a vision, or some back catalogue and confidence, that's difficult. The only answer is to allow yourself to develop by writing lots and making lots of mistakes. Something will happen in the future where you get something really right, and people tell you so. That's when the confidence kicks in.

 

[MattC]

I'm getting no where with book. I recently read a very good book on how to develop your characters and plot and followed their step and suddenly my characters took on a life of their own! Amazing! Then I do what i always do, immediately think of another writers (or movie or cartoon) and how they wouldn't do what I was doing because what i am doing is to dark or too weird or too whatever and I suddenly am back to Square 0. Does any one else do this? I am so afraid of being myself when writing nowadays. For me I think it might be a self-confidence issue, something I have struggled with all of my life. The time I had the most fun writing was when I was super-confident and and more outgoing.

Yeah, this really does look like a confidence issue to me too. I don't tend to compare myself with other authors like you do, but there are times when I think that anyone peeking inside my head might think I'm utterly messed up. And have thought that for some time .

But I tell myself that's all part of being a writer. Just because your writing and your imagination are going down dark and weird paths doesn't mean you as a person are. Like Sue says, be yourself. Yes your writing is sometimes putting the dark matter of your deepest most secret thoughts down on paper, but at least as a writer you have that ability. Most people just store that stuff inside, a slow poisoning if you like. Start reading fiction which is dark and weird and you'll find you're in good company. Take Clive Barker for instance, or Simon Clark. These are two brilliantly dark (and often horrific) fantasists who are actually really nice guys when you meet them.

There's another book you should read as well as this good one on characters, Steven Pressfield's War of Art. This is a good one about the psychology of writing. It might help you out.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Know how I ever get through it?


I hate to say this, but this is how:


Say, "screw everyone else." That's right. Write for yourself, first and foremost. Don't try to be objective at first. Write whatever goes through your head. Don't worry about how dark something might be, or how strange, or how out of fashion. Don't ever worry about what other people might think until you are ready to write for others.


But don't ever start with others in mind. To do that will lead to nowhere, is what my experience has been.

 

[Abernovo]

For once, I'm going to completely agree with Karn. (Sorry, Karn! )

Write for yourself. It's your story, not this or that other writer's. And bear that word in mind, writer: a writer is someone who writes - in this one thing, you, I and Stephen King are equal, we put words on screen or paper; it's the levels of skill, practice and readership which vary.

I can only really talk for myself, but I write the stories that I want to read, and started in earnest because I couldn't find them in the bookshops. So, I have a guaranteed readership of at least one - well, two now, with a partner who is happy to be first beta.

I'm not so big-headed to believe I'm anywhere near as good as Stephen King, by the way. Only that my my imagination is as valid as his, and maybe I can aspire to writing as well as he does. The thing is, he doesn't write the stuff I want to read. Some published authors do, and that's brilliant, but I always write to my interest, because it comes from inside me.

 

[HareBrain]

I write the stories that I want to read, and started in earnest because I couldn't find them in the bookshops.

Me too. Which I think is both good and bad as far as comparing yourself to published authors goes. If no one is writing anything very close to what you are, there's no one inviting a comparison. OTOH, if you're not seeing work like yours on a bookshelf, it can make you doubt your direction and make you wonder if you should be writing like Stephen King instead, and that's when you start comparing yourself against him and that isn't going to be productive.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I have a foot in both camps. I write what I love with Abendau and was much relieved to come across Bujold's sci fi stuff and realise there was a market. I enjoy working on it so much, and feel very relaxed. It's also the most complex world I've created, and suspect I ever will create, so that aspect's nice, too.

But I also try to make my other work commercial, in the sense I'd like to make some sort of living out of writing, which I'm pretty up front about. That sort of writing is different - I tend to get less absorbed, and keep more of an eye on how does this come across.

Both sorts are valid, but for someone starting and just trying to work out what/if they like writing, I'd say write from the heart, everytime, and don't worry about others.

 

[Darkranger85]

I do this all the time.

I'm a huge fan of Epic Fantasy and my idol is R. A. Salvatore. When I read his books, I'm there. I am an elf hoping through the trees, or a barbarian wading into battle. Hours pass like minutes without me realizing it.

But someone once told me that I shouldn't compare my current work to that because we have no idea how many times these writers had to rewrite their scenes, how many mistakes they made, how many times they banged their head against a wall because they couldn't get it to sound the way they wanted.

We just see the end polished result.

 

[C. A. Mitchell]

The best writers stand out. Others wouldn't do what you are doing because only you can tell your story. You are unique, and by the sounds of it, so's your writing, and that's awesome! That's what writing is about - finding your own voice, telling your own story, forging your own path.

Maybe you could stick a wee message to yourself on your laptop or notepad? I have quotes - both from the internet and hand-written - all over my desk, reminding me to work hard, to believe in myself, to focus on the process and not the goal. Sometimes (okay, not all the time) it really helps. Maybe spend time reading interviews by your favourite authors, and pick out quotes that reveal their own self-doubts and insecurities. A little reminder that Author X has the same worries might help when you're feeling a bit rubbish.

I also compare myself to others all the time; not so much writing style, but productivity. I believe all published authors live and breathe their books every second they're awake (and sometimes asleep) and I feel bad because I don't. I worry I'm not committed enough, that I spend too much time daydreaming; I worry about the days when I do not want to write at all, when I'd rather work on the bathroom mould than my story.

Writing is such a tough and lonely job, and you have to work so hard before you can produce something that might bring external praise. I find it almost impossible to believe there's a single writer on the planet who doesn't doubt and compare and worry from time to time.

Stick at it! Your individuality is what makes you special.

P.S. What was the book?

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I suspect very few, if any authors "live and breathe their novels" all the time. We'd go mad. A lot of the creation work is done subconsciously, and if you didn't take lots of time away from your creations you'd soon either run out of inspiration and energy, or go mad.

Bertrand Russell recommended being a lumberjack for three months before writing a book - i.e. time to let the subconscious sort stuff out…

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I'm getting better at that and am editing another work while I let my subconscious work out my next bit of plot for me in the new one. But with my first book I lived and breathed it. It might be a confidence thing, that belief we can create with a little more distance.

 

[C. A. Mitchell]

I'm getting better at that and am editing another work while I let my subconscious work out my next bit of plot for me in the new one. But with my first book I lived and breathed it. It might be a confidence thing, that belief we can create with a little more distance.

I lived and breathed my first book too. Maybe it was because it was the first... or maybe because I hated my job so much I needed to escape to my novel!

Rotating projects is something I need to work at. Do you have a strict rota or is all more fluid?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I lived and breathed my first book too. Maybe it was because it was the first... or maybe because I hated my job so much I needed to escape to my novel!

Rotating projects is something I need to work at. Do you have a strict rota or is all more fluid?

I don't have a rota as such, but sometimes it's dictated by priorities ie what needs doing for who. More and more getting to new stuff is a luxury, and there's a bit more discipline about it now. But I try, where possible, to get to the end of something before shifting to something else, or at least reach a good stopping point.

 

[Chris Guillory]

I found myself doing this too. Further, I found I was in danger of emulating the style in my writing of whatever I was reading at the time!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I found myself doing this too. Further, I found I was in danger of emulating the style in my writing of whatever I was reading at the time!

Some of us find it hard to read something new when we're at the creating stage for exactly that reason.