Wednesday, January 5, 2011

What Are You Afraid Of?

"I'm afraid my story will suck."

Sometimes I hear this from new writers or those who are thinking about writing. It's kind of a frustrating situation, because it begs a compliment like, "Oh, it won't suck. You don't have to be afraid. Your story will be great." Well, I'm here to burst your bubble (Hey, I'm entering edits and not in the best of moods. Time for a New Year's reality check):

Your story probably will suck.

Wait, don't go running to your trailer in a fit of diva-like tears! I am not being mean—I'm being honest. But rest assured, 99.9% of writers are in the same boat as you are. Even the published ones. And the truth is, worrying about your story being crap never goes away, either.

Sucking is the very nature of first drafts. If you're afraid to suck, you're kind of saying you're afraid to write. And if you're afraid to write...well, that's kind of an issue if you want to be a writer. Like a pilot being afraid to fly. Or a pottery maker who's afraid to get their hands dirty. Part of the writing gig is writing some really bad stuff—sometimes for a really long time. And even when you think you have it figured out, you get slammed in the face by your crap writing when you least expect it.

If fear is stopping you from getting that story down, it's time to shrug it off and jump in. What are you afraid of? If everyone writes bad first drafts, what makes you think you need to write perfect ones?

I always think of drawing when I think of this process. Hey, I'm an artist, so sue me. Starting a book is like staring at a blank canvas—almost exactly like it, really. You're supposed to create a picture, except a novel is more like painting a mural spanning an entire city block. Talk about overwhelming.

But here's the thing many writers don't realize: You are NOT painting on that wall when you write those first words down. Nope. You are sketching on grid paper, trying to figure out how the mural is supposed to look. You try things that don't work, so you erase them. You figure out what you want to say, but maybe you haven't quite nailed the presentation of that statement. You never have to show a soul what's in your sketchbook unless you want to, maybe to get opinions on composition and color scheme. You don't paint the mural until you have all the elements worked out.

Guys, there is nothing to be afraid when it comes to writing your story. Yes, it may turn out sucky, but here's another cool thing I've learned—ideas don't suck. It's impossible for an idea to suck. You never have to doubt your idea, though sometimes it doesn't come out on paper quite as you planned. Believe me, I've written a lot of awful books. But when I think back to the actual ideas? They're still good! I could spruce any of them up and make a better book.

So, if you're one of those people who are afraid to mar that blank document with some crappy words, get over it and get writing.

35 comments:

  1. I love the freedom of knowing that first draft will suck. It's liberating! And then when I look back on it, it's not always AS bad as I'd thought. And it can all be fixed. Thanks for the great post!

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  2. Great post!

    I had to learn the hard way to get that first draft out as fast as I could. Because the ms it took me 2 months to write will suck, and the ms that took me 6 months to write will equally suck. But if it only took me 2 months, I've got 4 extra months to tackle those revisions and rewrite.

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  3. So very wise. Thank you for sharing!

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  4. I know I saw a video about this... probably through a lit. agency blog, if I remember correctly. And the writer said, "Your work will suck. So will the second draft. And it will keep sucking." She said "suck" about a hundred times, and it was actually very comforting.

    I rejoice in the suckage! Bring it on! At least I'm getting stuff down on paper, and the magic is in the revision.

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  5. Dare to be average! It takes courage, because we were all inspired by something we thought was great, and question our ability to match it. It's a lot less scary to dream of being great and then never start.

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  6. One of the best pieces of advice I've heard so far. Rock on.

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  7. Great post--great advice! I know my first and possibly second and third drafts will suck...hopefully it will end there though! Thanks for reminding me I"m not alone when it comes to sucky first drafts!

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  8. Somehow it's comforting knowing that everyone else goes through this, too. Before I actually put words on my paper I watched Maureen Johnson's vlog on embracing suckitude and that's what gave me the OK to write. It's like a lightbulb went off: Everyone sucks at first.

    Oh, and as I enter revisions (and constantly think my first draft sucks too much to even bother with) your post totally inspired me to make it not suck anymore.

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  9. I loved this. Being a fellow artist, it made a lot of sense. The Mural analogy was really fitting too. When the fear that a story will suck happens to me, I try getting all my ideas down before I even write a word of the actual story...then it kind of helps me get over it and plunge into that first paragraph.

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  10. Great post and so good to keep in mind when staring at that blank canvass or blank page!

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  11. Very true. Thank you for the reminder.

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  12. Love this! And I would just add, even if you were painting on the wall....it is paint. You can paint over it anytime!!!!!!! Nothing is ever really carved in stone, is it?

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  13. I think the fear of being bad at something as a reason not to do it is the worst reason in the world. Take something like ice skating. Is there anyone in the history of the world who's been fantastic their first time stepping out onto ice? NO! Of course not!! You cannot expect to be great at something you've never done. Everything in life takes practice and patience.

    Great post!! :)

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  14. It's the folks who don't know their work sucks that I worry about...especially when they get their first beta response back. Yikes.

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  15. P.S. If you want to see an awesome video about sucking at writing, look up "Ira Glass on Storytelling." It's awesome and will remind us ALL that even though we some of our drafts suck, we all start somewhere.

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  16. So true. I used to worry that my stories would suck, but then I realised that it's just the foundations. I can build, edit and shift the rest of it around later. Now I get the story out. I can take care of the rest later. :)

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  17. Also, when someone says, "I'm afraid my story will suck," what they often mean is, "I'm afraid other people will think my story sucks--and by extension that I do."

    Y'know what? No matter how good or how bad your story is, some people will think it sucks and some people will think it rules.

    Look at Twilight, or Catcher in the Rye, or Paradise Lost. Each of these books has both zealots and frothy-mouthed haters.

    You can't let your fear of other people's opinions keep you from living your life. Write.

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  18. Sucky draft vs. sucky idea is a very important distinction!

    And what jjdebenedictis said is true too.

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  19. Thanks for this encouraging post. I think I really started to mature as a writer when I realized that first drafts, by nature, suck. It was a hard lesson, but a good one, to learn. Happy New Year!

    ~ Bess

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  20. All we ever read is final drafts, and when we finish a project, all we remember is the final draft. When I start a first draft, I think to myself, "What is this? I've never read anything this bad before." That's the reason I have a hard time with rough drafts.

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  21. Such a great post! I was struggling with this recently myself. I love first drafting and I don't mind sucking while I'm getting the words out, but when I start editing, my perfectionist inner editor can't deal. Thing is - even your first editing pass doesn't have to make your story perfect, you can keep working on it until the suckage is gone. Now I just need to remember that :)

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  22. Wow... This was like a psychic mind meld between us right here. Because today I wrote on my blog about having a really crappy first draft, and being so proud that I'd finally finished one, but being so scared that no matter what I do it's going to suck... Which is kind of what you're talking about here.

    Great post today. I like your reality check especially. :)

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  23. Loved this. And Loved what jjdebendictis said. Where's the like button? :0) Thanks for reminding me that I can't have perfection the first go-round and to just write the dang thing! :0)

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  24. * Thanks, Natalie. Your encouraging words just kick-started my writing day.

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  25. I love a blank document--and the freedom to write a lousy first draft. This was a great reminder-great post!

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  26. I read somewhere today someone said they’d finished their novel but had a lot of rewriting to do. That means they’ve not finished their novel. It’s semantics but it’s an important point. I expect to have my current novel ready to be read by the end of January and it will likely need tweaking. This doesn’t mean my novel sucks, it just means it’s not finished. I think of novel-writing more like working in clay. I write a skeleton of a story, get my characters to the end in the shortest space possible and then I start to slap lumps of text onto that frame and shape them. Once the framework is there the story is ‘finished’ in that I know how it will end but a lot of work has then got to go into grafting in and moulding the events within that story until it’s truly finished.

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  27. Awesome post. Inspiring as always. :)

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  28. Good advice! It's what I needed to hear before jumping back into my book...that's no good...which apparently is good thing. For now.

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  29. What?! Other writers have trailers? Waaaah ::runs into my closet that I pretend is a recording booth::

    (I don't really have one, but I think that's going to go in my next novel now.)

    So Natalie, how 'bout _this_ one (cuz you're like the guru and stuff): My fear is that even when I manage to eke out some good writing, I STILL won't get published.

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  30. All true! First drafts are for sucking to the 10th factor. And, then comes the fun of de-suckifying them (Yeah, I think that's a word) during revisions. We all fear someone reading our work, and telling us we're not fit to be writers -- that fear can be paralyzing. But, like you said, buck up people, and just get to it...You're a writer, and you're allowed to make mistakes. Just make sure you fix them ;)

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  31. I love this. I'm in the middle of my first first draft and it's been helpful to remember that it doesn't have to be good. That's what revisions are for!

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  32. *Climbs out from beneath trailer and dusts pen and paper* Thanks for the reminder, Natalie! I shouldn't be afraid of writing too much of the wrong stuff, either... of "wasting" my time going the wrong direction. Is it wrong if it shows me the right way to go? Hmmmm...

    Great post!

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  33. Thank you for this incredibly liberating post. I just finished my first novel, and I'm so proud of my words. It's terrifying to jump into writing my second novel, even though it's been burning tracks in my veins for over a week. It helps to know that not only is it okay to write crap, it'll be crap no matter how hard I try for perfectionism. I also love the idea that no idea sucks. Thanks for the much needed pep talk!

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