It's easy to let fear incapacitate us. We worry about no one liking our creation; agents and editors will turn us down, publishers won't see the merit, readers won't finish reading it. Writer's block takes hold and prevents us from enjoying craft. In short, we feel we're writing for an audience of no one and give up.
You should be writing for an audience of one: yourself. Tell a story you enjoy, exercise emotional turmoil in a tale of your choosing, keep working to improve your talent. In short YOU are the first and only true person who needs to be pleased with your writing. Don't worry so much about what others think.
"Imagine you are dying. If you had a terminal disease would you finish this book? Why not? So change it. Stop arguing with yourself. See? And no one had to die."
- Booker Prize winning author Anne Enright
This quote may seem extreme, but Enright is correct. Only spend your time working on projects you are happy with. Stop worrying about pleasing everyone else.
Are you enjoying your WIP?
4 comments:
You are so right. Fear does incapacitate us I am doing Nano but as soon as I sit down to write I forget a lot of lines. I will try and overcome the fear though. thanks for the post.
The truth is, we can't please everyone. No matter how great someone's book is, I find that another person could always easily find a reason to be upset by a detail, big or small.
I find myself rereading what I have been writing. I have numerous stories within one series and often go back and read, with a bit of editing. I feel I have written these for ME and the current WIP I am editing for publishing is just a story I hope everyone will enjoy as much as I will. As Cynthia said, we can't please everyone!
www.heathermccubbin.blogspot.com
If you aren't enjoying it enough to finish while dying, then you aren't putting your all into it. You aren't putting your heart and soul into it.
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