I Feel Discouraged…

@writerlexi1216 Aww girl!!! Don’t you ever be too shy or afraid to post stuff like this on here!!

and you are definitely not alone! Listen, I’ve doubted my writing sooo much before, and, while I’m thankful it has gotten better, I still can’t wait for the day when I can edit it lol!!

And as for feeling your plot/characters aren’t good, I’ve felt that before too! And sometimes it’s so hard to explain. I think some of it is because we begin to get bored with it, because we’ve worked on it for so long so we question if it’s boring, when in reality it’s just because we’ve stuck with it for so long.

As for beta readers, if that is what u want to do, go for it! I know for a fact ppl on here would be willing, and seeing that others enjoy it might help u some!

or, if u don’t want to, then don’t. Do what you need to do, wether that means taking a break, working on a different project, editing, getting beta readers, etc. just do u, and trust me, I’m sure ur doing great!

@writerlexi1216

As others have said, you are not the only one who has struggled with feeling like your writing isn’t good enough. As a perfectionist, I often look at my writing in comparison to other authors and feel like it isn’t half what I’d like it to be. There are a few things that I know primarily to help me get through this very miserable feeling:

1. Your worth isn’t tied to your writing. When we become(became) Christians, what we are doing is accepting Christ’s perfect identity in place of our broken and misshapen one — we condemned rebels are pardoned and get restored to a status as sons and daughters of the King. We die to ourselves and become servants of Christ and His siblings. You are not your writing, and it says absolutely nothing about your value. You are a child of the King and His opinion is all that matters. Don’t let your opinion of your writing control you, take delight in the gift of creativity God has given you. Your writing is not supposed to be completely satisfactory to the needs of your soul, only God Himself can satisfy us.
2. Don’t be afraid to give yourself some grace, some of the greatest artists don’t feel satisfied with their work when it’s finished (J.R.R. Tolkien revised his original published work of LOTR after fourteen years because he was dissatisfied with the original published copy (I am unsure how reliable my sources for this fact are, but Tolkien did at some point revise his books)). Your writing will be flawed and you may never be 100% satisfied with it because you can see the flaws, as your writing is something you know somewhat intimately. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad, it just means you are a fallen descendant of Adam and Eve like every other human besides Christ, but your fallen-ness is the only requirement for your salvation, you need it, that’s why He came, and Jesus’s love for you is not affected by your writing abilities.
3. One of the most helpful tools for me and my own encouragement and growth in my writing was having others read it and give me their feedback. I haven’t had many opportunities for this, but it’s proved a great help. But still, I sometimes freak out a little when I show other people my writing. But their opinions aren’t as important as Christ’s, and he loves you and care about your writing (if he loves us enough to count the hairs on our heads, then certainly he cares about our creative life!).
4. I realized that I could put another point here, too that is extremely important: God wants us to talk to him about our concerns and to ask him things (not frivolous and selfish like, “I want a million dollars” but you know what I mean), and that does include our writing.
5. You can set aside your expectations for your writing to be “good enough”. Good Great writing comes with practice, time, and as you learn and grow into maturity. Be patient, writing takes time, and it’s not life-or-death if it’s good enough or no. It could just be

I think neither you nor I were expecting to send you so much information (I was also reminding and telling myself some of this info, so sorry if it’s overwhelming!), but in short, I know how you feel and have felt that way, and feel free to share your writing, because it may not be as bad as you feel, and that you don’t have to feel satisfied with it because our chief satisfaction comes from God.

@writerlexi1216

As a matter of fact, this is my most common problem as a writer. I fall into the discouraged every-aspect-of-my-writing-seems-to-stink-especially-compared-to-so and so’s-writing.
I feel you all the way on this one. And I feel the same way about my beloved/hated WIP.
I recently watched some videos from a show (that I find annoying except for this one character, but that’s beside the point) and I love this character’s alter ego, I love his style, arc, humor, etc. Then I turned to my own characters and they seemed so… bland.

And every time I look at my plot, it’s a mess, my character’s goals aren’t strong enough and when I begin a chapter, it leads to nowhere. Often times I believe my pen is made out of lead and is cursed. Then I won’t write for days because it’s just not going anywhere.

But I think criticizing our own work is something we writers do to ourselves out of habit. Because we see the world differently and because we are in a form, ‘perfectionists’. We want our writing to always be up to par with the newest ‘New York Times Bestsellers’ list and when it’s not, we criticize the life out of our work, (guilty as charged). But even the bestsellers were once in the spot that we are now. And even the guy who wrote “The Nutcracker” despised his play which is now an international phenomenon.

So that just goes to show (and to coin the phrase) that we are our own worst critics. Sure it may not be War and Peace material, (right now). But even Tolstoy, Tolkien, and Lewis started out somewhere with a few (many, many) scrambled drafts. That’s a reason why not everyone can write a book; because it takes perseverance.

I too, do not share my writing with anyone in my family except my little sister. But that is also sometimes recommended for writers because when writing stories that you will show to your family, you can become so focused on trying to please them and their expectations, that you don’t write the story that ought to be written. I’m by no means, saying that that’s always the case, but sometimes (and for me) it is.
Which leads to the point of how important and awesome a good writing community is! 😀

And the truth of it is, is that the only writer you should ever compare yourself to is the writer you were yesterday. (That is a quote, but I forgot who said it XD ). But it’s the pure truth. And as Margaret Atwood once said, “it takes a certain amount of nerve to be a writer”. Just like taking up another craft or going on an adventure, there are risks and potholes involved. But the result/destination is so worth it:)

As for beta reading, I too struggle with sharing my work because I worry that it might be garbage. But no one here will critique unless asked. After all, I think we all understand first drafts and writing struggles and doubts. But the great thing about beta readers is seeing with a pair of new eyes to see everything we may have missed. Seeing the good that we may miss. So don’t feel too shy about sharing, the best way to improve is practice and feedback:)

You already are a great writer and have gotten much further than millions of other would-be writers who haven’t even picked up their pens.
One of the best things we can do as writers, is to remember that we are writing for God, that our writing does have purpose, and that we improve every time we write even if it doesn’t seem like it.
And I’d personally be honored to beta read if you do decide to share:)
I love Caira, Newton, and Deek like friends already:)

@writerlexi216 You’re definitely not alone. I think it’d be safe to say every single writer/author struggles with this from time to time. I know it’s hard sharing your writing; I have a hard time with it too. But sometimes you just have to let go of expectations you may have for yourself and know that even if you’re not that great now, but you’re better than you were and you’re going to get better still. I’ve talked a lot about this on my blog, and I think there might be a couple posts you’d like. Like this one. And this one. 🙂 I hope that helps! <3

…and this one. 🙂