Writing Lessons & Advice: Dealing with Doubt
- Katie Johns
- Oct 5
- 4 min read
Where artistry is the creative’s superpower, doubt is the Kryptonite. For all the skills in wielding poetry, words, and expression, one can still worry about it being good enough. A perfectionist mentality can overpower progress on the page. Anxiety becomes a force to be reckoned with. When an inner critic becomes an arch nemesis, here are some tips and encouragement for working with or through the doubts.
The doubts are normal and temporary. We’ve surely encountered doubts in many other aspects of life: starting school, taking tests, going on dates, first days on a job, big performance events...whatever the situation, we often found the trepidations minimizing as we eased or progressed through it. Maybe we even felt better about the next time we’d go through it (if it had one). This cycle is also prevalent in writing. Writers of just about any experience deal with it, but the inner critic shouldn’t get the better of our ideas or works-in-progress. Some of the same tactics that got us through other skeptical experiences can get us through writing doubts too. Focus on positives, tackle writing head-on/head-first, fake it till it's made, don’t compare yourself to others, and maybe even a few of the other suggestions on this list as well!
Improve your craft. The inner critic should have less to say too when you’re busy honing your writing skills through education, development, or other constructive outlets.
Pay little mind to age. Age should be little hindrance as long as you stay dedicated to your craft! Writers have found their strides all throughout their lives. Some even after their deaths. C.S. Lewis and Mary Shelly were published at twenty-one. Dickens, Fitzgerald, and Poe were published at twenty-four. (Yours truly was twenty-eight.) J.K. Rowling was thirty-two. Jane Austen was thirty-six. Even numerous writers in social media groups mention meeting their writing goals in their forties, fifties, or onwards.
Share your ideas as you feel comfortable. You might be pleasantly surprised. I came across a Facebook post that connected to the novel idea I’m developing and I shared a comment about it. Later on, someone else replied to my comment, saying they were already intrigued with the world I was building and couldn’t wait to read it! I know at least one person might enjoy the final product and the compliment just made my day in general!
Tune into inspiration/encouragement. Visual boards, role models, affirmations, podcasts, social media accounts, spirituality--whatever it may be for you that takes focus off the inner critic. Also, writing from a place of desire can make a big difference too!
Maintain healthy goals and mindsets. The Tome Writing Toolkit helped me align my expectations as I was getting into my drafting stage. The selection explained that expecting to write "page after page, up to thousands of words a day...all the time" is actually counterintuitive. The pressure to "perform" in such a big way can prevent you from showing up to write at all. So make sure your ambitions are more dialed into reasonable attainments for you. Conversely, you'll also want to give yourself some grace and flexibility. These qualities should give you room for mistakes and help if/when enough life happens in the way of your goals. This quote from author John Green nicely sums up what I'm getting at:
"I just give myself permission to suck. I delete 90 percent of my first drafts, so it doesn’t really matter much if on a particular day I write beautiful and brilliant prose that will stick in the minds of readers forever, because there’s a 90 percent chance I’m going to delete whatever I write anyway. I find this hugely liberating.”
Keep up a regular habit/practice. Building off the last point, your goals can easily translate into regular writing habits or practices you keep. When I spent consistent time writing my novel and/or working Tome toolkit, I definitely felt more connected to the ideas at hand! In turn, this connection often meant the difference between days of lukewarm and on-fire writing stints! The concepts at hand felt fresher, closer to reach, and ultimately easier/better work with when less time passed between stretches with my work.
As of this writing, three to five days a week has been my preferred minimum. I can easily do six or seven most weeks, but getting in at least three to five isn't hard for me do to if nothing else. Timewise, I've given anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, just as long the work-in-progress gets attention throughout the majority of the week. This kind of routine has given me wiggle room to account for any life that gets in the way and also to avoid burnout. That's just me, though. Again, plan and follow through for what you think is viable for you. The most reasonable examples may look like writing x amount of words or pages either daily or every few days.
Get the draft done first. Remember that your work will not be perfection right out the gate. It's called a rough draft for a reason! You will work towards some measure of it instead. Try to save major editing for later so you have something to perfect. Your world/thoughts/ideas should become “good enough” as you draft, edit, and revise. One way I’ve been trying to maintain my flow is by using asterisks or parentheses to note any specific ideas or areas I want to develop or revisit in later stages.
Keep creativity boosted. This is discussed more in another post, but keeping the creative juices fueled is both a good preparatory and doubt-combatting measure. I find that reading literature or watching media in the vein of my novel's influences and inspiration often help keep me going.
Hope this advice helps get you fighting fit like a superhero against future bouts of writing doubt!
If you have other tricks for dealing with doubt or other topics you’d like me to cover in the future, share in the comments or webchat!
sources/further reading
Comments