Don’t underestimate your ideas.
“I was 22 and didn’t realise I was working on a novel, which made things easier, as there were fewer questions to force myself not to ask: is it good? Will anyone care? Do I?
I have never experienced what is often called “writer’s block” – the inability to think of what to write. But I am a chronic sufferer of “Jonathan block” – the inability to value my thoughts.”
As mentioned in the intro to this article, writing blocks often occur because of self-doubt. Self-doubt can be extremely dangerous to ideas that are still developing. Some of the most successful works of literature required a leap of faith to see the ideas through to the finish line.
“Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”
The first draft is not the time to be too critical of your work. Seeds of ideas need a chance to grow into their potential.
“Get the first draft done no matter what. Then the real work begins.
Too many people agonize paragraph by paragraph.
to the finish line. Then go back and walk over every step you made and see what you can do better. This is the real gift you give your reader.”
Some of the greatest works of literature began as ideas that were nearly tossed away. I was happily surprised to find that my favorite fiction book had very humble roots:
“It started life as a paragraph scrawled on a scrap of paper very early one morning after a disastrous night on the town.
Many months later I found that scrap of paper and thought the voice was intriguing.”
The novel’s second person narrative is the main standout aspect of the book. Yet, even that was initially doubted.
“When I told my best friend and future editor Gary Fisketjon what I was doing he said that he hoped I wasn’t trying to write an entire novel in the second person. I was too embarrassed to tell him that that was precisely what I was doing.
the prose seemed to go a little flat; I stuck with the second person, and I have certainly never regretted it. It’s not a very versatile mode and I don’t recommend it in general, but I can’t imagine Bright Lights in any other voice.”
Writing can be such a solitary struggle. At the end of a long session of writing, you feel excited about what you’ve created but also worried that you’ve spent too much time engrossed in your own thoughts. It can be very difficult to tell if your writing will be well-received or only end up appealing to yourself.
“Perhaps most importantly, write for an audience of one — yourself. Write the story you need to tell and want to read. It’s impossible to know what others want so don’t waste time trying to guess. Just write about the things that get under your skin and keep you up at night.”
During my years as a chess journalist for US Chess, one article that was a major turning point for me was “What’s Your Goal in Chess?”. The article explored a new style of writing for me, including personal anecdotes about my own chess struggles. I spent the majority of three days straight working tirelessly to make the piece as strong as possible. I also spent most of that time excited about what I was writing.
However, by the time I finished the article late on the third night, I re-read it one last time and felt discontent with the entire piece. I worried that the personal anecdotes I included would come off as self-indulgent. I doubted even publishing it.
I was dead-wrong, suffering the curse of too many re-reads (eventually, anything can feel banal if you read it enough times).
“If I think something I’ve written is something I would enjoy reading, I’m pleased. I can’t wear myself out second-guessing some phantom reader.”
When I finally pushed the self-doubt away and hit ‘publish’, the article was better received than anything I had written at that point. It went on to win the award for “Best Instructive Lesson” from the Chess Journalists of America and ranked 2nd in the 2016 Best of US Chess Top 10.
“….stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”
To conclude, here is a quote by blogger James Altucher that has guided me through many instances of writing self-doubt.
“I never hit publish unless I’m afraid of what people will think of me.”
Why would this fear be a good thing? Because it means you’re truly putting your ideas and yourself out there. The will to express something, despite it being hard to say, means that it is all that much more genuine and essential.
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