writers: "thats dumb" "doesnt sound right"

you are your own worst critic right? well does anyone else out there have trouble keeping writing on the page?everything i write i read over and hate. Ive never shown ANYONE my work because its so shitty.... I just lack the confidence to say 'that sounds ok'

do you find yourself doing this? crumpling up papers, putting your head in your hands? I just CANT keep anything.
what can I do to stop this?
things i do save, usually poems, i read over months later and Im disgusted with myself, at the typical style.. the stretched rhyming... it just kills me to see my work.
whats wrong? and how do i fix it?

 

Don't read it back to yourself, just write it. Eventually with enough practice , you will improve, and then you will compare your work from when u first started, and be suprisingly pleased. I have the same problem. I know a lot of people would say to go back and read and edit your work, but if it's between having no work at all and throwing it out , or so called "crappy" unedited work i would go with the latter. A journal helped me, i would force myself not to go back and read the pages, i write about anything and everything, thoughts, feelings, experiences, characters, poems, songs, rants, raves...etc.. I would rip out pages in frustration, but really, who else is going to read it but you,...also, if you keep your work, even if you think it's poorly written, you can find the areas that you need to work on. It helped me at least, now I have to keep everything, and am noticing my writing improving. Of course reading books, helps writing. But just because you arent an extraordinary novelist, doesnt mean that you , one day , could not be. Don't be discouraged, I have experienced the same problem, but a journal helps me, to get the streams of consciousness out, without going back and rereading it, for fear that someone might, tell me that it's crappy writing. Of course you are your own worst critic, but go easy on yourself, u're just learning...as we all are...Hope that helps! Happy Writing..

 

I'm the EXACT same way. I almost never publicize my work anywhere because I'm so critical of it, and I become embarrased of it quickly.
"it just kills me to see my work." Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

yes. I love the poem I wrote yesterday but the one I loved and wrote a week ago looks awful to me now. It embarrasses me. But hey, it means I'm improving! If you get sick of your work quickly, then you must be getting drastically better by the second! Just think how much better you are today, well at least better than yesterday. That's how I like to think about it... I just tell myself this and don't worry about it ... don't you worry either. i have the same problems. many writers do, love, we've got to admit... it's getting better. A little better all the time. Better, better, better!


P.s. - sorry my post is a teeny scrambled I need to turn off the Yardbirds now I think!

 

Finish what you start. Leave it a while. get it critiqued by someone else such as at critiquecircle.com

 

That's how I am when I try to write novels. But I have one that I started when I was 11, 5 years ago. Sometimes I think about it and say to myself, "who would read this anyway, why am I wasting my time?" but now that I haven't added to it in longer than I can remember, I'm thinking "That story line is pretty interesting. Though it might not be an adult fiction book, I can definitely see young teenagers reading it." Probably because that's when I created it. So, yeas, sometimes I think it's STUPID and other times, like now, I think it's pretty cool. so like everyone was saying, SAVE EVERYTHING!

 

i criticize everything i feckin' write. i rarely share anything. there's the odd random bit that i'll post or let someone read, but y'know.


it's hard being so self critical. there are those who call it modesty, but i believe this is different because its not being modest- its genuinely thinking that "ugh, that's crud. what was i thinking?!" and screwing it up or clicking "delete".

the only way to get past it is to realise that you can only get better by looking at past work and thinking "how could i have made it better?" and work that into the next piece, rather than thinking "that was shit" and that's that.

hmmmmm.

 

the inner critic is every writer's worst enemy. it's the virus that causes writer's block. every writer has to deal with this horrible disease. with some discipline and practice, though, you really can get past it.
just know this - your writing does not get better with relentless critical interruption. every time you stop writing to find a juicier adjective or to revise an awkward sentence you're derailing yourself and making your writing disjointed and belaboured.
before you start writing, it may help to warm up with a freewrite. it's simple, and you can get some really surprising inspiration from it. just set aside 5 minutes, relax, and write the first words in your mind, and never let your pen stop moving. it doesn't matter if you're not writing a coherent piece or proper sentences or even real words - all you're doing is yanking thoughts directly out of your subconscious and slapping them onto the page before you can criticize them. just "sneeze" all your uncensored thoughts onto the page, and sort it out later.
also, if you really want your writing to be good, write ALL THE TIME. carry a book around with you everywhere and describe, in lush detail, everything that piques your interest. make a point of writing for at least 10 minutes a day and DON'T EDIT - at least, don't edit as you go. it makes a huge difference. you will notice improvement.
and above all, don't dwell on the flaws. find your strengths and just keep slinging 'em.

in the case of poetry, don't try to conform to rhythm and rhyme unless it sounds completely natural. rhythmic/rhyming poetry usually sucks, no matter who you are, because you have to strain the language so much to make it fit. but i suppose that also comes with practise. just play around with fun stuff like limericks till you get a knack for it, and then tackle the harder stuff.
with poetry, there are also more interesting things to concentrate on, like the sound of words. here's an example:


Words can sound vibrant, vivid and bright, like a ring of tawny mangos dancing wildly on a ray of sunlight. Words can sound quiet, soulful and soft, like the sweet pitter-patter of rain on a puddle in the grass. Words can sound round and warm and yummy in your mind, like voluptuous velvet the colour of wine. Words can sound mean and jarring, shrill and sharp and harsh, like the crack of a whip on the skin of your back. Or they can be big and bouncy, happy slappy bongo bum!

whew...sorry bout the long post. i hope it helps! seriously, try the freewrite.

 

^ I prefer to use very structured forms when I write poetry, because my free-form isn't very good in my opionion. It all just seems to spiral downward into moronic, adolescent blah blah blah, meaningless, you get the picture. It goes nowhere. But that is just me, personally, free form is a big weakness for me.

other than that little minor disagreemnt I think you gave very good advice cacophony!

 

Read as if it's not your work. Just give yourself time away from it, I normally give a month or so, sometimes longer. It sounds to me that you need to give yourself space to overcome whatever feelings were there when you were writing, otherwise it still seems personal and you can't be objective about it. I am avoiding reading last months writing for this reason. I haven't come very far emotionally in the last month.

I also suggest consciously wanting to read it as if it were someone elses work, and imagine that it actually is someone elses, imagine it was written by a friend.

If you do this you'll probably find yourself going back to it and being amazed, as if it's some other author who is much better than yourself.

The other thing is to seperate the creator and the editor. It sounds to me like you are editing (crumpling up pieces of paper) too soon. When you write, write. When you edit, edit. You might want to arrange an editing session in thought with the thought that when you are writing and want to cut or change something (including spelling and grammar) you think "I can do that later, now I write."

I hope this helps.

Sebbi