Doubts Begone!
Posted By vbpurcell on December 20, 2009
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It seems the bane for every writer – rework. You pen a story that seems fantastic at the time. It’s full of your passion and the inner workings of your imagination. You then share it with people who collectively comment on its construction and ways to make it “enjoyable” to others. Most of the comments are helpful and some are bias. It’s at this point you feel a pin burst your bubble and all that hot ego go pfft. Still, you recognise good feedback when you see it and feel motivated to revise and correct errors. After many more hours of revision, you share the story again to receive even more helpful and bias comments. You revise until you are certain you have a watertight story.
It’s very easy during the revision period to lose your passion and doubt your ablities as a writer. This is the testing time and pretty much decides the story’s fate. Is the story worth enough of the hours and effort? You could make the decision of stopping and starting a fresh, armed with skills you had gathered along the way or plod along and hope it’s worth it in the end.
I have one story which faces the chopping block every day. The axe swings over its head as a foreboding shadow. It’s only by a word or contribution of a fresh idea that the story is saved and passion is rekindled for the moment. My doubts as a writer has almost killed the Seriphyn Knight Chronicles. Indeed, it has actually died and been resurrected!
The point I make here is, no matter what your doubts are as a writer never doubt the story. When you pen a story, it gradually breathes on its own. It’s your creation. So rather killing it, put it on hiatus and create another until you feel the confidence and passion to come back to it. Keep writing and revising. The more you believe in the story the less your doubts as a writer will be. I have found that the key to being a comfortable writer (i.e., fluent with your ablities) is to read, write and share. After all, writing is a skill as any other where you need to consistently practice to make it perfect. No matter how harsh the feedback you receive at the time, it’s feedback nethertheless and possibly invaluable for future revisions.
Finally, doubts are there to serve as checkpoints. When a doubt appears, work through them, write them down and perhaps use them as a contribution toward the story itself. Everything is a resource.
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