My Greatest Writing Fear. What's Yours?

[wolfet]

My Greatest writing fear is being afraid to sit down and write. It is a very counterproductive fear, but one that I tend to have frequently. I become afraid of getting lost in the writing process and sometimes feel as though I don't ever want to stop. In a way when I write I get the feeling of losing control and letting go that just scares me to my core. When I write I just get a feeling in my stomach similar to what it feels like to fall and it just terrifies me. That fear is probably the only thing that keeps me from just sitting and writing all day long. It is a rather strange fear that even i don't understand at times, but it is very real and is one that I hope that I can overcome.

[moderntimes]

My greatest writing fear is cliches I would hate for a reader of my book to go away and say that was to cliche as I have done many times to other books.

Becoming too hooked on cliches is one trap that writers can fall into. The great mystery writer Robert B. Parker (creator of Spenser) got into that mode in his later career, and his last few Spenser novels were formulaic and pushy instead of free flowing, sadly.

The only way to avoid this is to carefully edit and revise, and of course be conscious of your specific failings as a writer, whether too many cliches or too much backstory of whatever. If you're cognizant of the problem you can then fix it. It can be hard work but nobody said that writing well is an easy thing.

-- 16 Jul 2015, 05:24 --

Like you, I fear self promotion. Equating it to nagging, "Buy my book! Buy my book!" I assume it has a certain annoyance factor. I suppose I feel a little like Sam I AM trying so hard to sell his green eggs and ham. If I could only get them to take a bite, perhaps they would like it in a car and near or far. But, alas I do not have his persistence.

Well, we as writers have to do a little of our own horn tooting but if we keep it low volume, it's okay. I go to book signings all the time at the local mystery bookstore and these famous authors on tour all are touting their own writing to be sure. But the good ones are deferential about it, friendly and decent to fans, and the feeling of self-promotion is minimal.

I tried to do the same when I had my own book signing and I was as honest and open as possible and it came off very well, the dozen or so people who came and bought my book were happy to chat and I made certain that they knew I was happy they were there, and I was genuinely grateful about their coming.

Shouting your talent from the rooftops is an excess to be sure. But just be honest and deferential and this will prove that you're just a decent author who's putting the efforts before the potential fans. It's okay if done with grace and style, I promise.

And yes, I'm persistent with my writing but hey, if I don't do it, the little elves won't finish that book nor will they send out queries on my behalf. Look at Stevie King -- how he'd struggled for ages to get published, with little success, living in a trailer and barely making ends meet, deciding finally to go back to teaching full time. Then he gets that call from his agent, that "Carrie" had sold for a couple hundred thousand bucks! King says that he was on the wall phone in the little kitchen when he got the call, and he sank to the floor, crying in joy.

Persistent? Guess what? I received an email yesterday (July 15) from a publisher who'd been evaluating my new novel, 3rd in the private eye series I've written. The EIC (editor in chief) said that they are not only offering me a publishing contract for that novel, but they are also going to publish my first 2 books, a complete set of all my novels! This is after months and months of email and snailmail queries to agents and publishers. But success! It does work, I promise. I'm no slouch as a writer but I'm also far from well known, at the bottom of the barrel maybe, but I did just place all 3 of my novels with a publisher. And no, it's not a vanity house. I will be paid for my book sales, zero money from my pocket. Which is how it's supposed to work. And it does work, I promise! Never give up, my friends!

-- 16 Jul 2015, 06:16 --

My Greatest writing fear is being afraid to sit down and write. It is a very counterproductive fear, but one that I tend to have frequently. I become afraid of getting lost in the writing process and sometimes feel as though I don't ever want to stop. In a way when I write I get the feeling of losing control and letting go that just scares me to my core. When I write I just get a feeling in my stomach similar to what it feels like to fall and it just terrifies me. That fear is probably the only thing that keeps me from just sitting and writing all day long. It is a rather strange fear that even i don't understand at times, but it is very real and is one that I hope that I can overcome.

wolf, what you might try to do is turn that fear into an asset. Set aside the time to write. If not every day, then as often as possible, but ensure that you'll have plenty of time to devote to writing during each session -- hours of time. The let yourself go and just write write write (or as Hamlet said, words, words, words...) and this will be a benefit rather than a glitch.

Take that "losing control" feeling and tweak it into a productive measure, that you can correctly and nicely immerse yourself in the writing and forget the outside world for a few hours.

Gang, let's all realize this... while writing is a little different from other things, it's got the same essential aspects of any demanding job. Let's say you're an accountant. Or a health care provider. Or house painter. Or college student. No matter what your "job" (or hopefully "career" except for the student thing, ha ha) you must devote time to learning the craft or trade and requisite skills needed to perform the job.

For years, I worked in high tech. I originally graduated as a chemist w. minor in math, and spent a long time as a researcher for a big chemicals and plastics oil company. I worked hard at my job and liked it -- research is sometimes plodding but it's still interesting. And later I was a tech specifications consultant for large exploration & production in deepwater offshore enterprise. Tech specs are very tricky because they have to be precise but also understandable. Thankfully my fiction skills helped me write easily understood documents.

Regardless, writing fiction helped me and I turned that talent into my tech jobs. I also worked for a news daily for a while just out of college so the habit of working on deadline and writing to assignment was another skill I learned.

Regardless, I worked hard to increase my skill set. And now, writing full time (I'm semi-retired from tech work) I hone the craft and work at it just as hard as when I was doing chemistry research.

Writing is partly a talent and partly a "job" and you must work to improve your writing skills and techniques, just as a tennis player practices serves and returns. Don't expect it to come naturally. A very few writers do have that amazing natural skill that seems to be there from birth, but I'm not one of them and I suspect that most of you are just like me, needing to hone specific skills in your writing portfolio. So it's essential that you realize that yes, there will be difficulties and there will be rough spots as you proceed. Just keep plugging away and most important, learn to spot your own writing defects and correct them. Okay?

[DATo]

It occurs to me that in my earlier post I never actually answered your question.

My greatest fear is that after reading something I have written the reader will feel that I have wasted their time.

[zjones99]

My greatest writing fear is trying to hook a reader into my writing. I am always afraid people will read the first chapter, think it is boring, and put it away before they get the real chance to read the whole book.

[moderntimes]

Grabbing the reader's attention fairly soon is a good idea, always. For short fiction, that first sentence is critical. For a novel, the first sentence doesn't need to be that vivid but you must seize the reader's attention in the first page or two absolutely. I've generally begun my stories in medias res so as to plunk the reader right into the middle of the story line, and if used judiciously, this technique is a good one.

[zeldas_lullaby]

To wolfet: I agree with what's been said, but why not just embrace it? If you could sit and write all day, then you could likely produce great content and put it out there!! Why not??

To Dato: I remind myself a lot that what I write might not be to someone's liking if it's the wrong genre for them. No big. I think of it as aiming to please people who "get" my type of writing.

[luramuller]

My greatest writing fear. Grammar. I'm not great at editing, or at grammar in general. I really fear sounding like a complete idiot.

[hannahbm13]

My greatest fear is that I will lose interest in my story and never finish it. Also, just because I am young doesn't mean I can't write, and it offends me when people think otherwise. I think that is what is holding me back the most.

[zeldas_lullaby]

My greatest fear is that I will lose interest in my story and never finish it. Also, just because I am young doesn't mean I can't write, and it offends me when people think otherwise. I think that is what is holding me back the most.

Heck yeah, you tell 'em. Your grammar is spot-on, and I can tell you're a writer! Keep writing!!

[ShannonLove]

Congratulations on getting three books published!

And thank you for taking the time to offer me constructive advice. I self published my book and am in the process of promoting it. So far, I've received good reviews, but haven't seen it on any bookstore shelves yet.

[laura419]

My greatest block to writing is a lack of knowledge of the whole process. I was praised very highly in college in my English classes, which was encouraging, but I was not informed of the process that goes into getting published. Since I didn't know how to get published or even how to start the process, I decided not to waste the paper and ink necessary to put my ideas down on paper. Now, my fear is that I will waste valuable computer time, which is ridiculous as computer time is not something we need to pay for. I am also afraid that it is too late for me to get published, so I tend not to even start. Besides which, my mind keeps telling me that even were I to be published, I would have to sell what I wrote. Since I am not the world's greatest salesperson and since I am not convinced that anything I write would have any value, I keep putting off getting started. My hope is that by reviewing books and having to write my own thoughts down, I will gain the courage to continue writing, and perhaps write my own book for others to review.

[moderntimes]

Well, as far as it's too late to be published, I'm 73 years old and just sold all 3 of my mystery novels. So you can just assume that age is no barrier and proceed full steam.

Getting published takes a lot of research and plenty of internet time, but it's not exactly hard to work through. First, your venue is what matters, the genre into which you write. Is it "mainstream" fiction, such as socially relevant stories about relationships or a dramatic novel about a family's struggles? Or do you write genre fiction, such as fantasy, romance, mystery? Each type of writing has its own target audience and therefore a target group of either agents or publishers to whom you'll be sending your stuff.

Naturally you must ensure that your writing is as good as you can possibly make it, and this is done by re-reading your material over and over, tweaking it until it's the very best you can do. And of course, typo free.

Then submit to various publishers depending on the genre. If you're a mystery writer as I am, for example, you could refer to the MWA (Mystery Writers of America) site and their listing of publishers on their "approved" list. There are similar sites for whichever genre in which you write, so first seek those publishers and prepare a submission per their specific specs.

Of course, many publishers don't accept unagented material, so you'll have to skip those (or seek an agent). Also refer to various sites which list problematic publishers. The site "Preditors and Editors" is a good example. They list all sorts of publishers and agencies and note which are scams or unreliable. A bit of homework here will help you a lot.

I submitted to dozens of publishers and had some very good nibbles this past few months, trying to find a publisher for my new private detective novel. A couple of publishers read my whole novel but said it was too hardcore for their general readership. This I did NOT take as criticism nor was I deterred. Some mystery publishers cater to the "cozy" mystery crowd -- the genteel Agatha Christie type. But my stories are definitely not of that set, being realistic, modern thrillers with shootings and some violence and sex. So okay, those publishers were polite to me and said TBNT (thanks but no thanks) and I just proceeded down the list.

As for selling your own writing, don't worry about that, either. If a publisher buys your material for sale, the publisher will perform most of the selling on your behalf, with ads in the trades and internet postings, plus of course (hopefully) stocking your book in bookstores. As an author you may be asked to contribute to the authors' blog pages that the publisher maintains, chatting a bit about your writing. This isn't difficult.

And be very pleased and grateful if you are asked to do a book signing! This is a terrific experience, and it's an okay thing, not at all difficult. What a new author should do at a signing is to be as affable and pleasant as possible -- while of course not appearing phony -- and chat about your book. Most folks at a signing for a newbie writer (as I was when I had my signing) will want to ask about how you got your ideas, how long you've been writing, what inspires you, and so on. Just be cordial and the erstwhile fans will be happy to hear you talk a little. These things rarely last more than an hour, so it's not difficult at all.

Above all, do NOT tell yourself that you might "perhaps write your own book" -- that's a delaying tactic that many new writers become stuck in. Rather, say "I'm writing my first book now" and do it! Keep plugging away and the skills that you may think you don't have will come to you, I promise. Remember that no one starts off being a polished writer. Every writer starts ground zero and works from there. You and I are not different. I just got the ball rolling a little earlier than you did.

If anyone has specific questions about how to get published, I'm starting a new thread about my books in this section, or you can PM me or whatever you wish with questions.

[Cee-Jay Aurinko]

@ moderntimes

Lol -> TBNT. Never heard that one before.

[moderntimes]

Hey, I've got vast stacks of TBNTs or variations of this polite but slightly depressing message, or at least a long list of them in my TBNT agents/publishers rejection file. Comes with the territory.

[laura419]

Thank you for the quick reply and the way you disposed of most of the fears I discussed. Of course, what's underlying all the fears that I put out is the fear that I'm just not good enough and that I will be wasting my time and the time of others if I even attempt to write seriously. I mean, if I never try I can always tell myself I was too good enough I just didn't try. On the other hand, I've seen some pretty poor writing (so poor that I stopped reading and started correcting the materiel) and I know I can do better than that. So I think that it's time I stopped thinking about writing and started writing, eh? That's what this is all about, you know--getting back into the practice of writing and hopefully earning a few dollars while I'm about it.