The Malice team would like to welcome our newest teammate, Katrina Crane, who will be writing posts for the blog, like the one down below!
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What to do when you feel like your writing sucks and you’re in writer’s block hell?
Stop. Take a deep breath – or five. Just stop thinking for a minute. Turn off that big, creative brain and just breathe.
You don’t suck at writing.
You’re an incredible, talented human being.
The only reason you’re feeling insecure is because you are comparing yourself, your writing, and your ideas to someone else’s. You feel like no matter how hard you try you will never be as good as someone else already published. After all, you’re no Stephen King, J.R.R Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Suzanne Collins or Anne Rice, right?
No, you’re not, but that’s the thing. Those authors didn’t get where they are today by comparing their writing to someone else’s. They got where they are today by being themselves. They write the same way we all do: at the beginning of a novel they get stuck with plot holes and make grammar mistakes. They get frustrated just as we do.
But they aren’t us. And we aren’t them.
We each have our own voice – an incredible, original voice. If you keep comparing yourself to someone else you will be smothering your own talent. And you do have talent. You also have something much more important: determination.
That determination to succeed is what will eventually get you published. In most cases it won’t be because you have connections or because you won some kind of writer’s lottery. It will be because you spent hours crying over manuscripts and agonizing over characters. It will be because you pulled all-nighters in order to rewrite a paragraph of dialogue until you got it just right.
Right now you feel like your writing sucks. I know because I’ve been there. I live there most of the time in my pity-party shack. News flash though, all rough drafts are going to be terrible at first. There will be times when you hate every single word you’ve written and have no idea what to write next. It’s normal. You just need to get the words out.
Words aren’t coming, you say? Fine.
Try this: write three things about your story that you love. Then write three things about it that you hate. Once you’ve done that I want you to write a completely new story where those things are reversed.
Your main character is smart, funny, shy and you love that. Make him/her obnoxious and dumb as a brick. Hate him/her. Heck, even kill him/her off in the story if you want. Maybe you like that your original story has no clichés. Write clichés throughout the new story until it makes you want to vomit. I don’t care what you have to do, write a story that is opposite to yours in every way until you want to set your computer on fire.
Done that? Good.
Now tell me you don’t have inspiration to write the first original story you started with. I guarantee you that after writing all of those things you hated, you will feel inspired to continue writing on the story you love.
Not so, you say. "I’m still stuck in writer’s block hell."
Okay. I can work with that.
Tell me, have you tried starting at the end? How exactly do you want this story to end? Happily ever after? Down in flames? Have you even thought about it? You need to if you haven’t already.
Plot that ending out. Chances are, once you know how it will end, you will know how to continue on from where you got stuck.
Still nothing? Time to delete that chapter (or put it aside in a different folder) and start from scratch. Write something different from the first version. Do you need it to go exactly as you planned? Chances are it could go in a totally different direction and wouldn’t change the overall plot.
Bet your writing doesn’t seem so sucky now, huh? Not after all that work you just put into it.
It’s because it doesn’t suck and neither do you. You are a talented writer with great ideas. You just need help. You just need a push in the right direction. We all need that occasionally.
That’s why it’s a good idea to befriend and have regular conversations with those of your own kind.
No, I don’t mean aliens or psychos (don’t roll your eyes at me – you know you feel like you associate with one or both of those). But with writers. Authors. Creative minds that think like you and understand how you feel.
Want to know where to find such creatures? Check out Wattpad, Scribophile, FictionPress, and WordPress. We’re there waiting to help and offer advice. We’re there to drag you out of your writer’s block and keep you up til the wee hours of the morning with inspirational ideas. Come talk to us and then get to writing!
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About Katrina
Katrina Crane is a YA paranormal and fantasy author whose stories are often a mixture of horror and dark comedy: an unfortunate consequence of her warped sense of humor. She’s unrepentantly awkward and is a caffeine dependent being.
Katrina is currently attempting to complete Painting the Apocalypse, a paranormal YA novel focusing on the life of a possessed artist. She hopes to begin sending queries to agents sometime next year.
Find Katrina on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Katrina-Crane/305508169649095?ref=hl
Find her on Wattpad:
http://www.wattpad.com/user/Katrina_Crane
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Malice Expo Giveaway:
To enter the giveaway to win the first book in the Outside the Ropes Series by Ashley Claudy, then comment down below with your favorite methods of busting writer's block, or your tips for finding inspiration in any hobby or field that you choose.
This giveaway will run for 48 hours.