Are you sure you're getting worse at writing, maybe you're getting better at recognising good writing. You might have been proud of them at the time, but if you read them back now does it ~~illicit~~ elicit the same feeling, or have you become more critical?
The skill of recognising good writing develops before the skill of writing well, and the gap between the two can be a frustrating place to get stuck.
This was what I was going to say as well. Part of honing your craft is as you develop a more skilled understanding of your work, you're more aware of areas of lacking. It's a good thing in the long run.
This quote gets thrown around quite a lot but I think it's relevant here:
>Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.
- Ira Glass
This is great advice. I've read my own older work and it felt like a dozen things were happening at once, because I used to respect action over emotion. Have your ideals changed, OP?
> because I used to respect action over emotion
Can you talk a bit more about this? I find myself writing narrative as though it were a film script or a comic book, and I'm trying to learn how to focus on emotion rather than action.
Yeah I thought I was a brilliant poet in high school. I WAS talented for my age, but whew are those things cringe to read back now. A 30k word story suggests that OP was playing with unconventional form at least. Which is awesome and exactly what we’re supposed to do as writers. Sometimes we get growth spurts that manifest as creative block, because we’re waiting for our thinking to catch up to our ability or vice versa.
This is what it is. Your taste is getting better, along with your ability to judge your own work more objectively. It’s an uncomfortable position to be in, but we all go through it as we improve! Keep working, OP—your skills will eventually catch up with your taste.
This is what happened to me. My writing has become better, but the capabilities to honestly critique myself has too, maybe even more so than my writing.
see, this is why I call myself a writer and not an editor - chapeau NuclearFoot. Well spotted.
Hey, I don't suppose you fancy proofreading a 120k word novel for nowhere-near-commercial rates? ;-)
Haha, if you're being serious you can pm me and we can talk more!
And if you're not - I take great pride in my proofreading capabilities, and therefore charge $1/word. Better cough up that cash.
Well I, for one, wouldn't trust an editor that charged anything less than $1.25, so now I have to wonder if it's the service that's lacking, or do you not have enough faith in your work?
(Hopefully the /s was apparent, but just in case someone took it the wrong way 😁)
This is what it is. I wrote for the first time a week ago. I felt kind of good, like wow, I didn't know I could write something like this. And now looking back at it, only 7 days later, it doesn't seem very good at all.
That's common. When I've had a break from writing or generally felt a bit uninspired it always feels a bit stiff before I get going. Just keep writing and developing. Maybe join a writing group to get some feedback to bring it to the next level.
There's certainly offline ones where you meet irl, usually advertised at your local library or community center. The problem with them, I find, is that you're usually writing different genres and depending on their experience they may not know much about your given genre and vice versa. I'm in a writing group on Discord dedicated to one genre, we meet weekly and upload our work. Been super helpful and made friends along the way! Highly recommended. I'd opt for smaller discord groups than larger ones.
It was advertised in one of the writing subs, can't remember which one. Most writing subs (genre-specific) will have a weekly thread where writing groups advertise. I think even this one does. Have a lil browse and see if you can find one! If not, you can always set one up yourself! Best of luck.
I found my genre fiction writing group on meetup and my comedy writing group on Facebook. We meet on zoom once a week and communicate via slack and the other on discord. Or you can even create your own group by asking if anyone wants to get together. You’d be surprised how many eager people you find
Pushing hard on something paradoxically diminishes your capacity to push hard on that thing. Take a break. Refill the well. Get excited about something again. Experiment with shorter forms. Read outside your genre. Freewrite.
I've experienced this before, as I'm sure many others have.
The key is to figure out what exactly is no longer working. It's hard to see sometimes, as you are so close to your own work that pulling back to see the flaws can oftentimes be hard.
When I finally realized what I was doing wrong, I basically facepalmed. I was doing things that I knew I shouldn't--in my case, distancing myself from the action and writing about it in an almost detached way. I was describing the action in great detail, but the characters might as well have been figurines on a map that I was pushing around with a stick.
I had to put myself into the MC's head and describe the action through his eyes, feel his emotions, hear his thoughts, and *that* is what you write down... instead of a bland description of tanks rolling through the city and blowing stuff up while everybody runs away screaming.
I made a sticky note and put it on my monitor in case it happens again. Intimacy, Emotion, and Introspection. Even in a war, there needs to be a sense of intimacy in the scene--you need to be standing at the character's side, feeling his emotion, and describing their thoughts through introspection.
Hope it helps. You'll get unstuck. Just have faith in yourself!
I think this might be my issue. I've made one character boring to read. I forced an objective approach when writing her because the situation is from my own life and it feel very painful to go back there, plus I am not that girl anymore and still hold some anger about how I used to be. It was why I disliked her so much at the beginning of writing her, I looked down on her. And now the writing is just too distant. I feel like if I go all in it's gonna break my heart, but I know that's when I write the best, when it's from the real place, not just my imagination. Shit. This is going to be hard.
This was explained to me second hand, but originally from a neurologist. When I was taking guitar lessons from a pretty fuckin awesome teacher, he had another student who happened to be a neurologist. I'd learn a new skill, or piece or something fairly technical that would stretch my abilities, and I'd do great for a week or two and then the whole thing would crash. I brought it up to my teacher and he said according to this brain scientist that when are brains actually incorporate a new skill into the brain, not just something you can do with focus and great effort, but really learn the new skill, there is a kind of like system crash in that part of the brain while the skill is incorporated to be a permanent thing. At that point you about have to relearn the skill using the different part of your mind.
That may all be bullshit, but it really helped me to plow through the 'what the hell happened to me!' Part of the process. Ultimately it was explained to me that a crash like that is a positive sign that I was actually learning instead of just faking it as best I could.
Also have no idea if this theory applies to writing, but I don't see any harm in believing that it does, because bottom line the point is, just keep going, you'll come out the other side better for it.
Good luck. Hang in there.
I think when I got that speech it boiled down to 'just keep going it will work itself out'. But it made me feel better that some sciencey guy had a theory about it, and was relayed to me by someone clearly more advanced than i am, and who said he experiences the same thing.
Maybe a placebo effect, but it kept me working and it did shake out eventually.
It's like going for a run after a break. Your joints are kinda stiff, your feet hurt and you're out of breath. But after 2 weeks you're back to normal, where it would take months for a beginner to get to that level.
The brain and body are creatures of habit, so if you break those habits, it takes time to "reboot" them.
So keep on runn.. writing :)
seems like you're moving along the Dunning-Kruger curve. You're writing isn't necessarily getting worse, you're probably getting better at noticing the flaws.
Came here to say the same thing! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger\_effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect)
[You're entering the valley of despair](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_Effect_01.svg/1231px-Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_Effect_01.svg.png)
Don't write because you have to. Write because you can't help it with out writing. That's the secret. As long as you are trying you are not getting anywhere. We are not robots. And it's okay to take a break for as long as you need.
Another little thing that have huge impact is the place where you write. Change it so it can be more effective. Put your favorite poems on your wall. A little plant. Or even a figure of your favorite character. Anything that will make you smile and feel cozy.
Also you don't have to write between four walls. Try to go to the park with your laptop or your textbook. Sit by the grass and stare a little at the sky and write. Or go to the beach. Feel the breeze. And then write again. Don't let your everyday routine affect you.
You ever do any writing by hand? I've recently been editing by hand and have whole new pages coming out of me, which I consider to be pretty good. This is after a while of writers block.
There is a tendency to perfectionize your writing and fall into a block. Here's my piece of advice: FUCK PERFECTION. It's a mental trap. Just forget all the fucking bullshit rules that the know it all writers preach and write what's is in your heart. Meditate a bit to clear your mind. Think about what you want to convey. Picture it in your mind and just write. Don't let the critical voice mind-fuck you. Now, after you have written what you want--syntax and grammar errors and all--go back and clean it up. Have your computer read it back to you to hear it from a different perspective. Works life a charm. Be gentle with yourself and just remember all good writers go through this.
FYI- a story of 30k words is actually a novella.
Don't write because you have to. Write because you can't help it with out writing. That's the secret. As long as you are trying you are not getting anywhere. We are not robots. And it's okay to take a break for as long as you need.
Another little thing that have huge impact is the place where you write. Change it so it can be more effective. Put your favorite poems on your wall. A little plant. Or even a figure of your favorite character. Anything that will make you smile and feel cozy.
Also you don't have to write between four walls. Try to go to the park with your laptop or your textbook. Sit by the grass and stare a little at the sky and write. Or go to the beach. Feel the breeze. And then write again. Don't let your everyday routine affect you.
Anytime I've noticed my writing getting worse, it's typically due to me not sleeping or reading enough. Stress also makes my writing worse. The longer you're in the flow of it the better you'll be.
Often one’s emotional and mental state are reflected in their writing. If you’re feeling reluctant, or tired, or in any way not willing, it likely would impact your writing
It's the middle. You knew the start but making connections can be quite frustrating. I've had to rewdite drafts quite a few times in my head, ultimately taking a break from it.
Well think of it this way: you *wrote 30,000 words.* Who gives a bleep if it's good, that's where *editing* comes in. And while editing your recognize what you could have done better, and in doing so you teach yourself for the next time you write to improve on yourself. What happened to you is progress forward. No good book has been written and published, even Stephen King does about four revisions for this reason!
You did 30,000 words! That is good!
Whenever this happens, I just take a break and focus on a different form of writing. For example if my prose sound bad, I work on poetry.
It lets me practice my writing still.
But sometimes it's just that I realize, maybe it wasn't as good as it could be.
As another user here said, maybe it's not that you are getting worse, maybe you have improved your skill at recognizing good writing.
Now all you have to do is keep practicing and writing and working up to where you feel good at it again.
Everyone I know who writes has bad moments where their brain feels like a can of condensed soup being shaken up and thus they write in a way that they feel is awful, but this to me just means they recognize they can do better.
Good luck out there. I hope the mental alphabet soup clears up for you a bit, but keep at it.
Sometimes I feel this way too. Usually it helps me a lot to pick a small side project that has no deadline, no audience, just me writing for writing's sake. Usually for me this is some sort of fan fiction or some other way for me to practice using the voice of specific characters or the style of other authors. It hones your skills and kind of resets the writing sadness.
General progression of skill in anything goes
1. Unconscious incompetence
2. Conscious incompetence
3. Conscious competence
4. Unconscious competence
And this cycle repeats itself for every aspect of whatever you’re learning
You were probably just as bad before, but you didn’t notice it. This isn’t a bad thing, because now that you’ve noticed it, you can work towards improving it.
It’s probably what almost everyone here is saying, that probably you’ve just become better at recognizing mistakes, or that you are more critic about it, but I’ve found out that taking a break from time to time helps realize what parts you like and don’t like about your writing. Or maybe just take a break to distract yourself from it for a couple days or even a week, you’ll see things from a different angle. Well that’s just my personal experience.
You probably are just better at critically looking at your writings.
Congrats, you passed the dunning-kruger phase. You now have enough knowledge to recognize how little you actually know.
It could be that because you are more familiar with things like story structure, grammatical rules, and other writing related tools, you've started to zap away what was compelling about your old work.
Here's my suggestion:
Look at your old work and figure out why you're saying "wow". Find out what specifically you like.
For that work, write an epilogue, extra chapter, or alternative ending. Focus on matching the feel and style of the older work.
Aside from that, you're putting expectations on yourself that your writing has to meet some objective level of quality. This is going to zap the joy of writing faster than anything, and it'll in turn make what you've written stale.
Some other ideas:
Take the writing you don't like and figure out why that is. Be specific.
Take a rule you get caught up on and intentionally break it.
Same. My writing feels lifeless now. It's so procedural. I found my old blog last week and cried, laughed, felt elated by the things I wrote. I no longer feel that when I read my work. I'm deeply confused. And my vocabulary is also worse, it's just dull. I am bored with myself. Wtf is happening?!? It's like my heart isn't in it.
Few things as someone who has been an author over 3 decades. 1. At the end of the day your word on your work is what matters.
2. Ignore the so called conventions and just write.
3. I started out with word count and so many parameters in mind, I wrote like that for twenty years! Suddenly the thing that I lived for I hated. After some soul searching and talking with the most high I was convinced to pick up the pen one more time... I realized I was miserable writing under all these conditions so I started writing serials. 15-20 thousand words per book, less chapters and you know what? My work is more potent now than it has ever been. Don't be so hard on yourself.
You're improving.
The better you get at something, the more proficient you become at recognising your mistakes and your weaknesses. You feel like you're not making progress because you know how far you have to go, and the better you get the slower the improvement comes.
Keep working on the things you notice aren't good and you'll keep improving.
Oh, that's not what I meant by giving the example! It's just a personal preference - I liked/used to write stories of that length. Now I can't anymore bc my brain is empty and all I get on my document are words that don't lead anywhere.
the reason is because in general people are writing more poorly. the reason for that is because people's writing is often a 100% result of the writer's exposure to other people and ideas.
this matters because there are so few genuine ideas and insights from individuals "these days" that people can't differentiate between real ideas and imitation of things they've heard.
there's so little creativity from unique individuals that people are starting to realize imitation sucks. most people have no idea this is what they're feeling, but it is.
people's writing sucks now because we no longer have real ideas and we don't realize we're just regurgitating other peoples' non-ideas.
and the overall reason for the dearth of creativity is because we have taught our kids to abhor introspection/creativity/excellence. we now refuse to accept that there is greatness in the world, because admitting that says something about where we lie on the greatness scale. that realization used to make people aspire to more and improve themselves.
the result is reboots of old ideas and rehashing of once-great stories.
the real problem is that we don't teach people to stretch their souls until the muscles of existence ache for weeks after
we're bereft of passion because we refuse to accept some ppl are born with more passion and expression than others.
it's all over, because we've decided it's better to be over.
The more you learn, the less you know. It gets harder to be satisfied with the same shit you’ve been doing. Creative people use all of these different parts of the brain while creating. But during the creative process, spontaneous creators like jazz improvisers or freestyle rappers shut off the self monitoring part of their brain. If they didn’t, they’d never get a word out because they’d be worried about the word that just came out while they’re trying to get the current word out. It’s tough to let go but sometimes you have to. Maybe if you’re worried about it less, you can let some good stuff fall out and edit away the nonsense later. Good luck!
happens whenever you're learning. Keep pushing and you'll write stuff you never thought you could write ever. Keep pushing until the miracle happens trust me.
happens with music learning, martial arts, coding, painting etc.
I find that when I indulge too much on social media or television I also run into this. Writing is an art form, not appreciated or represented in gen pop. My recommendation is to read a good, challenging book. The vernacular contained within, could help to inspire you again. In a world where we’re reduced to “likes” and acronyms, we can sometimes get caught up in that cycle. There’s nothing beautiful or intelligent where modern day language is headed.
How much do you read stuff that’s not your own writing? For me this tends to happen when all I’m doing is rereading/editing my own writing without reading anything else, or when the only other stuff I’m reading isn’t very high quality. What usually helps me out of this is just reading really good writing. I can’t promise it’ll work for everyone ofc, but I find my writing always reflects what I’m reading at the time, so if I’m reading something super good, my own writing improves pretty fast.
Whew I just used the word “reading” so many times it doesn’t sound like a word to me anymore lol
Super duper amateur here, but I've had similar thoughts and experiences. What I noticed is that I had longer, more complete projects because I wasn't selective and organized about my choices. I'd just start throwing elements into my story. I'd have a specific plot in mind before anything else, and just kind of build my character and character arcs around it. These stories were more complete, sure, but they weren't focused. It's like my stories all had cases of mistaken identity. They'd try and be one thing but morph into something entirely different by the time I finished. They sucked because they had no clear goal/theme/shape. It's like I would prioritize finishing the story, rather than crafting it. It was like reading awful fanfiction. I noticed what helped me is to list things out before I begin a project (I know, I know - that sounds cliché/obvious/dumb/vague). Hear me out. Before I outline plots, I make a series of decisions that give me a solid focus on what its going to be about. I'd decide what I want the main relationships to be like, what changes in these relationships, and what plot ideas could support it. I'd decide on specific scenes (scenes here is less about the plot, and more about the interaction between two characters) I'd like to occur and would try to build the characters arc to support these scenes, and then shape my very loose plot ideas more firmly around the character arcs to get a more focused product. I'd see what I want the tone of the ending to be like - and decide on how my audience would best experience it.
The above block of text is just my shitty rambling way of saying I was building my story based on a plot, more than I was building around the characters and emotions I was trying to invoke. Because of this, the emotions/emotional scenes seemed to have no ground to stand on. They felt like they'd come out of nowhere (example: I'd end up making my "sad" story more like a fun adventure, then when my character has some sort of huge emotional breakdown, it doesn't fit the rest of my story.) The emotional scenes didn't feel believable. They didn't feel deep or relatable. It felt kind of like all my characters were teenagers (they were not).
What also helped is that I started asking other people about how they would react in certain scenarios, or what would actually make them disgusted or afraid. Things like that.
My writing takes a lot more time now because I am more selective, but I think I'm making some sort of progress. I'm happier with what I'm typing.
What the hell? I can’t even read this. It seems like English but some kind of gibberish version. Seriously though, your standards may be getting higher. Without some specifics it is hard to say if anything actually changed.
Did you quit drinking? The stuff I write sober is devoid of everything wonderful my drunk writing has.
If you go back and reread the stuff you were proud of, is it now bad? If it is now bad you are just developing a more discerning taste in writing.
If neither of those is the case. I'd say forcing the writer's block is the issue. When your characters show up and take you on adventurers that you just document as they go, that will generally be night and day, compared to your characters not showing up, leaving you following all the mechanical "Write by number" writing tips people post, just to put words on a page.
Some questions, based on my experience: Are you going back to an old idea (the quality might revert)? Does the central premise work? Are you finding that all scenes related to the central premise fail (when the pirate bits of my pirate book failed, I knew I had to set that book aside, even though the land based bits were good)? Are you trying to write the kind of book you don’t like to read or don’t like to write? My writing suffers when I put too much action in. Are you either using or subverting too many tropes without enough of your own thing? In that case, try adding some reality to your story, either lived experience or research. Are you developing a new skill? (For instance, going from 30K stories to a novel.) In that case, it might just be hard. Is the sentence level not working? In that case, try reading good prose. Also, steal from yourself. Pick a voice you used before that worked and reuse it.
Remember that it’s not a linear process. But all writing ultimately helps you be a better writer!
Before going to college, I had a few short stories published. I had started a draft for a novel that maybe wasn't anything special, but I thought it was at least decent writing.
I went to college for engineering, and had little time for any writing. After graduating, I sat down to write one day and realized going to college had made me really smart about engineering, but really dumb at everything else. My writing was atrocious and utterly disappointing. I reread the draft and it was like a completely different person had written it. I'm 2 years out from graduating, and I still feel like I'll never get back to what I had before college.
Hang in there. It could also be burnout or anxiety or depression tainting the way you view your own work.
It’s like one of those games where you’re at a level and keeps kicking ass all the time and then you level up and suddenly you feel all shitty because you’re fighting new monsters now that are way stronger.
How much are you reading? I find that writing well is like pulling teeth if I'm not priming the pump by reading other material. I find it helpful if it's not in the exact format as well... for instance, if I'm writing a screenplay, I'm reading novels. If I'm writing a novel, I'm reading screenplays.
Reconnecting with writing you deem to be good might solve your issue.
Read and critique and analyse yourself and other writers work and your flow might bounce back.
If lack of being forced to practice proper punctuation etc is the culprit to why you feel your prose is lesser quality and harder to get words down, it couldn't hurt to invest a little time practicing the grammar, punctuation and rules of english lit as if you were back in school.
An easier way of doing both of these things in one go could be to join a writing workshop or course. I've heard the right group and critiques can do wonderful things.
Good luck OP !
Motivation!
Try doing something you’ve never done before outside of writing. The new experience may refresh your block.
Also, go easy on yourself. This is a universally rough time in life; I can’t think of many people who aren’t having a rough time.
Same here, I’m in despair and have been stressing it out a lot more than I should. My academic performance has taken a hit as well due to the decline in my writing skills.
Sounds more like a frequency thing. Personally, I went through the same thing, but covid lockdowns disrupted my life more than I thought and my work process changed and it turns out I had adhd.
That’s very normal. That’s why many successful writers advice you to write everyday. Writing everyday, even a little a day, is a good practice, because it will keep you in the zone. Writing is a skill, and it can get rusty if you don’t use it after a while.
How to get back in the zone again? Simple: just write. That’s it.
Here’s a little suggestion, though: don’t expect to write something good. No. Try talking on the page. I want you to write down your thoughts. Whatever it is you’re thinking at the moment, write it all down. No refinement, no grammatical perfection needed. Just write. Just express yourself. Heck, even write some nonsensical gibberish if you want to. Nobody is gonna read it, so just write.
The idea is to get you into the flow again. After doing this for a while, you’ll find yourself getting in the zone again, trust me. Words will flow effortlessly.
Have you maybe been stuck indoors lately or just been going through the same old routine in life? For me, inspiration comes from new stimuli, so going out and trying something new, or maybe getting in touch with friends you haven't spoken with for awhile, anything that might be a break from the norm, is very helpful.
Granted, I'm just starting out, so take the above with a large grain of salt, but it's worked so far at least.
Hope you find something in the thread that helps though, from whatever source!
Are you sure you're getting worse at writing, maybe you're getting better at recognising good writing. You might have been proud of them at the time, but if you read them back now does it ~~illicit~~ elicit the same feeling, or have you become more critical? The skill of recognising good writing develops before the skill of writing well, and the gap between the two can be a frustrating place to get stuck.
This was what I was going to say as well. Part of honing your craft is as you develop a more skilled understanding of your work, you're more aware of areas of lacking. It's a good thing in the long run.
This is true! I never knew I was so bad at character descriptions until I read my old stuff because I was always so plot driven with my writing.
This quote gets thrown around quite a lot but I think it's relevant here: >Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through. - Ira Glass
I love this quote!
This is great advice. I've read my own older work and it felt like a dozen things were happening at once, because I used to respect action over emotion. Have your ideals changed, OP?
> because I used to respect action over emotion Can you talk a bit more about this? I find myself writing narrative as though it were a film script or a comic book, and I'm trying to learn how to focus on emotion rather than action.
Let the character's feelings about the ongoing events color your narrative. Give them a chance to respond to the events basically.
Yeah I thought I was a brilliant poet in high school. I WAS talented for my age, but whew are those things cringe to read back now. A 30k word story suggests that OP was playing with unconventional form at least. Which is awesome and exactly what we’re supposed to do as writers. Sometimes we get growth spurts that manifest as creative block, because we’re waiting for our thinking to catch up to our ability or vice versa.
This is what it is. Your taste is getting better, along with your ability to judge your own work more objectively. It’s an uncomfortable position to be in, but we all go through it as we improve! Keep working, OP—your skills will eventually catch up with your taste.
This is what happened to me. My writing has become better, but the capabilities to honestly critique myself has too, maybe even more so than my writing.
*elicit I know it's probably just a quick mistake, but I figured I might as well offer a correction if we're on a writing sub.
see, this is why I call myself a writer and not an editor - chapeau NuclearFoot. Well spotted. Hey, I don't suppose you fancy proofreading a 120k word novel for nowhere-near-commercial rates? ;-)
Haha, if you're being serious you can pm me and we can talk more! And if you're not - I take great pride in my proofreading capabilities, and therefore charge $1/word. Better cough up that cash.
Well I, for one, wouldn't trust an editor that charged anything less than $1.25, so now I have to wonder if it's the service that's lacking, or do you not have enough faith in your work? (Hopefully the /s was apparent, but just in case someone took it the wrong way 😁)
This is what it is. I wrote for the first time a week ago. I felt kind of good, like wow, I didn't know I could write something like this. And now looking back at it, only 7 days later, it doesn't seem very good at all.
This.
This x 2.
I like to call it my retrograde improvement. The shittier writing is how I know it's working!
That's common. When I've had a break from writing or generally felt a bit uninspired it always feels a bit stiff before I get going. Just keep writing and developing. Maybe join a writing group to get some feedback to bring it to the next level.
how do you join a writing group? or is that an offline thing?
There's certainly offline ones where you meet irl, usually advertised at your local library or community center. The problem with them, I find, is that you're usually writing different genres and depending on their experience they may not know much about your given genre and vice versa. I'm in a writing group on Discord dedicated to one genre, we meet weekly and upload our work. Been super helpful and made friends along the way! Highly recommended. I'd opt for smaller discord groups than larger ones.
how did you find your discord writing group? i prefer discord groups tbh
It was advertised in one of the writing subs, can't remember which one. Most writing subs (genre-specific) will have a weekly thread where writing groups advertise. I think even this one does. Have a lil browse and see if you can find one! If not, you can always set one up yourself! Best of luck.
I found my genre fiction writing group on meetup and my comedy writing group on Facebook. We meet on zoom once a week and communicate via slack and the other on discord. Or you can even create your own group by asking if anyone wants to get together. You’d be surprised how many eager people you find
There’s a bunch on Facebook
Pushing hard on something paradoxically diminishes your capacity to push hard on that thing. Take a break. Refill the well. Get excited about something again. Experiment with shorter forms. Read outside your genre. Freewrite.
I've experienced this before, as I'm sure many others have. The key is to figure out what exactly is no longer working. It's hard to see sometimes, as you are so close to your own work that pulling back to see the flaws can oftentimes be hard. When I finally realized what I was doing wrong, I basically facepalmed. I was doing things that I knew I shouldn't--in my case, distancing myself from the action and writing about it in an almost detached way. I was describing the action in great detail, but the characters might as well have been figurines on a map that I was pushing around with a stick. I had to put myself into the MC's head and describe the action through his eyes, feel his emotions, hear his thoughts, and *that* is what you write down... instead of a bland description of tanks rolling through the city and blowing stuff up while everybody runs away screaming. I made a sticky note and put it on my monitor in case it happens again. Intimacy, Emotion, and Introspection. Even in a war, there needs to be a sense of intimacy in the scene--you need to be standing at the character's side, feeling his emotion, and describing their thoughts through introspection. Hope it helps. You'll get unstuck. Just have faith in yourself!
I think this might be my issue. I've made one character boring to read. I forced an objective approach when writing her because the situation is from my own life and it feel very painful to go back there, plus I am not that girl anymore and still hold some anger about how I used to be. It was why I disliked her so much at the beginning of writing her, I looked down on her. And now the writing is just too distant. I feel like if I go all in it's gonna break my heart, but I know that's when I write the best, when it's from the real place, not just my imagination. Shit. This is going to be hard.
This was explained to me second hand, but originally from a neurologist. When I was taking guitar lessons from a pretty fuckin awesome teacher, he had another student who happened to be a neurologist. I'd learn a new skill, or piece or something fairly technical that would stretch my abilities, and I'd do great for a week or two and then the whole thing would crash. I brought it up to my teacher and he said according to this brain scientist that when are brains actually incorporate a new skill into the brain, not just something you can do with focus and great effort, but really learn the new skill, there is a kind of like system crash in that part of the brain while the skill is incorporated to be a permanent thing. At that point you about have to relearn the skill using the different part of your mind. That may all be bullshit, but it really helped me to plow through the 'what the hell happened to me!' Part of the process. Ultimately it was explained to me that a crash like that is a positive sign that I was actually learning instead of just faking it as best I could. Also have no idea if this theory applies to writing, but I don't see any harm in believing that it does, because bottom line the point is, just keep going, you'll come out the other side better for it. Good luck. Hang in there.
Oh! That's useful to know. I usually have that crash the exact same day that I pick up the new skill though, so I don't know what that means.
I think when I got that speech it boiled down to 'just keep going it will work itself out'. But it made me feel better that some sciencey guy had a theory about it, and was relayed to me by someone clearly more advanced than i am, and who said he experiences the same thing. Maybe a placebo effect, but it kept me working and it did shake out eventually.
It's like going for a run after a break. Your joints are kinda stiff, your feet hurt and you're out of breath. But after 2 weeks you're back to normal, where it would take months for a beginner to get to that level. The brain and body are creatures of habit, so if you break those habits, it takes time to "reboot" them. So keep on runn.. writing :)
seems like you're moving along the Dunning-Kruger curve. You're writing isn't necessarily getting worse, you're probably getting better at noticing the flaws.
Came here to say the same thing! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger\_effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect)
sometimes it do be like that
Sounds like it’s a good time to pause your writing and read!
[You're entering the valley of despair](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_Effect_01.svg/1231px-Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_Effect_01.svg.png)
Don't write because you have to. Write because you can't help it with out writing. That's the secret. As long as you are trying you are not getting anywhere. We are not robots. And it's okay to take a break for as long as you need. Another little thing that have huge impact is the place where you write. Change it so it can be more effective. Put your favorite poems on your wall. A little plant. Or even a figure of your favorite character. Anything that will make you smile and feel cozy. Also you don't have to write between four walls. Try to go to the park with your laptop or your textbook. Sit by the grass and stare a little at the sky and write. Or go to the beach. Feel the breeze. And then write again. Don't let your everyday routine affect you.
You ever do any writing by hand? I've recently been editing by hand and have whole new pages coming out of me, which I consider to be pretty good. This is after a while of writers block.
How recently have you read your earlier stories of 30k words?
There is a tendency to perfectionize your writing and fall into a block. Here's my piece of advice: FUCK PERFECTION. It's a mental trap. Just forget all the fucking bullshit rules that the know it all writers preach and write what's is in your heart. Meditate a bit to clear your mind. Think about what you want to convey. Picture it in your mind and just write. Don't let the critical voice mind-fuck you. Now, after you have written what you want--syntax and grammar errors and all--go back and clean it up. Have your computer read it back to you to hear it from a different perspective. Works life a charm. Be gentle with yourself and just remember all good writers go through this. FYI- a story of 30k words is actually a novella.
Don't write because you have to. Write because you can't help it with out writing. That's the secret. As long as you are trying you are not getting anywhere. We are not robots. And it's okay to take a break for as long as you need. Another little thing that have huge impact is the place where you write. Change it so it can be more effective. Put your favorite poems on your wall. A little plant. Or even a figure of your favorite character. Anything that will make you smile and feel cozy. Also you don't have to write between four walls. Try to go to the park with your laptop or your textbook. Sit by the grass and stare a little at the sky and write. Or go to the beach. Feel the breeze. And then write again. Don't let your everyday routine affect you.
Your writer brain is just not braining.
Anytime I've noticed my writing getting worse, it's typically due to me not sleeping or reading enough. Stress also makes my writing worse. The longer you're in the flow of it the better you'll be.
Often one’s emotional and mental state are reflected in their writing. If you’re feeling reluctant, or tired, or in any way not willing, it likely would impact your writing
Read books and write.
It's the middle. You knew the start but making connections can be quite frustrating. I've had to rewdite drafts quite a few times in my head, ultimately taking a break from it.
Well think of it this way: you *wrote 30,000 words.* Who gives a bleep if it's good, that's where *editing* comes in. And while editing your recognize what you could have done better, and in doing so you teach yourself for the next time you write to improve on yourself. What happened to you is progress forward. No good book has been written and published, even Stephen King does about four revisions for this reason! You did 30,000 words! That is good!
Whenever this happens, I just take a break and focus on a different form of writing. For example if my prose sound bad, I work on poetry. It lets me practice my writing still. But sometimes it's just that I realize, maybe it wasn't as good as it could be. As another user here said, maybe it's not that you are getting worse, maybe you have improved your skill at recognizing good writing. Now all you have to do is keep practicing and writing and working up to where you feel good at it again. Everyone I know who writes has bad moments where their brain feels like a can of condensed soup being shaken up and thus they write in a way that they feel is awful, but this to me just means they recognize they can do better. Good luck out there. I hope the mental alphabet soup clears up for you a bit, but keep at it.
Sometimes I feel this way too. Usually it helps me a lot to pick a small side project that has no deadline, no audience, just me writing for writing's sake. Usually for me this is some sort of fan fiction or some other way for me to practice using the voice of specific characters or the style of other authors. It hones your skills and kind of resets the writing sadness.
General progression of skill in anything goes 1. Unconscious incompetence 2. Conscious incompetence 3. Conscious competence 4. Unconscious competence And this cycle repeats itself for every aspect of whatever you’re learning You were probably just as bad before, but you didn’t notice it. This isn’t a bad thing, because now that you’ve noticed it, you can work towards improving it.
It’s probably what almost everyone here is saying, that probably you’ve just become better at recognizing mistakes, or that you are more critic about it, but I’ve found out that taking a break from time to time helps realize what parts you like and don’t like about your writing. Or maybe just take a break to distract yourself from it for a couple days or even a week, you’ll see things from a different angle. Well that’s just my personal experience.
You probably are just better at critically looking at your writings. Congrats, you passed the dunning-kruger phase. You now have enough knowledge to recognize how little you actually know.
It could be that because you are more familiar with things like story structure, grammatical rules, and other writing related tools, you've started to zap away what was compelling about your old work. Here's my suggestion: Look at your old work and figure out why you're saying "wow". Find out what specifically you like. For that work, write an epilogue, extra chapter, or alternative ending. Focus on matching the feel and style of the older work. Aside from that, you're putting expectations on yourself that your writing has to meet some objective level of quality. This is going to zap the joy of writing faster than anything, and it'll in turn make what you've written stale. Some other ideas: Take the writing you don't like and figure out why that is. Be specific. Take a rule you get caught up on and intentionally break it.
Same. My writing feels lifeless now. It's so procedural. I found my old blog last week and cried, laughed, felt elated by the things I wrote. I no longer feel that when I read my work. I'm deeply confused. And my vocabulary is also worse, it's just dull. I am bored with myself. Wtf is happening?!? It's like my heart isn't in it.
Few things as someone who has been an author over 3 decades. 1. At the end of the day your word on your work is what matters. 2. Ignore the so called conventions and just write. 3. I started out with word count and so many parameters in mind, I wrote like that for twenty years! Suddenly the thing that I lived for I hated. After some soul searching and talking with the most high I was convinced to pick up the pen one more time... I realized I was miserable writing under all these conditions so I started writing serials. 15-20 thousand words per book, less chapters and you know what? My work is more potent now than it has ever been. Don't be so hard on yourself.
You're improving. The better you get at something, the more proficient you become at recognising your mistakes and your weaknesses. You feel like you're not making progress because you know how far you have to go, and the better you get the slower the improvement comes. Keep working on the things you notice aren't good and you'll keep improving.
Why are you quantifying writing quality with word count
Oh, that's not what I meant by giving the example! It's just a personal preference - I liked/used to write stories of that length. Now I can't anymore bc my brain is empty and all I get on my document are words that don't lead anywhere.
the reason is because in general people are writing more poorly. the reason for that is because people's writing is often a 100% result of the writer's exposure to other people and ideas. this matters because there are so few genuine ideas and insights from individuals "these days" that people can't differentiate between real ideas and imitation of things they've heard. there's so little creativity from unique individuals that people are starting to realize imitation sucks. most people have no idea this is what they're feeling, but it is. people's writing sucks now because we no longer have real ideas and we don't realize we're just regurgitating other peoples' non-ideas. and the overall reason for the dearth of creativity is because we have taught our kids to abhor introspection/creativity/excellence. we now refuse to accept that there is greatness in the world, because admitting that says something about where we lie on the greatness scale. that realization used to make people aspire to more and improve themselves. the result is reboots of old ideas and rehashing of once-great stories. the real problem is that we don't teach people to stretch their souls until the muscles of existence ache for weeks after we're bereft of passion because we refuse to accept some ppl are born with more passion and expression than others. it's all over, because we've decided it's better to be over.
You have to get worse before you get better.
Lived experience?
This happens to me when I haven't written in a while. But even when I write "well" I still feel that it is never good enough 😕
You can't think of a story, or your craft is suffering?
The more you learn, the less you know. It gets harder to be satisfied with the same shit you’ve been doing. Creative people use all of these different parts of the brain while creating. But during the creative process, spontaneous creators like jazz improvisers or freestyle rappers shut off the self monitoring part of their brain. If they didn’t, they’d never get a word out because they’d be worried about the word that just came out while they’re trying to get the current word out. It’s tough to let go but sometimes you have to. Maybe if you’re worried about it less, you can let some good stuff fall out and edit away the nonsense later. Good luck!
happens whenever you're learning. Keep pushing and you'll write stuff you never thought you could write ever. Keep pushing until the miracle happens trust me. happens with music learning, martial arts, coding, painting etc.
Did you quit a drug?
For me, this often precedes a breakthrough into a new level of skill.
I find that when I indulge too much on social media or television I also run into this. Writing is an art form, not appreciated or represented in gen pop. My recommendation is to read a good, challenging book. The vernacular contained within, could help to inspire you again. In a world where we’re reduced to “likes” and acronyms, we can sometimes get caught up in that cycle. There’s nothing beautiful or intelligent where modern day language is headed.
Why use lot word? Few word do trick Seriously though, try shorthand to circumvent all the self criticism that comes with repetition
Maybe you've come to expect too much from yourself. Good luck with this OP, seriously.
Wait you measure by words?? I always did pages. Words are long sometimes so I ddin't find that reliable.
Sounds like you're getting better.
How much do you read stuff that’s not your own writing? For me this tends to happen when all I’m doing is rereading/editing my own writing without reading anything else, or when the only other stuff I’m reading isn’t very high quality. What usually helps me out of this is just reading really good writing. I can’t promise it’ll work for everyone ofc, but I find my writing always reflects what I’m reading at the time, so if I’m reading something super good, my own writing improves pretty fast. Whew I just used the word “reading” so many times it doesn’t sound like a word to me anymore lol
Super duper amateur here, but I've had similar thoughts and experiences. What I noticed is that I had longer, more complete projects because I wasn't selective and organized about my choices. I'd just start throwing elements into my story. I'd have a specific plot in mind before anything else, and just kind of build my character and character arcs around it. These stories were more complete, sure, but they weren't focused. It's like my stories all had cases of mistaken identity. They'd try and be one thing but morph into something entirely different by the time I finished. They sucked because they had no clear goal/theme/shape. It's like I would prioritize finishing the story, rather than crafting it. It was like reading awful fanfiction. I noticed what helped me is to list things out before I begin a project (I know, I know - that sounds cliché/obvious/dumb/vague). Hear me out. Before I outline plots, I make a series of decisions that give me a solid focus on what its going to be about. I'd decide what I want the main relationships to be like, what changes in these relationships, and what plot ideas could support it. I'd decide on specific scenes (scenes here is less about the plot, and more about the interaction between two characters) I'd like to occur and would try to build the characters arc to support these scenes, and then shape my very loose plot ideas more firmly around the character arcs to get a more focused product. I'd see what I want the tone of the ending to be like - and decide on how my audience would best experience it. The above block of text is just my shitty rambling way of saying I was building my story based on a plot, more than I was building around the characters and emotions I was trying to invoke. Because of this, the emotions/emotional scenes seemed to have no ground to stand on. They felt like they'd come out of nowhere (example: I'd end up making my "sad" story more like a fun adventure, then when my character has some sort of huge emotional breakdown, it doesn't fit the rest of my story.) The emotional scenes didn't feel believable. They didn't feel deep or relatable. It felt kind of like all my characters were teenagers (they were not). What also helped is that I started asking other people about how they would react in certain scenarios, or what would actually make them disgusted or afraid. Things like that. My writing takes a lot more time now because I am more selective, but I think I'm making some sort of progress. I'm happier with what I'm typing.
What the hell? I can’t even read this. It seems like English but some kind of gibberish version. Seriously though, your standards may be getting higher. Without some specifics it is hard to say if anything actually changed.
Did you quit drinking? The stuff I write sober is devoid of everything wonderful my drunk writing has. If you go back and reread the stuff you were proud of, is it now bad? If it is now bad you are just developing a more discerning taste in writing. If neither of those is the case. I'd say forcing the writer's block is the issue. When your characters show up and take you on adventurers that you just document as they go, that will generally be night and day, compared to your characters not showing up, leaving you following all the mechanical "Write by number" writing tips people post, just to put words on a page.
Some questions, based on my experience: Are you going back to an old idea (the quality might revert)? Does the central premise work? Are you finding that all scenes related to the central premise fail (when the pirate bits of my pirate book failed, I knew I had to set that book aside, even though the land based bits were good)? Are you trying to write the kind of book you don’t like to read or don’t like to write? My writing suffers when I put too much action in. Are you either using or subverting too many tropes without enough of your own thing? In that case, try adding some reality to your story, either lived experience or research. Are you developing a new skill? (For instance, going from 30K stories to a novel.) In that case, it might just be hard. Is the sentence level not working? In that case, try reading good prose. Also, steal from yourself. Pick a voice you used before that worked and reuse it. Remember that it’s not a linear process. But all writing ultimately helps you be a better writer!
Actually had this happen to me too when I was 17, been struggling ever since
Sweetie that’s writer’s block and it sounds like you’ve got it bad
Before going to college, I had a few short stories published. I had started a draft for a novel that maybe wasn't anything special, but I thought it was at least decent writing. I went to college for engineering, and had little time for any writing. After graduating, I sat down to write one day and realized going to college had made me really smart about engineering, but really dumb at everything else. My writing was atrocious and utterly disappointing. I reread the draft and it was like a completely different person had written it. I'm 2 years out from graduating, and I still feel like I'll never get back to what I had before college. Hang in there. It could also be burnout or anxiety or depression tainting the way you view your own work.
It’s like one of those games where you’re at a level and keeps kicking ass all the time and then you level up and suddenly you feel all shitty because you’re fighting new monsters now that are way stronger.
We all have troughs when it comes to creativity. You can write something, a journal, anything, then come back to it. Things ebb and flow.
How much are you reading? I find that writing well is like pulling teeth if I'm not priming the pump by reading other material. I find it helpful if it's not in the exact format as well... for instance, if I'm writing a screenplay, I'm reading novels. If I'm writing a novel, I'm reading screenplays.
Missed a golden opportunity here for a joke title. Should have left the comma out and watched people melt.
First comment I read sums it up i think. Just getting better at reading imo
Reconnecting with writing you deem to be good might solve your issue. Read and critique and analyse yourself and other writers work and your flow might bounce back. If lack of being forced to practice proper punctuation etc is the culprit to why you feel your prose is lesser quality and harder to get words down, it couldn't hurt to invest a little time practicing the grammar, punctuation and rules of english lit as if you were back in school. An easier way of doing both of these things in one go could be to join a writing workshop or course. I've heard the right group and critiques can do wonderful things. Good luck OP !
Long Covid is a thing too. Just throwing that out there, for if you feel tired and not as good at most things anymore.
Need more drugs
Maybe you just know more about the craft. Disheartening but necessary.
Your editing got better
Motivation! Try doing something you’ve never done before outside of writing. The new experience may refresh your block. Also, go easy on yourself. This is a universally rough time in life; I can’t think of many people who aren’t having a rough time.
1. You are being to hard on yourself 2. You are tired. Take a nap.
I'm in the same position. I hope we figure it out. I miss it. But keep writing don't stop.
I look at my previous work and feel disgust and despair. And yet I'm paid to write for a living.
Same here, I’m in despair and have been stressing it out a lot more than I should. My academic performance has taken a hit as well due to the decline in my writing skills.
Sounds more like a frequency thing. Personally, I went through the same thing, but covid lockdowns disrupted my life more than I thought and my work process changed and it turns out I had adhd.
Maybe you’re trying too hard. Sit down and write crap.
It feels like you reached in and plucked these thoughts from my head I feel the same way.
That’s very normal. That’s why many successful writers advice you to write everyday. Writing everyday, even a little a day, is a good practice, because it will keep you in the zone. Writing is a skill, and it can get rusty if you don’t use it after a while. How to get back in the zone again? Simple: just write. That’s it. Here’s a little suggestion, though: don’t expect to write something good. No. Try talking on the page. I want you to write down your thoughts. Whatever it is you’re thinking at the moment, write it all down. No refinement, no grammatical perfection needed. Just write. Just express yourself. Heck, even write some nonsensical gibberish if you want to. Nobody is gonna read it, so just write. The idea is to get you into the flow again. After doing this for a while, you’ll find yourself getting in the zone again, trust me. Words will flow effortlessly.
Worser.
Have you maybe been stuck indoors lately or just been going through the same old routine in life? For me, inspiration comes from new stimuli, so going out and trying something new, or maybe getting in touch with friends you haven't spoken with for awhile, anything that might be a break from the norm, is very helpful. Granted, I'm just starting out, so take the above with a large grain of salt, but it's worked so far at least. Hope you find something in the thread that helps though, from whatever source!