"I'm the next big novelist!" Am I?

[Mistress of distress]

So, as you may have guessed, I'm currently writing a novel. And-like most, I presume-I'm having a few problems: I think it's one of the worst things ever created in the history of the vast universe and deserves to be tossed into the sun to burn for all eternity. That might be the harsh, cruel editior inside me speaking, my own self loathing talking, or the actual truth. I'm not sure of any of these assumtions, so I was wondering: can you tell if your writing is good or bad? I'm writing what would be a YA novel. I myself am fourteen, but I'm not sure if my own perspective and preference would be the same as others my age. Am I in the right mind set? Any advice would be helpful.

[Maxinquaye]

I'm the worst writer ever. Until the third draft. Then I sparkle.

[Maxinquaye]

To answer you more seriously... I started writing short stories when I was 12. Then I fell into journalism at 16. So, you're by no means too young.

[Mistress of distress]

It's not nessacarily that I'm too young, but do I think like other teenagers? I'd like to think so, but a lot of times, from other expreiences, it's been known that I really don't.

[Mara]

Most writers feel like that, apparently. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[HelloKiddo]

I'm afraid there's no way to tell if your writing is good or bad. You can ask others to read it and offer their opinions, but that's really it. Beyond that it's just a gut feeling.

As for your mindset--you're 14. I recommend that at this age you just just write for fun, practice as much as you can, and entertain your friends. Publishing will likely be a few years in the future, if you eventually decide you want to go through with it. I don't think you need to stress about that just now. I'm not saying you can't be good, just that at this point in your life there's no need to stress yourself about being the "next big thing." :)

Best of luck.

[HelloKiddo]

It's not nessacarily that I'm too young, but do I think like other teenagers? I'd like to think so, but a lot of times, from other expreiences, it's been known that I really don't.

Totally not. Everybody your age feels "different." Just trust me on this. Don't worry about that. Write from the heart.

[Kate Thornton]

Totally not. Everybody your age feels "different." Just trust me on this. Don't worry about that. Write from the heart.
Quoted for truth.
And no matter how much older someone else may be, we *all* remember 14. Even if we are decades removed from it. It is a very special time of life. Revel in it - enjoy it - and write from the heart.

[Maxinquaye]

It's not nessacarily that I'm too young, but do I think like other teenagers? I'd like to think so, but a lot of times, from other expreiences, it's been known that I really don't.

You're 14. Everyone's totally different at 14. :)

But do you write well? I don't know. Can you learn to write better? Of course. Requirements for learning?

1. Be able to take criticism, live by the rule "Hear what you need to hear, not what you want to hear."
2. Write a LOT
3. Read a LOT
4. Be able to take criticism, and so on...

Point 1 and 4 is really important. Writing is a tough business, and it's easy to get discouraged.

[Mara]

It's not nessacarily that I'm too young, but do I think like other teenagers? I'd like to think so, but a lot of times, from other expreiences, it's been known that I really don't.

I think writers in general often think differently from other people. :p
(Kinda a joke, but kinda not.)

You come across as exceptionally articulate for your age, and you're posting here and not sticking out like a sore thumb. I guess that's a bit unusual. But it's probably a good thing.

If you do think differently from average, I doubt it's enough that you won't understand what the average YA reader wants. And heck, a lot of YA authors are two or three times your age and can still figure out how to write for the target audience. :)

EDIT: And Maxinquaye's advice is really good, I think. The main thing I've seen younger authors (and some older authors) have a problem with is getting too defensive when they get critiques they don't like.

[nitaworm]

I'm the worst writer ever. Until the third draft. Then I sparkle.

LOL! I love this comment. Me too!

[MGraybosch]

I myself am fourteen, but I'm not sure if my own perspective and preference would be the same as others my age. Am I in the right mind set? Any advice would be helpful.

The stuff I wrote when I was fourteen was crap. Most people write crap when they're just starting out. You will as well. Don't let it stop you. Writing is like any other skill; it requires practice -- years of practice.

I suggest you get cracking. :)

[MGraybosch]

It's not nessacarily that I'm too young, but do I think like other teenagers?

Do you want to? :evil

[Cliff Face]

You're already ahead of the game by trying to be objective about your work, and being on this site can't hurt. Also, reading your post didn't make me want to scratch my eyes out, so that's something.

Keep at it. If you have the time, check out the Uncle Jim threads in this here Novels section.

[Anahid21]

U m3an your different from 0ther t-nagers b-cuz U dn't right liek dis?

Trust me, that's a good thing. :tongue

[DrZoidberg]

Just do it. No, your novel probably won't be full of accurate and universal observations on the futilities of mankind. That takes some experience of life there is no way you could have had. So what? You can still fill it with cleverness and pretty language. You can still touch people in other ways. If you put out a half-decent story now, you increase your chances of writing a master piece down the road. The sooner you start, and the more your write the better. Zadie Smith wrote White Teeth when she was twenty one. It wasn't her first novel.

Being self critical is a good thing. The opposite is worse. Just don't be so critical it stops you from writing. Just do it.

[Red.Ink.Rain]

I'm the worst writer ever. Until the third draft. Then I sparkle.

Yes. This.

Writing a novel isn't about pounding out a great first draft. It's about pounding out a first, a second, a third, a fourth...until the book is exactly what you want it to be.

[8thSamurai]

:) EVERYONE'S writing sucks when we're 14 - it's new, we're learning, it's totally cool. Just keep plugging away, reading, studying, writing - you'll be fine.

(From us old farts who find stuff we wrote from then, and either laugh or cringe, or both.)

[Khimera9]

I'm 16 and I love the work that I do. I think my current novel is one of the greatest things I've ever written, but when I first started 9 months ago I couldn't write for **** and that showed in the critiques. I eventually hated my first works and got rid of them, but now I'm rewriting them all and making sure they're perfect.

So if you think that your novel's a piece of crap, then try putting it down for a moment, working on something else, and then come back to fix it up.

[Misa Buckley]

So is Twilight, but that didn't stop it from selling well.

*gigglesnorts*

Age is just a number - it's no measure to how well you write.

[The Lonely One]

*gigglesnorts*

Age is just a number - it's no measure to how well you write.

Yes. And I don't think there's a specific age you should start writing seriously.

[Fredster]

In my head, I'm Stephen King or Ernest Hemingway. On paper, I'm more like Charlie in Flowers for Algernon before his operation.

[ChaosTitan]

Everyone learns and matures differently, and in their own time. We have a few authors on the board who sold books in their teens. We have a few authors on the board who sold books in their fifties and sixties.

You're still young, so your life experiences will be vastly different from someone who is three times your age. But that doesn't mean you don't know the pain of loss or the ache of heartbreak. And you can use those emotions in your writing.

If I'd asked myself at fourteen if I thought I had talent, I'd have said no. Personally, I needed to get out there and live a little before my writing as able to shine. But that was my journey. :)

[gothicangel]

I remembering writing short stories when I was young, but never thought about being a professional writer, I wanted to be a doctor. During my early teens I went mad into science.

Around 15 I started writing poetry - and getting published. Then at 17/18 when I started by A-levels and I felt an urge to start writing fiction [still for fun, no intention of publication] Within a few months it was getting obvious my talents lay more in English Lit than Science [some horrific grades acted as a 'smoking gun.']

It was only when I was watching a tv programme that was interviewing a novelist that I started thinking may be I could write something good enough to be published.

That was ten years ago. I've yet to publish a debut novel, but I have published: poems, essays, and articles. Critters tell me I'm a good writer, so hopefully one day a novel of mine will make it.

[Sevvy]

A beginning writer writes like a beginner, regardless of what age they start at. Writing experience will make you a better writer. As for the experience comes with age thing...you've already had 14 years of experiences that are vastly different from my own, I'm sure you've got something to write about in there. And I don't really want to read about experiences similar to my own, most people read to escape the usual and experience something different.

In regards to your thread title, while we all secretly hope we might be the next big novelist (until we hear what happens to those who fame hits hardest like Sylvia Plath, Jack Kerouac, Hemingway etc.), but it's better, at least when writing the first couple of drafts, to write for the writing and not with the hope of getting published. Publishing is a business, it confines a writer to produce something that will sell. Your first draft should reach for the core of the idea, be fearless and unafraid to make mistakes, and try for things that might not end up published at all. That'll make you a better writer. Learn how to edit for publication later, learn how to write from the heart now.

[Maxinquaye]

In my head, I'm Stephen King or Ernest Hemingway. On paper, I'm more like Charlie in Flowers for Algernon before his operation.

In my head I pwn you all. In reality, not so.

You just need to smack down the unabashed ego a peg or two in face of reality, otherwise you'll (general you) be stuck at the mating period display phase.

[seun]

Almost everything I wrote between 13 and 20 was awful. Everything between 20 and 23 was slightly crap. 23 to 25, not too bad. Since then, it varies from OK to great. (If I do say so myself).

Keep writing, always. Don't worry about how good you are just yet. Just keep writing.

[Rhoda Nightingale]

Well, if you're not suffering from Golden Word syndrome--and the fact that you're doubting yourself and asking for honest advice about how to be better makes me think you're not--then you're on the right track already. Ditto what everyone else has said--keep writing, keep reading. If you really feel like you can't salvage your existing novel, just trunk it and move on.

[Use Her Name]

Being able to judge your own work actually does take some experience (which you are getting) also understanding when youve said enough, said too much, how to stop, start and all sorts of things. What I did to find out if I was good, and not just spinning my wheels was to compare finished work against already published writers of your current style. If your writing is as good as any other writer on the bookshelves when it is in finished form, then you are "good enough." Obviously if your specific story has gaps, or is lacking in specific things, then that is something that needs to be worked on. I personally would not use the statements of Betas or critiquers because many people will lie to stay "nice." Your friends/parents are lousey people to ask. You need to ask independent, and "harsh" critics. Teachers are excellent for this.

Writing is messy, and as some people have said the first draft will never sound good. Always judge your work on something you have finished.

[Cyia]

It's not nessacarily that I'm too young, but do I think like other teenagers? I'd like to think so, but a lot of times, from other expreiences, it's been known that I really don't.

Meh. I didn't think like a teenager until I was 23. Until then, I was far too mature. ;)

Age has nothing to do with quality.

[Albannach]

I pretty much always know--but there are also stray moments when I loathe everything I ever wrote.

[Libbie]

Well, you probably do suck on the first draft. Most of them suck, at least to some degree. Don't worry so much about it for now -- get the entire story out, and figure out how to make it rock later.

And yeah, I'd say most of us feel doubt about our abilities. The trick is to know when you rock, too, so you can feel confidence. I think learning to recognize what you do well comes with a little bit of risk-taking and a lot of critique. Get feedback on your writing from writers whose skills you admire, and listen to it. You'll begin to see their points, good and bad, on your own.

For fourteen, you're doing great. I can tell just by the maturity and clarity of your posts here. And bugger what other fourteen-year-olds think of your writing -- they're not the ones you need to impress. Yet. Write what feels right to you. Do it the best you can. Be true to your own vision and be passionate about it. It'll come; if not on the first or third draft, then on the fourth or seventh or twentieth.

[Libbie]

but it's better, at least when writing the first couple of drafts, to write for the writing and not with the hope of getting published. Publishing is a business, it confines a writer to produce something that will sell. Your first draft should reach for the core of the idea, be fearless and unafraid to make mistakes, and try for things that might not end up published at all. That'll make you a better writer. Learn how to edit for publication later, learn how to write from the heart now.

Quoted and bolded for megatruth.

[angeliz2k]

It's not nessacarily that I'm too young, but do I think like other teenagers? I'd like to think so, but a lot of times, from other expreiences, it's been known that I really don't.

YOU are 14, which means that you know how teenagers your age think. Because you are one. And you know what you think . . . ergo, you know how kids your age think. There are all types of people of every age.

I think being mature is one of the major prerequisites for writing well. And for 14, you seem pretty mature (going by your posts), so you're doing well there.

[BigWords]

I pretty much always know--but there are also stray moments when I loathe everything I ever wrote.

I loathe everything I've ever done, EVER... But only when I'm completely sober.

Write, write, write... Keep on writing until your fingers bleed. Practice, as some guy might have once said, makes perfect.

[PoppysInARow]

I AM THE NEXT BIG NOVELIST! :D

Try to have a bit of confidence in what you write. Write something you love. Create a world and characters that you would love to live in. If you write what you love and you keep working at it, that confidence will grow. Then before you know it you'll be up in front of a huge group of people annoucing your movie deal for your book. :D And people will love you.

People love confidence. If you don't like what you're writing, why would anyone else?

[MGraybosch]

I AM THE NEXT BIG NOVELIST! :D

You're doing it wrong. You've got to put on a pair of cool shades, raise a pen skyward, and say, "Of course I'm the next big novelist. Just who the hell do you think I am?! Mine is the pen that will pierce the heavens!!" :evil

[Mistress of distress]

To all those who have commented, thank you so very much for leaving your tips and pieces of advice. I've decided to continue writing my first draft until I am finished, and revise later like the hostile editor that I am. I'd have to say what is my main problem is sitting down and writing. For whatever reason, I'll get distracted and I'm one of the biggest procrastinators in the world. What I really need to do is get my butt in a chair and write like it's vital-because for some strange reason, it is.
I guess I would have to say I'm like most of the teenagers who come up with story ideas. Or maybe any average writer. At that sudden jolt of the idea, you think it's the best God damn thing since sliced bread. You tell your friends and they get excited with you, saying they'll be your little editors. More snippets of ideas pop in your head, and you see it all coming together as picture greater than any of Pablo Picasso's. And then it hits you-you've got to write it down. Your brain isn't just a typewriter that will write your story for you and print the first draft out of your mouth.
"But, hey!" you think, “That can't be so hard! I already know what's going to happen, anyway." That's the part where you forget you have to insert every little detail and piece of monologue possible. So you whip out a couple of pages or chapters and pass it on to your "editors." They love it-of course-and you feel pretty confident. Probably too confident. And there's no one there to tell you to get off your high horse. At one point or another, you get lazy and start forgetting about it. Months go by, and you wonder where's your best seller. So you drag yourself back to the computer like it's a wretched chore. You mope as you write, and what you end up writing is worthless. Then you get aggravated with yourself, because it should have been done by now, and it shouldn't have been this hard. Because writing is easy, right?
Wrong. Too bad you found that out now. What you just wrote was crap so you think the rest of it must be too. Now you're at the point where your story is an insult to all pieces of literature and if one were to read it, they would automatically puke. It's at this time where you're debating to pull the plug and chuck your computer out the window. Though I'm standing at the windowsill, ready to sling my work into the side of my neighbor's house to crash into a million tiny pieces, I'll take a five minute break to think. I'll set the laptop back on the desk, open it up, and pull up that first draft. I won't let something I love become something I hate. Now I'm off to Microsoft Word to complete my "masterpiece". Wish me luck.

[Maxinquaye]

You're doing it wrong. You've got to put on a pair of cool shades, raise a pen skyward, and say, "Of course I'm the next big novelist. Just who the hell do you think I am?! Mine is the pen that will pierce the heavens!!" :evil

YOU'RE doing it wrong.

You got to put a french beret on, get out a pack of galouises (which you don't smoke, ofc!) and a pair of horned glasses. Then you do not look at the person and sneer:

"Of COURSE I am. Those charlatans Kerouac, Kafka, Nabokov was bought by the system, and betrayed ART. Their intellectual debauchery will be exposed for what it is. Hacks! Compared to my work, they play in la ligue des enfants."

[bearilou]

YOU'RE doing it wrong.

You got to put a french beret on, get out a pack of galouises (which you don't smoke, ofc!) and a pair of horned glasses. Then you do not look at the person and sneer:

"Of COURSE I am. Those charlatans Kerouac, Kafka, Nabokov was bought by the system, and betrayed ART. Their intellectual debauchery will be exposed for what it is. Hacks! Compared to my work, they play in la ligue des enfants."

*snaps fingers*

[Aidan Watson-Morris]

I don't think age matters. I had my short story anthology published (Yes, not self pubbed) when I was 12.

But writing is for fun. In my opinion. All though, I'm not sure this is relevant. What was the question again?

[MGraybosch]

Now I'm off to Microsoft Word to complete my "masterpiece". Wish me luck.


Look, MoD, you're fourteen. You've got a lot of work ahead of you before you're ready to publish, even if you do prove to be a prodigy. Since you're just starting out, everything you write is likely to be crap. Don't let that stop you. Instead, keep writing.

I think I said it before, but the stuff I wrote when I was starting out at 16 was utter cliched shit. The only thing I can say in my defense was that I knew better than to show it to anybody. And it wasn't until recently that I finished a piece that I thought was good enough to be worth the effort of a second draft.

I've written ten versions of the same novel over the last fourteen years, and threw out the first nine.

[MGraybosch]

You got to put a french beret on, get out a pack of galouises (which you don't smoke, ofc!) and a pair of horned glasses. Then you do not look at the person and sneer:

I'd rather do the following. "Listen, mate. You see this pile of C4? I'm going to take this and blast the pedestal right the fuck out from under J double-R Tolkien. Not only am I the next big novelist, but I'm also the steel-toed boot in the ass the fantasy genre has needed ever since the publication of The Bitch-Queen of Shannara!"

[Renee Collins]

In my head, I'm Stephen King or Ernest Hemingway. On paper, I'm more like Charlie in Flowers for Algernon before his operation.
:roll:

[Mistress of distress]

Look, MoD, you're fourteen. You've got a lot of work ahead of you before you're ready to publish, even if you do prove to be a prodigy. Since you're just starting out, everything you write is likely to be crap. Don't let that stop you. Instead, keep writing.

That's why masterpiece is in quatation marks. I'm being sarcastic. I don't think it's worth anything, and it's probably not. I'm not conserned about being published. In fact, that's really the last thing I want to be doing. My tittle is also sarcastic, but that's pretty hard to tell through a computer.

[Mistress of distress]

I don't think age matters. I had my short story anthology published (Yes, not self pubbed) when I was 12.

But writing is for fun. In my opinion. All though, I'm not sure this is relevant. What was the question again?

haha. I believe the question was, how do you tell if you're any good?

[Rushie]

Here's my arc as a writer:

1. I think I am a genius. I can write genius essays for teachers, therefore all I have to do to become a famous novelist is to string a couple thousand of my genius paragraphs together into one document and send it off. Easy.

2. I actually write some fiction. It is horrible. I don't know why. I conclude that I was born with something missing. Novelists have some kind of congenital mental appendage, like a third arm, that I lack. I give up, sadly.

3. I rally. But I really want to write a novel. I try again. And again, and again. I go through the procrastination you talk about. Endless self editing, self criticism, self doubt. Writing stuff and throwing it away in despair. How can this be? I'm a genius, I know, so why can't I write something as simple as a story? Again I conclude that I don't have the "magic bone" that makes someone able to write a good story.

4. Marriage, job, kids, blah blah blah, who can write with all that going on. Once in a while I attempt the old novel, always coming up against the same old problems. What I write sucks raw eggs and I cannot understand why and cannot fix it.

5. I decide to seek writing advice. I shouldn't have to because, after all, I am a genius. But maybe somebody can shed light on why this isn't coming together. I learn all kinds of stuff about grammar, theme, and why all the historically acclaimed literature is so fantastic. "It states truths about life." "It is riveting description." "It tells a good story." K...... I write truth about life, I write lots of good description, I have a great story idea. But my novel is crap. Lacking any other credible explanation, I'm forced back to the missing appendage theory. I must not have the magic bone that Shakespeare and the rest all have. Who do I think I am anyway? I've been mistaken all these years. I'm not even the genius I think I am, if I can't take these bricks (theme, description, story idea) and put them together into a coherent work, I must not only not be a genius, I must be the biggest moron on the planet. What a loser.

6. Give up again. I am, I finally realize, just a regular, dull, ordinary, average person with two kids, two dogs, and a life slipping away into obscurity. I'll never do the great things I thought I'd do when I was your age. I'm middle aged now and planning retirement. Oh well, we're born, we die. Who cares if we ever get a novel published in between? Ten thousand years from now it won't matter to anyone. Why bother?

7. Got a medical scare. Whoops. OMG I really am mortal. This life really will end and, like a roll of toilet paper, it's spinning faster and faster and faster. I better get on the stick. Am I going to get my novel done and leave something of myself behind, or not? Yes a novel will be dust and gone in a hundred years and I'll be forgotten but I can tell myself that I attained a bit of "immortality" at least for a short while.

8. Tackle it, finally, by GOD I WILL find the secret of this novel writing business. I learn about the lives of current living published authors and I realize that, as human beings, they are as foolish and messed up as I am. I'm going to tell myself they cannot possibly have some magic bone I'm missing, even if I don't believe it, by god I am going to pretend as hard as I can that I am as capable as these turkeys out there who manage to get themselves into print, and find out how the hell they do it.

9. The work begins. Research, read, read, read, read. Read novels. Pick them apart. Analyze them. Read "how to write books". Come to this forum. Read everything on the internet about how to write. Write. Face the same old procrastination problems, the same old self editing perfectionism and obstacles, but THIS time, fight through them. Do not let them defeat me. Get help. Ask people how they got past them. Buy a Neo, get a "I'm a Writer" mug, do a thousand things to push, push, push through this. Death itself is my deadline.

10. It was hell. It will probably continue to be hell. But, something magic has happened, it has suddenly become fun, because all of a sudden, something clicked. It all came together. It is like the moment you can balance on the bicycle. All the hours of failure and falling make your brain finally form that final synapse that enables you to do it. It all makes sense to me now, I finally see how it's done. There is no magic bone. It is a learned skill. You simply have to put the work into it to gain it. That is all. I'm still not a successful novelist. I'm a six year old kid on a two wheeler, not Lance Armstrong. But I finally know how to do it.

I am 53. If you are only 14, you can go directly to step 9 and save yourself a ton of time.

[Maxinquaye]

10. It was hell. It will probably continue to be hell. But, something magic has happened, it has suddenly become fun, because all of a sudden, something clicked. It all came together. It is like the moment you can balance on the bicycle. All the hours of failure and falling make your brain finally form that final synapse that enables you to do it. It all makes sense to me now, I finally see how it's done. There is no magic bone. It is a learned skill. You simply have to put the work into it to gain it. That is all. I'm still not a successful novelist. I'm a six year old kid on a two wheeler, not Lance Armstrong. But I finally know how to do it.

Omg this!

Something clicked. I've been writing since I was 12, but all other shit got in the way, so I ended up being a mere journalist. The novels lay in the boot. Until a year ago. Now something has clicked. :)


I am 53. If you are only 14, you can go directly to step 9 and save yourself a ton of time.

I'm 40. I've already gone through 1-9.

[Libbie]

yeah, pretty normal to hit a wall halfway through and go, "ARRRGH!!!"

The secret to getting through it is having a writing routine. Write anyway, even when you think it sucks. Soon enough you'll see it doesn't.

You might also want to find some other beta readers. Your friends' support always feels good, but as you noted, of COURSE they'll think it's genius. You need to know what doesn't work so you can fix it. That's how we improve!

[Nateskate]

At age fourteen you have a very good way of saying what you just said. So, my guess is that you have what it takes to write if you keep writing.

Over time, your writing will most likely continue to improve, but the more you write, the better you will write.

When it comes to objectivity, you will need to test your stories on trusted friends. Don't choose people who would be critical, because at fourteen, lots of kids just like to bust each other's chops. How about an older cousin? An aunt?

It depends on the story content, obviously. But it helps to get objective feedback from somewhere, like perhaps a teacher.

Others liked my writing long before I did.

All the same, at fourteen, you have so much time to perfect your skills. If you love to write, and continue, you will be way ahead of most of us by the time you reach our ages.

Remember, have fun and don't take any criticism too seriously. At your age, I think a negative criticism would have left me devestated. Now I would laugh at those things. Truly objective people would tell you how to make something better. Fools would say this or that stinks and to give it up. Make sure you can tell the difference.

So, as you may have guessed, I'm currently writing a novel. And-like most, I presume-I'm having a few problems: I think it's one of the worst things ever created in the history of the vast universe and deserves to be tossed into the sun to burn for all eternity. That might be the harsh, cruel editior inside me speaking, my own self loathing talking, or the actual truth. I'm not sure of any of these assumtions, so I was wondering: can you tell if your writing is good or bad? I'm writing what would be a YA novel. I myself am fourteen, but I'm not sure if my own perspective and preference would be the same as others my age. Am I in the right mind set? Any advice would be helpful.

[Stunted]

When I was 13, I started a novel which I eventually tried to publish. Needless to say, it didn't sell, but if I could do it again, I wouldn't do anything differently.

[PoppysInARow]

You're doing it wrong. You've got to put on a pair of cool shades, raise a pen skyward, and say, "Of course I'm the next big novelist. Just who the hell do you think I am?! Mine is the pen that will pierce the heavens!!" :evil
Hm, okay, I suppose. But when I get on Oprah, is it okay if I jump up and down on her couch and tell the world how awesome I am?

[MGraybosch]

Hm, okay, I suppose. But when I get on Oprah, is it okay if I jump up and down on her couch and tell the world how awesome I am?

Sure, but be quick about it. She's quitting.

[Rhoda Nightingale]

haha. I believe the question was, how do you tell if you're any good?
One of my favorite writers, Robin McKinley, said on her webpage somewhere that if you're ever completely, fully satisfied with your own writing, you're doing it wrong. I agree, to an extent--if you think everything you write is perfect, it's not. And if you have doubts and think it could be better, chances are that's true, but you have enough of a perspective on it that you're doing it for the right reasons, and can recognize good or bad writing when you see it.

If you really want an honest opinion on your work, you need to show it to someone who will give you one--as in, not your "little editor" friends or family, because they'll just shower you with warm fuzzies. As they should, but that kind of thing is useless if you're trying to improve your craft.

Have you checked out the Share Your Work part of this forum yet?

[Hittman]

I think it's one of the worst things ever created in the history of the vast universe and deserves to be tossed into the sun to burn for all eternity.

You're probably right. Now. But all first drafts suck.

I'm the worst writer ever. Until the third draft. Then I sparkle.

Goddamn daylight vampires are everywhere.

[blacbird]

If you really want an honest opinion on your work, you need to show it to someone who will give you one--as in, not your "little editor" friends or family, because they'll just shower you with warm fuzzies.

The only confirmably honest opinion on your work comes in the form of a publishing contract from a reputable and respectable publisher.

caw

[PoppysInARow]

Sure, but be quick about it. She's quitting.

Oh right. :( Well, I guess a million middle-aged housewives will stop reading with her out of the picture.

[Phaeal]

14 or 40 or 400, the process is the same.

-- Accept the universal truth that "First drafts are crap." Power through yours without stopping to angst and edit. (The truth is that "crap" is relative, with some first drafts being pretty good and some pretty awful, but THAT DOESN'T MATTER. Allow yourself to be as bad as necessary and go blithely on.)

-- Set up a writing schedule and stick to it.

-- Read. Read. Read.

-- Seek knowledgeable betas who are not so close to you or so tender-hearted that they can't tell the truth. Some people can be the love of your life and still be objective (I have one of these); some people can know you on the Internet for five seconds and still dread hurting your feelings. You'll have to learn to make the call. At the same time, you must learn to pick out the dream-destroyers and the pedants and the eternal naysayers. Some are obvious. Some are insidious and very dangerous. This is why that self-confidence you will slowly develop is so important.

-- Buy and read two books: Self Editing for Fiction Writers (Renni Brown & Dave King) and The Fiction Editor, the Novel and the Novelist (Thomas McCormack). If you can find this out of print masterpiece, add The Writing of Novels (Reader's Report in England, I believe.) (Christopher Derrick). Then, armed with some ideas about the process, edit. Edit. Edit.

-- Buy and read Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott) for emotional and even spiritual support.

You're a very solid prose writer -- I can tell by your posts. Spelling a little iffy, but you know that and will improve. Can you write fiction? Sure. Give it as much time as it takes. You have a whole lot of that in front of you.

[MumblingSage]

I think it's one of the worst things ever created in the history of the vast universe and deserves to be tossed into the sun to burn for all eternity.


That's a complete lie. MY WIP is the worst thing ever created in the history of the vast universe...

Just dropped by to say that. Oh, and I'm currently shopping around a novella I wrote when I was 14 going on 15. But it's had 4 years of intensive rewriting since then, and even so my hopes for it aren't vast. I just thought I had some awesome ideas for character and conflict in that rough draft, and I was able to polish up the worst parts with added experiance.

[Neversage]

It's not nessacarily that I'm too young, but do I think like other teenagers? I'd like to think so, but a lot of times, from other expreiences, it's been known that I really don't.

You might consider capitalizing on that very fact. What about your perspective, or experiences makes you or your perspective unique? How would seeing some aspect of the world through your eyes change or benefit me?

What is that small chunk of the universe that you know more deeply than the rest of us? Whether you actually know it better or not, it will be insightful at the least to explore it.

[OpheliaRevived]

I think some of my best ideas came from that time. I was so inspired and full of that creative "something" that we need to stay afloat. Enjoy it. Keep writing. Don't give up.

[Strange Days]

No, I'm not. I suck!

[Richard White]

Mistress of Distress,

Along with the other good advice you've been given, there are a couple of things I'd like to add. (May not be "good" advice, but people here will vouch that's never stopped me before *grin*)

1) Turn off the inner editor. You have permission to write crap for your first draft. We all do, because whether you're a pantser or a plotter, we never quite know where the story's going until we reach the end. It's only in the second/third/whatever draft that you really know if you've got a great story or something you need to trunk and come back to later . . . much later.

2) Do not worry about "am I good enough". If you do, you'll never start. There are many things I've attempted that I'm pretty darn good at and many more things I've found out that I'm really not good at. However, the only way to find out is to try it. If you let your doubts stop you from reaching "The End", then you'll never know if you're good enough or not.

Take your best shot. The biggest fear I have had in my life is not "I failed." My biggest fear is looking back at my life in another thirty or so years and going "If only . . . "

3) You're never as good as your best review and never as bad as your worst. Don't be afraid to work with people to improve your stuff and don't be afraid of criticism. If you want to be a writer, develop rhino-hide as soon as possible, because some people will love your work, some will hate it and some will be indifferent. Write because you love writing (although getting a check that doesn't bounce is a cool thing too).

Best of luck with your journey. I wish I had started mine at your age.

[Mistress of distress]

You guys have really helped me a lot. I've regained some confidence and have already written more than I have in weeks. Anyway, I have posted one thing in the share your work forum: a real life journal entry in the nonfiction section. I posted the journal entry because I didn't feel comfortable putting out my WIP and just wanted a few opinions about my writing. If you have the time, I'd really appreciate an honest critique. Thanks.

[gothicangel]

I would also add, don't neglect the real world either.

Don't spend your teens glued to a computer screen, if you want to be a writer you need to live a bit too.

[Cliff Face]

Don't be afraid to make enemies either. Perhaps not in the literary world, but just general enemies - they'll be fodder for 1000 villains. You just have to know how to disguise them so that your enemies don't know you're writing about them, even marginally. They'd love to know that - all enemies have big heads and stupid smug grins, don't ya know!