What If You are Actually Not a Good Writer?

Few, if any, pop out of the womb amazing writers. For the rest of us, it's practicing until we get better. And still, even after all that practice, first drafts come out clunky and missing plot segments, dialogue-heavy and flat characters. It's editing and polishing even when there are no guarantees of success that make writing such a beautiful art form. I think writers write because they can't imagine a living otherwise.

Two quotes writers feeling like this should read:

Two hours after that I was sitting at my typewriter out on a porch in the sun, with tears running off the tip of my nose, and the hair on my neck standing up.
Why the arousal of hair and the dripping nose?
I realized I had at last written a really fine story. The first, in ten years of writing.

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- From "Run Fast, Stand Still" found in Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

By the time I was fourteen (and shaving twice a week whether I needed to or not) the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing.

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- From On Writing by Stephen King

Learning to write well takes time and effort. You could write a truly bad story today, and yet a year or ten down the road write something fantastic. And rejection doesn't predict future success, but your response to it does.

Dang it, where did I put that quote... I can't find it anywhere.

How do you know if you are a good bowler? Can you just assume that you are, and then you're done? How about playing baseball? Can you just decide that you're good and then call up the New York Yankees? I would humbly suggest that even moreso with something like writing, you simply cannot know if you are "good" without actually doing it.

And even then, if one person thinks you're not "good enough" to pay you for your work, that only means that one person doesn't want what you've written -- it doesn't mean that there's not 100 others who do. Unfortunately, you won't know that until you actually write and write something for someone who wants it.

Also, as kydelaney mentions, writing is an art form -- no one today may tell you that you're "good" at it (or pay you), but there are plenty of stories of those who were discovered to be "good" long after they were gone from this world.

So I guess my final answer to your initial question is, "Who do you want to tell you that you're a good writer, and why?"

The more you write, the better you get, and as to defining good, well that is rather subjective as to who is doing the defining...

Also?

Every writer has days when we think we're no good at it. Including famous ones, Pulitzer prize winners, etc.

It's part of being creative.

I wasn't a good driver the first time I drove a car (I may still not be an awesome driver but I've sure improved a lot). I wasn't skilled in making wrapped wire loops when I first started but now I can make them pretty even and much quicker.

I may not be a good writer today but the more I write the better I become (and I'm even learning a little grammar along the way).

Write ten novels or a hundred short stories. Submit each to as many potential markets as you can find. If there are no takers, you're probably in the wrong profession.

Get some good, honest critique partners who'll tell you if it stinks. And be aware many writers struggle to believe in themselves. I'm only starting to now and I have an agent and a publishing offer. It takes time, and it's completely normal.

What if you're not good at playing the piano?

Practice playing the piano for ten thousand hours. Then you will be really good at playing the piano.

I agree with this. The people who "aren't meant to be writers" are the ones that don't try to improve their writing.

With all things, you need some feedback from people who don't know you.

Have you tried writing some short stories and entering into competitions? If you can win or place, then you are doing something right.

culmo80 said:

How, as an amateur writer, do you know if your writing has merit or if you just aren't talented? Agents and publishers won't say "you shouldn't be a writer," they simply send you a generic rejection form, if anything at all. So how do you know if your writing is worth pursuing or if you should do something else with your free time?

I'm not throwing a pity party here, I just wonder if some of us might consider the very real possibility that we are not meant to be writers.

Maybe every writer has thoughts like this, but certainly there are people who try and try and try and probably should have seen the writing on the wall and given it up. After all, plenty of eager players show up at spring training only to never make the team, you know?

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As I said in my Writers Group last Tuesday (and joining such groups are a great way to get both feedback and hang out with others who understand how incredibly hard writing can be for writers) you have to find validation in the work itself, not from the reception to the work.

Doubting your worth as a writer is as natural as drawing a breath and if you don't occasionally think your writing sucks then you're probably kidding yourself. Nobody's that good.

It's okay to be your harshest critic so long as you balance it out by also being your biggest cheerleader.

Then once you've had quite enough of kicking your own ass, go out and write something. It doesn't matter if it stinks. Keep at it until it smells like a rose.

If you're really a writer, how can you do any less?

[FONT=Times New Roman,Times][SIZE=+1]Writing is the hardest work in the world. I have been a bricklayer and a truck driver, and I tell you – as if you haven't been told a million times already – that writing is harder. Lonelier. And nobler and more enriching.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times][SIZE=+1]Harlan Ellison[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman,Times][SIZE=+1]No one is asking, let alone demanding, that you write. The world is not waiting with bated breath for your article or book. Whether or not you get a single word on paper, the sun will rise, the earth will spin, the universe will expand. Writing is forever and always a choice - your choice.
Beth Mende Conny
[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times][SIZE=+1][FONT=Times New Roman,Times][SIZE=+1]Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes you're doing good work when it feels like all you're managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times][SIZE=+1]
Stephen King
[/SIZE][/FONT]
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times][SIZE=+1]A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times][SIZE=+1]Thomas Mann
[/SIZE][/FONT]

Get critique partners or beta readers who read widely in the same genre you are writing in. Ask them for honest but constructive critique. I've found SYW very helpful in that respect.

Do not use self-publishing as a source of feedback (I know too many writers who've done this). Get the feedback and do the revisions before you decide on a publishing route.

I make a living writing nonfiction, and every day I still wonder if I'm not actually a good writer. Such is life. I don't think writing is like, say, musical performance or math, which can be more easily assessed: either you hit the notes or solve the equation, or you don't. Personally, I often look at a piece of writing and think, "This person is/ is not a natural writer." I'm sure we've all done that. But it's a subjective assessment. The writer might well surprise us one day by developing into a strong stylist through revision. The person with sloppy, choppy prose might become a great yarn spinner with a huge following.

I wouldn't give up on any writer except the writer who doesn't read. I'm sure there are exceptions floating around out there, writers who were utterly sui generis, but I personally believe strongly that you need to read others, and read widely, to develop any writing talent you may have. And the more you read, the more you feel like part of a community rather than someone who is writing into a void. I would recommend reading all kinds of books: good ones, bad ones, other people's unpublished manuscripts. Learn to critique other people, and then critique yourself and improve.

It doesn't matter whether you are a good writer or not. What matters is that you enjoy writing -- that you get something out of your time doing it. That's what makes you a writer, that you put words on paper.

Being a writer is different than being an author. Authors aren't more important or anything, but they get paid. If you write and submit and keep at it,t he world will tell you whether you can be an author or not. But being a writer is completely up to you.

There is value in writing, beyond the validation of praise from others. If you enjoy writing, then write. Even if no one ever reads or enjoys your work, you will have the joy of having spent time doing what you love. If you are only writing because you think you can make money from it, then you probably should find a new career plan.

The idea that the value of art is defined by the reader/listener/viewer/etc bothers me. On American Idol, when someone botches their audition, the judges tell them to never sing again. But why should you only be allowed to sing if you can make money off of it? The same goes for writing, or any art form.

Don't sweat it OP.

It's only the first 20 years which are disheartening.

After that, it's all uphill.



ps, Night-timer, I'm stealing this emoticon.

Torgo said:

What if you're not good at playing the piano?

Practice playing the piano for ten thousand hours. Then you will be really good at playing the piano.

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But you still won't be as good as someone else who has more natural talent. The "ten thousand hour" rule is simply wishful thinking. Even after a hundred thousand hours, some people are going to be one heck of a lot better than others.

Some, in fact, are going to be better after a thousand hours than others will be if they play every day of their lives.

We are not all equal in every way. We do not all have the same level of talent, the same level of intelligence, or anything else.

There's a time in any profession or endeavor when it's time to quit, and that time is almost always well before ten thousand hours. Practice does not make all of us better, and no amount of practice gives anyone talent.

I had an editor say to me recently, "You're such a natural talent. This must be your first book."

I stuttered out some sort of nonsensical answer because she was an editor, and I'm just a writer, and I didn't want to burst her bubble, but ha! That was most certainly not my first book. It was my fifteenth. I worked thousands upon thousands of hours to hone my craft, and it showed.

I still don't know if I'm a "good writer." Most days I think I suck. I'm definitely not someone who spews genius right out of the gate. It takes practice, and you have to not only write but read, learn from others, take criticism. I learned quite a bit from a number of people on this board, especially over at SYW. I recommend it.

Reminds me of the story of some European Jews meeting after the end of World War II. They sat around over coffee saying things like "how could God have allowed it to happen? He is either not all loving or not all powerful. Clearly he can't be both"... etc. etc. Doubt and worse was piled on. Then, however, when it was time to go to worship, they went to Synagogue and worshipped. I'm the same way with my writing... I get rejected and rejected and rejected. I wonder if I'm a horrible writer. I wonder if it is a complete and utter waste of time. Yet, I feel compelled to continue to write, even though there are some pretty good reasons to stop. (Besides, what would I take up instead? Most other things that are as interesting are either illegal, immoral, or both.)

I'm quite good at several sports these days. However, as a teen I couldn't even hit a volleyball, let alone hit it over the net. It's about practice and tuning your reflexes. We aren't all born prodigies. Most of us have to work at it.

Like most of us are, you're probably being too hard on yourself. Keep writing; seek critiques; read, read, read; do everything you can to rise to the level you see yourself rising to, and don't ever, ever stop actively working towards that goal.

If you're feeling self doubt, combined with a constant desire to improve your writing, you're probably an OK writer. The people that are "bad" writers are generally the ones that think they're genius right out the gate.

Jamesaritchie said:

But you still won't be as good as someone else who has more natural talent. The "ten thousand hour" rule is simply wishful thinking. Even after a hundred thousand hours, some people are going to be one heck of a lot better than others.

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Sure, you probably won't be as good as someone who has more 'natural talent', whatever that is. But you will be, at least, able to do it a heck of a lot better than before you put the hours in.

At some point, after much reading and writing, and reading and editing, and reading and writing and editing and reading some more, you should develop enough objectivity about your own work to say whether it's good or not.

Not because it's YOURS. That's amateurville.

Because you've learned what good writing looks like and how to apply that knowledge to your own stuff.

I think getting smacked around by a couple-three hundred rejections helps, too, so long as you neither take them as proof that you suck nor as proof that you're persecuted. Take them as proof you're in the game, and keep playing. Harder.

If you want to keep playing more than you want to do anything else, do it. Always harder.

Then you'll succeed whether you make the majors or not. Or the minors. Or Little League.

Success is doing what you want to do most.

As hard as you can do it.

The rest is beyond your control.