An unreachable idea
I wrote the original draft of my first proper novel when I was
15. Then I rewrote, and rewrote and basically gave it so many
changes it wasn't the same story.
This has happened more and more over the four years since then and it made me wonder:
If we have an idea, is it ever as good as it is in our mind?
It seems to me that my idea, both original and it's improvements are unnattainable. I can't ever get it up to that standard, but I can't accept anything I write because it all seems rubbish.
Any thoughts?
This has happened more and more over the four years since then and it made me wonder:
If we have an idea, is it ever as good as it is in our mind?
It seems to me that my idea, both original and it's improvements are unnattainable. I can't ever get it up to that standard, but I can't accept anything I write because it all seems rubbish.
Any thoughts?
7 Comments
If you feel you haven't hit the mark, and your work disappoints you, then you are in very good company.
It's often said that we have some sort of private access to our thoughts; we are best-placed to know ourselves. Some, myself included, think that's quite wrong. Others are far better placed much of the time. I think of writing as expression, almost like a special instance of talking which sometimes other people are in a position to overhear when they come to read the work. Just as we are not often the best judges of ourselves, neither are we the best judges of our written work.
That's the whole point of places like this, and the purpose of presenting work to be edited.
So switch things around. Stop focussing on how you feel about the possibility of expressing the ideas you have - go and ask the people you're talking to.
Write something and post it here.
I think most people must go through this. Those horrible doubting days.
If it's any consolation, the idea for my first manuscript (the one I am writing) began as something completely different too. It grew into a different story, for a different age range, only really keeping a few elements.
It sounds to me that you need more involvement from other people, otherwise you could go on re-writing the same things forever. Get feedback!
Good luck :)
I write manuscripts now. They okay. Maybe in the future I will think they are terrible, but that just means I'm learning.
Sometimes it's not as bad as you think... and other times its just time to let the story go, accept that you have learned from it, and move on to the next one.
As Athelstone says above, all writers are uncomfortably aware of their shortcomings. But all writers (as opposed to people who fiddle about for a bit and then give up for good) have to rise above that and keep writing. I think it's a big test for every writer - it can be such hard work (although it can also be exciting, inspiring and life-enhancing) that each of needs to know whether we're really in it for the long haul or if we're cut out for something else instead. And there is no shame in that. It's about finding your niche, the place in the world (or in your creative imagination) where you fit. And if you truly believe that your niche is in writing, then maybe you should put the story to one side for a while and write something else - or do something completely different that doesn't include writing - and then come back to it when you feel fresher. There's nothing worse than looking at a manuscript and knowing it isn't good enough but not knowing how to fix it. I'd suggest you put it in a drawer and leave it to simmer for a bit, then take it out and reread it. You might immediately see what's wrong with it. Perhaps it needs a change of tone or to be written from a different PoV. But it sounds as though you're too close to it to see that at the moment.
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