Imposter Syndrome
I won't say that we all suffer from this, but I will say that at one time or another some of us have had occasion to shake hands with it. Whether it be when we are sitting in front of our work, or meeting our peers, or giving a talk on how we got to where we got to, it can strike us, and strike us hard, making it difficult for us to believe in ourselves and what we are doing.
One of the reasons why Imposter Syndrome can happen, is because we compare ourselves, or are compared to other writers, usually those who are on the best seller list, or had been on it. We tend to think that we can't possibly be that good.
Negative feedback from family or friends regarding your skills can also induce years of self doubt and Imposter Syndrome (from personal experience).
Another is thinking that there is no way that your little story can possibly compare with those already out there that maybe are similar to what you have written (personal, only lasted a couple of weeks, until I figured out that my story and theirs ended at that, the rest was completely different).
Or like me, you've had no reviews on the novel you have written and self published, leading you to think that your writing sucks (it's daunting, but I figure I just haven't found my followers yet 'crosses fingers').
Then there's the whole achieving your dream of being a well published author only to sit back and think, how the heck did I get here?
Or, the whole idea that someone has made a grave error and they're going to realise that you don't deserve to be where you are and take it from you (not just in writing, but in life, when I was in uni I got an A, and was going to go question it, and my friends had to calm me down, I'd never got an A before).
All these thoughts can lead us to working so hard that we put our mental health, and physical health at risk as we try to be 'perfect' or what we think is perfect. We then end up staring at a blank page, or screen as our brain refuses to do what we want it to do because it's got its self all tied up in knots (writers block which I'll tackle later).
Lately online I've seen a lot of writers with the feeling that they can't possibly write in their genre as everything has already been written, but the truth of the matter is, maybe it has, but they are going to put their own unique spin on it aren't they. How many times have you read something and wound up thinking, "Oh, I wouldn't have done that, I'd have done....which would have led to....and ended with...." this is you thinking differently than the author, you letting your creativity tell you that the imposter syndrome that told you that there was no way you could write as well if not better than another, or a story in that genre because it's all been done, LIED to you.
In a nutshell that's what it does, it lies, all the time, and we writers and authors need to battle it sometimes on a daily basis, sometimes monthly, sometimes at an event, or before we press the publish button. Sometimes it's as easy as telling it to STFU, sometimes it takes more like meeting with other writers / authors and realising that we aren't alone, sometimes we need to close our eyes and remember that we're bad assess and we can DO THIS!!!
It's not easy, it's damn difficult, but we got this...trust me, we got this. Check out the links below, there might be some helpful info in there.
IDEAS:
I've capitalised this one because I've seen people ask it so many times on the groups, pages and blogs that I'm part of. For me, because I use that creative part of my brain so much, I end up with loads of ideas (this morning I just thought about a new novella idea, one that involves the Tuatha Dé from my second novel Enhanced (under new edits) on an adventure all by themselves, a side quest if you will).
Ideas come from all sorts of places, in 2022 my A to Z was all about inspiration, and 2019 was all about Ideas and the free use to anyone who wanted them, just with a mention of me someplace (see the links to pages above).
Ideas come from as I mentioned, books, television, people watching, music, cinema, online, blogs, websites...everywhere. I believe that the more you use your imagination, and flesh out your ideas inside your mind, the more ideas will formulate. Even the news, though bleak, and horrifying at times, can give you ideas of what to write, or add to your writing. You just need to give them a chance to bloom, don't cut them off at the knees.
Personally I have three A5 folders, with A to Z separators in them full of ideas. They run like this...
Name of Idea
Written short storyline
Possible characters
If I get stuck for an idea, I'll go to those folders, and flip through them. Now I may never use them, but that's okay, the thing is, I gave myself permission to daydream, to think about the idea, then write it down and filed it away for another day.
We are writers, that's what we do.
Imposter Syndrome
Self Publishing (not the school one)
Ideas
I'm very familiar with Imposter Syndrome. It walks with me every day. It goes to bed with me every night. I even noticed it tagging along as I read very well written articles through the A-Z hop. I've learned to ignore it, but there are times that's difficult. When that happens, I just start writing whatever I feel like writing, because once I get my mind focused on something else, I forget all about the imposter trying to invade my creativity. :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
I reckon you could say 'everyone' has experienced it to some degree. I'm familiar with the struggle as you've described it and I want to thank you for the encouragement.
ReplyDeletehttps://dacairns.com.au/blog/f/a-to-z-blogging-challenge-i