How did you get over your writing insecurities?

[StoryWriter]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

...bill goldman once told me the only people who love to write and are happy writing are **** writers...

4 star writers?

[Richmond Weems]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

bill goldman once told me the only people who love to write and are happy writing are **** writers, and my experience tends to affirm this.

I think I'm going to disagree with this. I mean, I don't know about your experience, but I wonder if we're working on the same definition of people who "love to write"?

I know plenty of "happy" writers, who love to write, and who work hard at their job. This is not to say that writing is easy, 'cause it's not, but the insecurities one feels while writing is basically the fear that it's no good.

As one continues to write, and one continues to be able to take criticism in the vein intended, the insecurities tend to fade. Do they disappear completely? I don't think so.

But fear does not have to be paralyzing. It can be helpful, by making sure you're aware of what's actually going on and what you're trying to accomplish in your script/novel/whatever, and trying to do your best.

And sometimes our best isn't good enough. That's not really an insecurity, though. That's a reality.

By the way, I'm a huuuuuuuge William Goldman fan, and, frankly, his "humility" gets annoying. He may not be as good as he wants to be (who is?), but the facts indicate he is a good writer, no matter what he says.

[merrymary]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

Recent text with my 20yo daughter:

Your right
It's you're right not your right
No Mom its u r right not ur
It's it's
Your right
No it's you're right
Your right to use your wrong
I hate you.
I love you 2 Mom

In ten years your will replace you're so you're just ahead of the game. Do what you love when you're young. Never say the words "if only."

[bmcthomas]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

I think I'm going to disagree with this. I mean, I don't know about your experience, but I wonder if we're working on the same definition of people who "love to write"?

I know plenty of "happy" writers, who love to write, and who work hard at their job. This is not to say that writing is easy, 'cause it's not, but the insecurities one feels while writing is basically the fear that it's no good.

As one continues to write, and one continues to be able to take criticism in the vein intended, the insecurities tend to fade. Do they disappear completely? I don't think so.

But fear does not have to be paralyzing. It can be helpful, by making sure you're aware of what's actually going on and what you're trying to accomplish in your script/novel/whatever, and trying to do your best.

And sometimes our best isn't good enough. That's not really an insecurity, though. That's a reality.

By the way, I'm a huuuuuuuge William Goldman fan, and, frankly, his "humility" gets annoying. He may not be as good as he wants to be (who is?), but the facts indicate he is a good writer, no matter what he says.

Yeah I get a little tired of the self-loathing writer tropes.

It's so hard! Really? Like bricklaying is hard? Like coal mining is hard?

Yes, writing well is a challenge but it's also a lot of sitting around on our fat arses all day pontificating on how exhausting it is to grind out the pages.

And my personal experience has been that the writers who are constantly down on themselves, "Oh I'm terrible. I'm awful. They should cut off my fingers so I can never write again!" are protesting too much, fishing for compliments and will be majorly wounded if you don't jump in to reassure them that they are really the most bestest ever.

As for insecurity, perhaps this is the lone benefit of being older? I have humiliated myself in so many ways at this point that showing someone my writing and having them not like it is waaaaaay down on the list of things that might cause me embarrassment.

[SundownInRetreat]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

I don't care what industry you're in, most people who are at the top table know they're good, know how to write, and know few others can do the same.

Anyone who is regularly hired to troubleshoot, as Goldman is, knows they're good. They're sought out for their expertise. It's nigh-on impossible to be the "go to guy", routinely saving the day by identifying problems with scripts and providing solutions, without being secure in your ability. There's always the exception but that is what they are - the exception.

How many top level surgeons, lawyers, pilots, investment bankers, fitness trainers are riddled with self doubt? They're confident and self assured - exactly because they're the go to guys and have enjoyed success. Sure, the arts may attract more self doubting types but still, when you're getting paid oodles for your expert opinion you aren't riddled with self doubt. Maybe the amateurs who were never good enough are but not a professional, not someone leading a team of writers and making creative decisions (including vetoing suggestion) not someone who's pitched their take on a project to a studio and argued why their way is the right way.

The notion that the effects of being a top tier professional in regards to human nature and self awareness applies to every other industry but magically ceases to exist within the micro-sphere of "writing" is, frankly, absurd.

When you can read a page from an amateur and know if they've got what it takes (even if they require more refining) then you know you're good. You cannot help but acknowledge you are at a level they are not. And when a top producer gives notes that you disagree with, you can shake your head and do it anyway or you can fight your corner - either way, you believe you're right. How do you do that whilst lacking self assurance?

For some reason I'll never understand, it's frowned upon to be honest and acknowledge you're good but accepted to lie and spew false modesty. Even a simple answer of "I'm good" to the question "are you any good?" is met (usually - and bizarrely - by the person asking the question) with wrinkled noses and accusations of arrogance. A penny to a pound says William Goldman knows damn well he's bloody excellent. And, for me, when you're that good, when you've won the MVP, Ballon D'Or, F1 championship, Wimbledon, Olympic gold, to then project false modesty and "I'm not very good, I'm okay at best" is insulting.

[SundownInRetreat]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

And my personal experience has been that the writers who are constantly down on themselves, "Oh I'm terrible. I'm awful. They should cut off my fingers so I can never write again!" are protesting too much, fishing for compliments and will be majorly wounded if you don't jump in to reassure them that they are really the most bestest ever.

This too.

[ComicBent]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

Ensure you understand the difference between "your" (the possessive case of "you" used as an attributive adjective) and "you're" (the contraction for "you are") and similar grammatical conventions so that your writing will offend fewer readers.

Sometimes I sit here for a half hour and debate whether to respond to something. Sometimes I have no clear answer to my indecision. Sometimes, in that situation, I just forge ahead ... so here goes.

If I commented on every misspelling and every misuse of pronouns on this board, I would do very little else. Subject-verb agreement, pronoun reference, misunderstanding of lie/lay, misunderstanding of amount/number, and on and on and on ... You will find it all here, but you will also find it all in scripts that professionals write.

I do not know how many readers along the way really find these things offensive. I can tell you, though, that many of them do not know the correct forms themselves. At least, they do not know much beyond the difference between *your* and *you're*, and some do not even know that. When it comes to grammar and spelling in general, those items are not at the top of the list of IMPORTANT THINGS in a script.

Undoubtedly, these errors will annoy some people. Admittedly, I am one of them. But I have learned where grammar and spelling reside on the scale of IMPORTANT THINGS in a script. As I said earlier, they are not at the top.

I mention all of this, after my half hour of debate, only because I do not think that it is appropriate to squelch someone over spelling, in a thread that is not part of Script Pages, but is only a discussion. In particular, I feel this way, as I said at the beginning, because I see all kinds of grammatical and stylistic mistakes here and in scripts every day.

I sometimes comment on these things myself on the board, but I try to reserve such remarks for Script Pages. Having said that for the record, I will now move along.

[holly]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

i think im talking about the discomfort of pushing your limits of safety and security by finding deeper levels of truth and expression. thats normal, and its fine. its even helpful.

[Armak]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

This debate about "happy" writers reminds me of Thomas Mann's line:

"A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."

[killertv]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

I don't care what industry you're in, most people who are at the top table know they're good, know how to write, and know few others can do the same.

I've worked in TV writers' rooms, and this is not my experience. As one executive producer said, "You're always waiting for someone to tap you on the shoulder and say you're not fooling anyone, you really can't write." Some of the most insecure writers I've known are showrunners.

Writing is always going to be a tension between extreme arrogance that what you're doing is right and extreme neuroses that everything you do is wrong. The trick is to use the insecurity instead of letting it use you.

I started screenwriting in high school. I found parts of this list online, and it became my writing rules.

Fears
1) I'm scared to write.
2) I have no talent.
3) I don't know where to start.
4) My ideas are stupid.
5) I don't know what to write.

Truths
1) My writing is imperfect.
2) My stories want to change.
3) I cannot control my writing.
4) My best writing is rewriting.
5) My time is my luxury.

I'm still insecure about my writing. But I know I've been getting better. The only thing you can do to really overcome the insecurity is being secure in your discipline. It doesn't matter how bad it is, as long as you wrote a page today, you've done your best.

[wcmartell]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

You don't.

You use those insecurities as fuel to work harder and rip your own scripts to shreds.

Look at David Letterman - a guy who believes he is not good enough, and uses that to learn from mistakes... which has kept him on TV for as long as I can remember.

Being self critical is important - ie: that Hemingway quote.

It's the people who think they are great who have the problem.

- Bill

[SundownInRetreat]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

I've worked in TV writers' rooms, and this is not my experience....Writing is always going to be a tension between extreme arrogance that what you're doing is right and extreme neuroses that everything you do is wrong. The trick is to use the insecurity instead of letting it use you.

Informative. Yet I would still pose the question, in that case why is it true for every other industry, where being at the top tier breeds confidence and assurance? Where arrogance isn't so much an unfortunate byproduct as it is a requirement?

[holly]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

because those jobs dont REQUIRE that you reveal your insecurities as one of many prices of admission. they in fact revel in a false inflated self. writing is the opposite of that.

[StoryWriter]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

Do writer's really worry about this kind of stuff?

"Gee, I'm feeling insecure, how do I deal with that?"

I guess I've never been there. I just annoy people with the crap I write and have been doing that for 50 years.

I have fun -- after all, it's all about me, right?

[Mr. Earth]

Re: How did you get over your writing insecurities?

I don't want to know the writer who has no insecurities about what they put out there. That doesn't mean you have to fret and worry about every little thing, but there has to be some self-doubt and questioning of "Is this really good enough?" that has to take place at some point in the process. Of course, once the thing is "done," you better be able to defend it like it's the Second Coming because people are going to take shots at it and not always get it no matter how great it is.

As for reading, it's good to be a sponge at this point in your life, but you can get swallowed up by all the advice, too. So, do some reading, but make the time to try out what you've learned. Then go back to learning and then try to write again and on and on. And don't be afraid to say "screw the advice" every once in a while just to see where that takes you.

I would also suggest, if you can, to try to produce whatever you can on the cheap while you're still young. It only gets harder to find the time and the people willing to put together some cheap-o film project even if it's just some silly internet short.

For me, the insecurities I had when I was younger kind of went away when I started realizing that a lot of my ideas were being made into movies. Obviously, they were written better than I could do at the time (and maybe that's still the case), but the concept was interesting enough for someone to make the film. While the movies were nothing great, it has happened about 5 times to me, so that tells me I'm kind of on to something.