Hi scaredycat, I know what you mean about being scared to write. As long as you don't write you'll never know if you can do it but you'll never know that you can't either and there's some comfort in that. I think that's one of the main reasons I put off writing for years. Now that I'm doing it I know that I'd rather try and fail than never try at all.
I don't have a lot of experience in writing novels as I've only completed one and started a couple of other ones (but I feel good about the one I'm on at the moment) but this is the way I go about it if this is of any use.

I write down a list of all the things that fascinate me e.g. Vietnam, how marriages fall apart, the changes involved in becoming a mother, group dynamics among children in the school-yard, first kisses etc etc (this isn't a real list, just a 'for example', then I think about why they fascinate me. Then i think about characters in a situation that might incorporate one or more of the things from the list. Then I start writing down notes about what might happen in the novel but not prose. I keep writing notes about all kinds of things; character details, what the Big Scenes are going to be, how I'm going to frustrate my characters, make their worst nightmare come true etc etc until I am dying to start writing properly. I keep writing notes (not terribly organised ones) until I can't stand it any longer: I have to write even if it means staying up until three in the morning.

Good luck, a novel is a bit of a marathon but it can be done.

Hi Scaredycat and welcome to WW.

I think you are in the same position as a lot of writers are when they first start out. There are no certificates or pieces of paper that say "Writer" and you just have to hope (sometimes for years and years) that you are doing the right thing.

I have massive crisis of confidence almost daily where I think I'm just wasting my time. Who says I'm a writer? I've never been published so I have no feedback to say I'm doing the job properly and no pay for it. Anyone working under these conditions could take their boss to an industrial tribunal for unfair working practices.

But I keep going. The reason for this is the high that you get when your story grabs you, sucks you in and pulls you along with it are beyond description.

My current draft is covered with red pen saying "crap,crap,crap" and "re-write this, it's shit" but in between that are some half decent lines and ideas that aren't. It has taken me a long time to get to this point and I know I have a lot longer to go.

I cringe at most of what I have written so far but at least then I know what I have to work on and only by doing that will it improve.

I also know that I can't stop doing it because it's what makes me - me!

So you are certainly not alone in this feeling and I also think that it is better to feel this way than be overconfident in one's ability to the point that one can't see anything wrong. In that case there would be no hope of ever getting it right.

Just type with the monitor switched off or write while looking out of the window - don't read it and don't think about it. And most importantly - daydream. Your imagination is the key to starting your story.

Dear Scaredycat,
I was given a copy of Writing Down The Bones for x-mas, a writing classic by Nathalie Goldberg, first published in 1986 and still going strong. She deals with this internal critic and has some useful exercises for dealing with it; mainly 'free writing' as mentioned earlier in this thread.
She draws a lot of parralels between writing and meditating and how one needs to 'practice' writing in order to be good at it, like on has to practice meditation. This means just writing rubbish for a bit, or just writing down your thoughts, however jumbled or incoherent. This act of connecting your brain with the paper or screen oils the wheels as it were, and banishes the fear of the blank page/screen.

Good luck

Mischa

BTW, if you've had good feedback for your Screenplays then why not revisit them?

Dear Scaredycat,
Welcome to the site. Seconding everything that's gone before I've got two more suggestions to get you writing:
Try this for a week.
Everyday list five concrete experiences; things you did, bought, heard,saw etc. But only five. Expand each into a paragraph with as mch detail as you can muster. use all your senses. can you expand these into a short story or even a poem. (Maybe you just haven't settled on the genre you want to write in yet and this might knock two genres out or suggest a genre you haven't thought about before).

The other one I'm going to make another posting on. It's something I read in Mslexia and I think we could all benefit from it, especially at the start of a new writing year.

Re Goldberg:

I spent a week at a residential workshop led by a writer who loved Nathalie Goldberg's ideas. The book we were working from at the time was entitled "Thunder and Lightening".

Persistence, writing even when you feel you can't, exercising those muscles, was fundamental. We wrote every day before we even sat up in bed. We had to have pen and paper on the bedside table and write for ten minutes, even as we were waking.

So many marvellous ideas surfaced in those moments between sleeping and waking...without exception, all the writers found a goldmine they never knew existed.

--

Regarding the fear of writing... does it ever go away? Its fear of rejection, for this writer. And even after you've been accpted and rejected many times, every time you send a piece out, it still feels like falling off a cliff.

vanessa

And even after you've been accpted and rejected many times, every time you send a piece out, it still feels like falling off a cliff.

Yup. Ask any actor.

Jem, that's a great exercise.

Emma

Without wanting to swamp you with books, you should also have a look at the Creative Writing Coursebook, edited by Julia Bell and Paul Magrs, which contains very useful exercises.

I symphathise with your predicament. A few years ago I got into writing sitcoms, had a couple of commissions from the BBC and then felt I was left in the lurch with one that looked like it might be successful and I stopped writing after that for several years.

Now after some modest successes with short stories and having completed a - as yet unpublished - travel book, I'm plunging into the whole novel writing thing. What I'm coming to realise is that expecting to write a first novel that is brilliant can give that inner critic lots of ammunition. Yes, I want to do the best job I can with it, but I also know that first novels are often more about learning the craft than creating literary greatness. The point is you may have to invest the time and effort to produce something that will not make the grade, but it is not time wasted because you will learn a huge amount, develop your voice and avoid many pitfalls.

Think about it - how many first novels out there are actually the first novel written by the author. When you read on jacket blurbs about debut novels and 'this is their first novel' or 'such and such was given a huge advance for their first book' it seems as if they simply sat down, wrote it and that was that. But I would imagine the vast majority of authors have turned out one, two, maybe more novels that didn't see the light of day before their so-called first novel got published.

I would also suggest rather than view the whole process as one daunting prospect you start small and concentrate on one thing at a time. And one of the best ways to do that is to think of a character, maybe one from your screenplays, write a CV for them. Write a description of them. Put them in some situations and write about how they would respond. Think of 20 questions to ask them and write the responses they would give. Once you've got a character to play with then other characters, plots and situations should follow.

Good luck.

What I'm coming to realise is that expecting to write a first novel that is brilliant can give that inner critic lots of ammunition.... first novels are often more about learning the craft than creating literary greatness. The point is you may have to invest the time and effort to produce something that will not make the grade, but it is not time wasted because you will learn a huge amount, develop your voice and avoid many pitfalls.

Very wise words, Sibelius.

Hemingway said that to become a writer you have to write a million words. My million are under the bed. And when a 'debut novel' actually is the first novel a writer wrote, you can bet your bottom dollar that either they re-wrote each of those 100,000 words 10 times, or that they wrote a million in other forms - journalism, short fiction, family magazines...

Which is only to say that no word you write is ever wasted, whether it's the half-asleep rambling on your morning pages (see Julia Cameron) or the word you spend a morning on, and the next morning you cross out.

Emma

Hi there Scaredy Cat,

Welcome to WW. As one or two other people have already suggested, I wonder if short stories would be a good starting point? Then your more transient ideas could be put to use, and act as a sort of stop-gap until an idea sticks long enough to make a novel. At least you'd feel that you were achieving something then, even though it wasn't your ultimate goal.

Personally, I found short stories a great way of preparing for the marathon of a first novel. The Open College of the Arts correspondance courses helped me to build my skills and confidence, especially their 'Storylines' course. I'm sure the Write Words courses are very good too.

Good luck, whichever way you decide to tackle this.

Mermaid

Let us know how you're getting on Scaredycat, we'd all be interested to know how you have been going with the writing.

Let us know how you're getting on Scaredycat, we'd all be interested to know how you have been going with the writing.

WHY DO I KEEP DOING THAT???

Rossetti, welcome back! And with a much more positive username too!

I'm so glad your experience of WW left such a good and lasting impression. Yes of course you can upload your story when you think the time is right. Just click on ‘upload work’ in the top right hand corner and follow the directions. Remember to set it so that only WW members can see it, otherwise it’ll be visible to internet search engines.

In the meantime, have a browse through the archive and see what other people are uploading. That will help you decide the best group to join (although it’s not essential to be in a group, you tend to attract more concentrated feedback) and you can start giving feedback to others whenever you feel inspired.

Best wishes

Dee

So glad you are no longer a Scaredycat!

Rosy

Hi, Rosetti, nice to see you back (and yes, a cool username!). And thanks for starting such an interesting thread in the first place.

Emma