My Writing Depresses Me

Well, usually my writing helps me out of my depression. But lately I've been seeing how much I phail at writing compared to the other fantastic works I read and it's really been discouraging me. My plots are thin and watery and fall apart halfway through my stories; I focus too much on dialogue; I become bored with one story and start working on a new idea, abandoning my previous work; I write a lot of fanfiction and don't have enough creativity to think of my own original story. I feel like I'm going to have to scrap all my works in progress (which are sitting on Fanfiction.net, untouched for a while) and start over. I feel like I'm stuck because when I'm depressed or discouraged I write. But I can't write if my writing is the source of my problems! BLEH! Could anyone possibly have any suggestions for me? I'm sorry, I just needed to get it off my chest.

</emo>

I know how you feel. Forget that anybody else writes. For a while, you are the greatest writer in the world. Don't try to write, just write. It doesn't matter if your writing it terrible. Don't force it, just write it.

Or, don't write or read. Sing really loudly and badly, follow your sister around and repeat everything she says with an accent, demend that your mum buys you every single thing you see when you go out. Just do something else (hopefuly something that will make you laugh).

Hope I've been of some help!

Oy, my writing has done the same. It's not rare in any sense for me to feel bleak and inept--and sometimes, I haven't written merely because I'm certain it'll be rot.

But if I can dodge out of being so wrapped up in worry, I write. Sometimes, it's not brilliant. But most often, it isn't fatally useless. What isn't perfect, or doesn't fit, always has a point. Er, even if it's simply an exercise in finding the pitfalls I stumble into by way of plotting or some such thing. ^_^

If you don't worry about how you'll sound, or what you're making, whatever you write will be valuable, yes? And the best writing comes of wild abandon and dreams.

Don't worry, simply put. ^_^





IMP

Write for an hour a day. Or even five minutes. Whatever you do, keep those creative juices flowing.

Set yourself a dedicated time to write. Just vomit write. Doesn't matter if it's a load of b******t, as long as you've written something, that's the main thing. Often I find that if I just write and don't think about what I'm producing, I'm halfway there to creating something decent.

Hope this helps.

Gahks

I focus too much on dialogue

Write a play.

I feel the same way most of the time, too.

My advice is to, like the others aid, write ANYTHING!!! Or, if you really don't feel writing, maybe take a little time to think out the plot, develop your characters more, etc.
That's an excellent substitute for actually writing. Hope it helps!

Hey, don't beat yourself up. Everyone goes through the 'black moment'- just focus on pulling yourself out of it. And never compare your work to anyone elses- how esle would the world progress?

Oh, and another piece of advice

You are young

Eimear

Nothing wrong with writing fanfiction. Did you know that there are some very successful authors who have made a good portion of their career writing novels based on Star Wars and popular TV shows? There is no difference between those novels and fanfiction.

I know what you mean by discouraged. Lately I've been discouraged because two of my friends have won contests for their writings and I have won nothing. Yeah, yeah I know it's not about winning, but now I feel as if my skill and stories are that of a elementary school kid. What bothers me is that I'm the one who wants to write professionally and one of my friends who won a contest and writes so much more eloquently than I isn't going to write professionally. You know what I mean? I don't know. I just feel really suckish lately. Sorry, I need to rant a little and this was the right place to do it.

Hahaha... I know what you mean. My little sister consistently beats me in writing contests. Heck, she even presented one of her papers at Stanford! Talk about beating my socks off. And then I read my old work and think, "Oh my God, I am a terrible writer." Because let's face it: a full load of school, work, and then writing do NOT go together, despite what you may think.

So am I? You be the judge of that. But I think I am beating myself up for nothing, most times.

Just write what you love. Cliched as it is, if you love it, you'll keep on doing it. Which sounds weird, but whatever. Finally, the only person you should be competing against is yourself.

You can do it! ^_^

flytodreams wrote:I feel the same way most of the time, too.

My advice is to, like the others aid, write ANYTHING!!! Or, if you really don't feel writing, maybe take a little time to think out the plot, develop your characters more, etc.
That's an excellent substitute for actually writing. Hope it helps!

But remember, people: There's no point to substituting writing for plot/character development unless you do something useful with it. Else it becomes a distraction to your writing, which obviously isn't a good thing.

There's nothing WRONG with focusing on dialogue...if you write a first draft of something, and realize that you've done that, consciously go back and expand on other areas.

TL G-Wooster wrote:

I focus too much on dialogue

Write a play.

You know, I've thought about that, and it's kind of odd that I have never written a play, because as a technician I do a lot of script analysis and such. I feel that plays are so much deeper than just a work of fiction on paper, and I think I need more experience before I really get serious about play-writing. I love reading them, though.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I recently wrote a depressing oneshot about a funeral, and strangely enough it made me feel better. It might be because I like to write about death. Yay! I'm trying hard not to compare my work to anyone else's any more.

What's wrong with focusing too much on dialogue? Conversations and interactions are what makes a story.

Icaruss wrote:What's wrong with focusing too much on dialogue? Conversations and interactions are what makes a story.

Well, I've had someone tell me that I needed to cut back in dialogue and focus more on telling the story, but I love making characters speak with each other so much that I think it's just a part of my writing style.