Your Writing Insecurities

So, what are your insecurities about your writing. Don't worry, I won't use them against you or anything, I'm just curious as to what people will say.

I for one, am worried that it's too cliche, my characters are too flat, and that something like it has already been done.

Mm, I'm always worried about pace. I get so caught up in a storyline developing, or characters staying true to themselves and being original, that I'm not sure whether I'm speeding through things or moving lethargically. Especially with dialogue, I labor forever over where to add a 'he said' or where to describe an action. xD Quite frustrating, actually. I wish to thwap my inner editor on the head.

I tend to nitpick about every sentence until I end up overthinking and picking odd words or something.

Making things specific. I have a really hard time with this, especially in first person (which is what I mostly write in, heh). I can have some problems with readers connecting with my characters as well, but being specific is what I really have problems with.

I'm writing a novel at the moment and since my last attempt at a novel was 16,000 words in the end, I am quite paranoid about my writing being too concise and my story not being long enough to be a novel.

I agree with you Matt. Last novel I tried to write was only just 50 000 words, and I was hoping for more like 100 000. The one I'm writing now is 10 500 so far, and I'm hoping it'll make 75 000 at least. Wish me luck.

Apart from that, I also feel that I maight be making the message too obvious, and that my story might appear as a thinly disguised lecture on my worldviews. It's hard to tell those things when you wrote it yourself because you already know the message. That's where constructive criticism is really helpful.

Oh, by the way Merlin, I haven't given up on you. My final exams are in 3 weeks so I've been studying hard. After that I'll pick Xaviers Quest back up.

I'm always worried my characters will be mary-sues or flat. I'm also worried my stories will be too short, I get so wrapped up in my word count.

Oh, length is a big deal for me. I find myself typing pages of my favorite books into word to compare computer-to-book ratios. I have issues with pacing and plot lines, too. I know what needs to happen and what the characters demand but not always how to get the story there and still make since. When I re-read my story I always have that little voice in the back of my head screaming "Why didn't they just do such-and-such!" I'm afraid that what seems normal or makes sense in my twisted mind doesnt make sense on paper...

I get really scared that people are going to think my work is amature or think my ideas are dumb. Not to mention staying with all of my stories. I'll get to about the sixth chapter or so, quit, and move on to a new one. I'm getting a little better now, but I've never finished an entire novel.

I'm always afraid that my writing's not good enough. Not good enough for me, not good enough for YWS, and certaintly not good enough to ever publish or do anything with.

i might say that i have the tendency to give so much detail that there is alomost no plot and even if it is one particularly in a short story, it tends to get complicated that no one can understand it straight away.

Sometimes I worry that my writing is too good.

I'm really, really bad at explaining/describing things. I either way over do it or I under do it.
I'm also afraid that no one is going to care about my characters the way I care about them or people will hate it or think it's stupid or something like that.

*steals Sureal's problem*

Oh, you poor thing.

I worry about using the same words over and over again... Sometimes I'll go back and read what I've just written and realize I've used the word "crucial" like 8 times.