Procrastination and the fear of failing

by Mehdi Kasbel
19th December 2014

Once again I'm about to start a work that counts for me and that I'm shaping in my head for many weeks, without putting on paper much than a first paragraph

And once again I have this bad feeling that if write down what I have in mind, it will not be as good as what I have imagined, and that all this work will collapse like a house of cards...

So, once again, I'm in this atermoiement phase that I really dislike !

Any writer's trick to fight it ?

Replies

If you have issues putting words into a sentence, I suggest writing your ideas in point form first. Gradually, you will be able to amass that information and solidify the words into sentencing. Works like magic.

Lastly, it is like the old adage "there is no fear but fear itself".

You'll be just fine.

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Gilbert
Cartier
270 points
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Gilbert Cartier
19/12/2014

What you write now is the skeleton of the finished product. You will then spend days or weeks or however long it takes putting the flesh on those bones. That's the writing process.

Never be afraid to start, knowing that you will build on whatever it is you write. It doesn't matter if it's rubbish: you will see that it is, and you'll begin to see why and how it falls down.

If you never write it, you'll never learn.

If you don't write it because you're too scared of failing, you are failing there and then.

Writers write. They also rewrite and polish and tear up and write again. Nobody said it would be easy - but it's a lot better than not doing it at all.

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Lorraine
Swoboda
1105 points
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Lorraine Swoboda
19/12/2014

Renee's right. You just have to do the best you can, or you'll never write anything.

It's impossible to write a scene exactly as you visualise it in your head. Brains don't work that way - they add things you can't put down on paper. At least, you can't get them right in the first draft. It's a bit like a 3D movie - they use a number of different cameras to film it and only put the images together when they edit.

Writing's the same. A lot of draft ends up on the cutting room floor, while whole scenes may be changed or added to, improving the whole That can make the end result a very different animal to the sum of its individual parts. But they have to start somewhere: we all do.

Keep the faith :)

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Jonathan
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Jonathan Hopkins
19/12/2014