That nasty little voice in our heads if we are not careful will become judge, jury, and executioner to our work. If we allow it, that critic can shut a story down and keep us from submitting our work. By listening to that voice in our head say things like. “That’s not really good enough to send out.” "Maybe you should rework that second chapter... again." “No one is going to want to read that.” “You’re no Stephen King, baby." "A fifth grader writes better dialog than you." Or we leave a manuscript unfinished because that voice convinced us it wasn’t what readers/publishers want.
When that voice begins to niggle… stuff a sock in it. Tell that inner critic to pack his/her/its bags and get on the next train out of town. Put him in a bag and toss him in the river. Do whatever it takes to silence that voice.
Play loud music, take a walk and get some fresh air, stab your voodoo doll a few times. Be physical about it. Create a paper box write inner critic or something your inner critic said about your novel on another slip of paper. Put that slip inside your box and SMASH! Step on it, toss it in a boiling pot, destroy it in a manner that makes you giddy with the freedom of shutting that thing up.
Play loud music, take a walk and get some fresh air, stab your voodoo doll a few times. Be physical about it. Create a paper box write inner critic or something your inner critic said about your novel on another slip of paper. Put that slip inside your box and SMASH! Step on it, toss it in a boiling pot, destroy it in a manner that makes you giddy with the freedom of shutting that thing up.
Writers have to stuff that voice down and get the job done. Tell those stories that are aching to be told. Just as we would with a rejection letter or a bad review, we write another page. Write another and another until your work finds itself happily nestled in a reader's hands.
The inner critic will come back after a while. That doesn’t mean you have to listen to it. What does a voice in your head know anyways? When I was three he told me dirt might taste good… yeah what does he know.
For the regular part of my blog, my inner editor (which actually makes more money than my inner writer and, therefore, gets a monthly Editing Rant section), tore APART my Sunday blog stories. Sigh. But (giggle) the blog entries are still up because the writer is control of the website.
ReplyDeletePractice makes perfect. The inner critic has to stuff it, because it all is practice. Writing being the practice ... not rewriting.
Mine is currently saying, "What if the reader doesn't know what those (named) trees and bushes look like, and thus don't appreciate the horrific visual I'm painting? Should I have spent more of the precious few allowed words on more details of the spikes and thorns? Was I clear enough that there's something to be feared just on the other side?" Or, really, the critic is inside answering, "Nope. You blew it."
ReplyDeleteJ Lenni Dorner~ Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge, Debut Author Interviewer, Reference& Speculative Fiction Author