Writing.Com General Discussion

According to Stephen King, a terrible writer can't get better. They simply lack the right stuff. Their work is painful to read and usually so badly abuses the English language that it is clear that they don't know the mechanics let alone the art. For an adult, that's a death sentence.

A competent writer, one who's work is readable, can convey a message, there's hope. They can practice and become a good writer.

I forget what he said about good writers become great writers, it was rather bleak, and as I'm a competent writer, it was obvious the best I could get to was "good"

So the first step is to put evaluate ourselves honestly. We tend to bash ourselves down to call our work terrible and horrible, when, it is simply isn't "good" or "great". If a person can read from top to bottom and the sentence structure is decent, few mistakes, that's competent. It doesn't mean you've made a relatable character or anything.

Knowing then, that your current work is probably "just competent" means there is hope. a Competent Writer can become a Good Writer. Just need practice and trying new things, styles and adjusting how you present your ideas. There is hope.

Not hope as in "I hope I win the lotto" but hope as in, you as a person can actually do this, if you put in the work.

They say you become a good writer after a million words or stories or some such. This sounds like a variant of the 10,000 hours theory at getting good at something. I think there's a little more to it than that.

Read more. Lots of different authors and genres. Hit a book from each of the famous people.
Write. Heck, read a book and then write in the style of that author. Try all sorts of things.


Now I didn't exactly answer your question. I just explained some stuff that might apply.
Here's a truth. In each of my pieces, There is something good about them. But they also have problems. I know I am a competent writer. And I don't know if I'll figure out how to get to the next level.

I just finished my first draft of a 77,000 word novel (my first novel). I know it has some good bits in it, but I think I made a mess of the plot. It uses a setting and character I want to base a series on. But as a writer, I can't launch with this. I'm not good enough yet. So I can see this as a waste of words and contaminating my world space I created. If I launched this, nobody would like it and I'd scuttle my series.

Dang, that sucks. Am I feeling great about my writing write now? No.

But you'll note, I don't say the novel is terrible. Or that I'm a terrible writer. I know my own base worth. It's not high on a pedestal, that's for other people to put me up there. Nor is it in the gutter, because I know I can do better than a Chinese to English translated VCR manual.

So, I say to you, I've see your posts. They seem competent. So join me. Not in the gutter. Not horrible. Just not Good yet. Write a few more things. Find what your missing and practice that. Find somebody who can give you useful detailed feedback.

One friend of mine, has gone as far as taken a paragraph and rewrote it for me, showing her take on writing the scene. Then, I rewrote that in her style, using my words and adjusted story facts and I got a better section. But what I really got was an exercise in writing differently and seeing effect of those differences.

That's how I think you get out of the dumps. Read. Write. Talk to people about your writing and get ideas and feedback.

Good luck. You can do it.