Getting started with ANY type of writing is scary. You have to embrace that you'll produce bad work for a while before you can improve and create stuff you're really proud of. As you get better, you're constantly playing catch-up with your dreams and aspiration. 

--edited by Nevena Georgieva on 2/27/2014, 2:42 PM--

The complexity of story, when married with plot, requires the author to write scenes which have aspect that are foreign.  Like writing a political thriller which requires an understanding of things outside my realm of experience.

It took me a long time to learn the facts of writing. My initial pass will not be great.

I pause here to elaborate on my style. I write a few pages, then go back and read and edit/polish/rewrite. Then trundle off again until the time I go back and rinse and repeat. But I always start at the beginning. So a chapter I dash off that may take four, five, six hours will have a certain amount of polishing to some parts of the story.

Then I allow it to stew over night, or several days due to scheduled non-writing days.

I begin again with this chapter and spend a couple of hours reworking and polishing. Then I move to the next chapter.

But....and this is the BIG deal.....I MOVE FORWARD.

The best writing advice anyone can give is finish.

Now back to the regularly scheduled program.

Those areas where I am less sure before I type one word will be poor. But, and this is the secret, I still work on them. They always get better. Always.

I  fear sentences where the characters are like stick figures.

John went to the safe. His hands dialed the turny-around thingy. He opened the safe. The money was there. He took it out and put it in a bag. Then he went to the restaurant and bought everyone ice cream.

Stick figures.

But they will be fixed.

I fear looking like an amateur.

My biggest fear, and I suspect I'm not alone in this, is rejection.  This is a bit funny considering the publishing industry is often rife with rejection; it's practically a way of life!

There is so much time and emotion invested into a completed WIP that I'm sensitive to those who judge it.  Putting it up for public review on Book Country took some doing.  Even letting a few strangers read it for feedback made me nervous.  It's hard to see something you care so deeply about get critiqued.  I have to really be intentional about not getting offended and seeing value in the feedback I get.

My worst fear is some agents will request a full and then reject the manuscript outright, and I'll get to the end of my "to query" list with no takers.  To be quite frank, it just seems like an awful lot to pour into something for it to sit on a virtual shelf for the rest of it's life. 

They're conquered for me in two ways, the first being a quote from Dory of Finding Nemo: "just keep swimming".  Perseverance is key, a stubborn streak probably required.  Keep remembering that writing is largely subjective and your responses aren't personal.  The second is simply knowing that I've accomplished a little something.  Sitting and putting 100,000 words to paper in a legible fashion is no small feat.  Published or not, I'll always have that.

"The best writing advice anyone can give is finish." -@VietVetTX

Love that!!

And Dan, I've heard some stories like what you describe: querying and querying and querying and no one signing on with the MS. It's frustrating and time-consuming, but IMHO, it's not effort or time wasted. From what I know about you on Book Country, it seems to me like your tenacity and openness to feedback will be vital assets to you as you navigate this process. So yes, just keep swimming!!

Lucy

--edited by Lucy Silag - Book Country Community Manager on 3/13/2014, 9:32 AM--

My biggest fear as a writer, in addition to sharing DCLabs's concerns, is the future of writing and reading in general.  Basic knowledge of writing mechanics seems to be valued less and less as a skill academically, and when I see bad writers and badly written books becoming blockbuster hits while well-written books remain obscure, it's sometimes discouraging.

Also, self-publishing digitally makes it so much easier to get your work out there, but with so much competition, it's easy for new voices to get drowned out.  As a shopper, I find it easier to come across works I've never heard of before and discover new authors by perusing shelves in bookstores and libraries.  When I shop online, I have to already know what I'm looking for.  This open-access also means agents will be much more selective, making it harder than ever to query - and as has been pointed out, you only get one shot at an agent.

*****

Unrelated to this is my fear of not even having the time to finish another book.  I work two jobs (one full-time), write a blog, and obviously need and want to make time for family.  I'm not a fast writer, and ideas don't always come to me when I'd like them to.  The first draft of The Brotherhood of the Black Flag, including all the research I had to do, took five years, and that was two and a half years (and numerous revisions) ago.  I don't want these other ideas to never get down on paper.

--edited by Ian Nathaniel Cohen on 3/13/2014, 12:04 PM--

I’ve written short stories for a “literary” market. I’ve had my share of rejections. Then with help from friends I found a niche that would appreciate at least some of my stories.  I’ve had two collections issued by a small traditional publisher.  I also write fiction and creative nonfiction for local periodicals.

The short stories were supposed to be publishing credits and platform builders for the first novel. The novel will be outside of my niche. I’m afraid that when I write a novel, I’ll lose my old readers’ enthusiasm for my writing, and I won’t find new readers to replace the old.

Will this be one step forward, and two steps back in building a readership?  In my small world I’m considered a “writer.” I’m afraid that I’ll become “the guy who wrote some stories and then screwed things up.”

Although I'm not "new" to writing (I've been writing/editing professionally in the STM sphere for more years than I care to count), I suppose I am a novice with respect to fiction writing - although, that, too, I've been working on my trilogy also for more years than I care to count.

What do I fear? Rejection? Well, having already dipped into the querying realm (long before the work was ready - I know that now), I'm no stranger to rejection. Rejection is a part of life - has been a big part of my life in both my personal life and in my professional life (dealing with my second lay-off in five years from the world of corporate STM publishing - another re-org; another job loss).

What I fear is that my characters' stories will go unheard. I've written a trilogy's worth of Ben's and Zeph's tales, and I have enough notes and ideas for another book or two. I see them as old men. I see their children, their loves, their heartaches, their future failures and successes. And there are the other characters, too, in different worlds whose stories I've started to commit to "paper" but have yet to finish.

Twice now I've worked on e-only specialized content sets. And twice now, business decisions have led to the discontinuation of those products. When e-only products are discontinued, they disappear. No hard copies collect dust somewhere in a library or a bookstore. And they're forgotten. I don't want Ben and Zeph to disappear; to be forgotten.

I have no delusions of being the next blockbuster author or of having my books picked up by HBO and turned into an award-winning television series, but if I can entertain a handful of people, that would make me happy. If just a few people out there read my work and say, "Hey, I liked it!" that would me a lot to me.

But, ultimately, no matter what we fear as writers or would-be writers, we have to face those fears and carry on. After all, we can never know success (even a modicum of it), if we don't carry on.

I  have crap social skills.

I'm 55 years old.  I've never been married, have no children, and I have barely ever dated.

I have few friends to speak of and ... is anybody out there read Portnoy's Complaint?  There's a passage where the narrator talks about his parents talking about his peer group/generation and the friends of the parents, and the narrator writes this monologue about everybody having great-great grandchildren who are either doctors and lawyers or of their way to becoming doctors and lawyers.

There you go. My biggest fear. My crap social skills.....

So...since the next part of the original question was "What will you do to overcome it?"  that seems pertinent here.   Have you considered getting professional help for social skills?  It exists: there are people who can teach you, and give you practice in, improving them.   Some people have sensory integration problems that make it difficult for them to catch on to others' behavior fast enough to respond in helpful ways.   You might have something like that, but not know it.   Lots of writers have deficiencies in social skills, but if it's severe enough to interfere with your writing (you don't understand human interactions enough to write believeable ones) then some counseling and social skills training might help.  Our son, who's autistic, had (and still has) a very hard time with social skills, but he has learned.   Autism isn't the only reason for problems with social skills, but it's the one I'm most familiar with, because of our son. Sensory integration problems can exist without autism, too.  Human communication relies on the ability to integrate minute visual input (such as the movements of small muscles near the eyes), with complex auditory input, where tone of voice can completely change the meaning of words and signal a joke or a shift of emotion in the speaker.   (I spent hours with our son showing him still pictures and pausing videos so he could learn what to notice in a face to "read" the expression. )

Anyway, if you feel--as you express--that lack of social skills is your biggest fear and a big problem in your life, then working on that sounds like a good idea.   Help exists; there is more understanding now of  how neurology affects social interactions, and how a person's ability to interact pleasantly can be improved.   The work we and our son and others have put in on his have made his life much fuller and happier.  I wish you the best of luck. 

kj, I understand you very well. I am an extreme introvert, and I have had trouble interacting all my life. I can manage it for a time, but it wears me out. I begin to feel claustrophobic, besieged. I'm sixty seven. High school was a disaster for me, although part of the problem was a chaotic home life (alcoholism in the family). In my twenties I tried to fit in. Finally I came to terms with who I was, and what made me happy, art, books, and gardening, all solitary pursuits. I stopped worrying about being acceptably social. 

.

You can try to change yourself, or to moderate your behaviors and reactions, but, speaking from experience, I don't think it works. Concentrate on your interests, and if you're lucky, you may find the right person to pair with. It was only when I stopped caring what people thought of me and decided to be myself that I met my wonderful husband. He is also a book-lover. That was our first bond. 

.

Take heart from this: I met him when I was almost your age. If we had met twenty or thirty years earlier, he may not have gone for me. He is a stand-out in many, many ways. He had his pick of women, I'm quite sure. That I didn't find him until late, I count as a blessing. 

.

One last thought: You understand a certain psychology, you've lived it. Draw on it. Build a character from it. Make it work for you. That's what I do.

--edited by Mimi Speike on 7/6/2014, 11:27 PM--

What I fear is that my writing is not worth being read. That I wasted my time writing my novel.  How have I over come this feeling?  I submitted my novel for publishing a few days ago.

Hi Gene,

.

Is your book posted here for critiques? That's the first step. Get some feedback, from other writers. Welcome!

--edited by Mimi Speike on 7/9/2014, 9:03 PM--

--edited by ChuckB on 8/8/2014, 12:16 AM--