r/fantasywriters • u/Better_Energy_8699 • 21h ago
Discussion About A General Writing Topic Mental barriers
What are some of the biggest mental barriers you have experienced while writing?
I just noticed a couple minutes ago, after finishing my first book and nearing the end of my second. I would set a default of how many words I had per chapter.
I never realized until now, how much of a barrier, a crutch that was. I wasn't letting the story flow naturally because I set up a roadblock in my head.
Now that I have grown, learnt and let the story come naturally. I can write and not even think about how many words there are, which then by the end of the chapter, which then I have blown past my old "expectation"
I guess it is almost like repetition in working out. You give yourself a number of 12, then mentally, it is like a shut off valve.
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u/THWhiston 20h ago
I have this thing, both as a reader and a writer, that I ask myself "who is telling this story and when?" It's probably why I don't like third person limited because it seems like the most artifical voice to me; it's just "an author." Whereas first person is obvious and third person omniscient can be a storyteller, historian, etc.
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u/Better_Energy_8699 20h ago
That's honestly, extremely interesting. Almost like am I following the path chosen as the character or am I narrating a path. I think my brain broke a little thinking about it, I just did it to a chapter I'm writing and it slightly freaked me out lol (David Attenborough narrating an epic fantasy) lol
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u/BA_Bones_33 20h ago
"Knowing" there's no way I'll get published. "Knowing" I'm wasting my time. "Knowing" I could never be as good as the other authors.
It's all just mental BS, self-criticism, and lack of confidence. Only solution is to tell my brain to STFU. And keep writing.
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u/Better_Energy_8699 20h ago
Yeh, that thought always kingers for me as well. It's not so much that I tell that pessimistic p.o.s in my brain to stfu. I remind myself that no matter what, I have this thing I created and after I go.ome day, my kids will have something to pass along.
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u/TheRealVarmint Author - V. H. Greyward 19h ago
I suppose the closest thing I had to a mental barrier was accepting that writing plateaus happen. In creating my duology, the process was like a stairway: a frenzy of inspired writing, a period of rumination where I did almost no writing, and then, after a spark of inspiration, another frenzy of writing.
I would not call it "writer's block", per se, because it was only a slowing of momentum, not a complete halt.
I refused to put any kind of pressure on myself. I had family and friends asking me constantly how long the story was going to be, or when it would be finished. I had no answer for them, as the story felt like it was telling itself. It would be done when it's done. I would know when that time arrived; in fact, I could tell when it was getting close. But even when I predicted it would be done in five pages, twelve pages later it was still going. So I stopped trying.
I set no page limits. In fact, the only reason it's a duology is because it simply grew too big for one book (somewhere upwards of 292,000 words at final count), and I had to split it in half to keep it manageable. Fortunately, the halfway point just happened to be organically at the literal halfway point. I think Book 2 has four more pages than Book 1. I did not plan that!
It's organic happenstances like this which explain why I didn't sweat page counts for chapters. Consequently, some of my chapters are considerably longer than others. I simply let that stand. Because I knew as soon as I started putting limits on myself, I would start worrying more about those limits than the story itself.
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u/its_tryptophan 20h ago
Worldbuilding a crazy amount instead of actually writing
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u/Better_Energy_8699 20h ago
Yes but you can't write if you don't set the stage. If you get the details of your world down and can have someone imagine themselves there, that's truly a gift.
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u/its_tryptophan 20h ago
I agree! Sometimes I write and I’m like I have no mental description of what this location / country / setting even looks like. I think I’m slowly finding a balance, but I still lean more toward worldbuilding lol
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u/Better_Energy_8699 20h ago
Who, what, where, when and why and of course how are paramount in storytelling. Well, characters can't live in no world....or can they? Bum Bum Buuuuuuuum!
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u/Greedy_Homework_6838 20h ago
My only mental barrier is to start writing after a 12-hour night shift.
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u/Better_Energy_8699 20h ago
Yeh, the demands of personal life are definitely a hinderence at times to write. I struggled with that too for a while but then downloaded Google docs on my phone. Separated myself on my break from everyone and wrote on there.
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u/ResonantFork 18h ago
Log on reddit -> become convinced everyone is on a "Smart" phone and sophistication is dead and writing is a waste of time.
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u/ChocolateAxis 18h ago
What does this mean? You get the idea that folks aren't reading books anymore? /genq
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u/ResonantFork 17h ago
It means i posted a few things on academic topics like cognitive estrangement and "Smart" phoners are the ignorant kind who can't be bothered to understand basic English or look stuff up.
Remember "i have the world's entire knowledge in my pocket"? That was determined to be a lie, since 99% of them lack the attention span to use it.
How will you dodge the academic topic today? Gatekeeping? That's the usual tactic.
Screen kids will never read our books.
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u/Better_Energy_8699 18h ago
Well, if you're logging on with a predetermined outlook of impending disappointment. Then it sound like you're stuck in a perpetual cycle of self sabotage and negativity.
"Smart" phones are a way of life now. Sure there's tones of A.I and technology that's pumping out repetive work but you shouldn't let that influence what you do.
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u/ResonantFork 17h ago
Cool story. I feel like i could plug this into AI and have a real conversation though.
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u/DerylTontum 20h ago
Just making myself open the word document is sometimes a real struggle lol. It's like I'm afraid I'll see what I was writing earlier and realise it's unsalvageable garbage, and by not opening it I'm leaving it in a limbo state where hey maybe it wasn't so bad, there's no way of knowing. I know it's nonsense but I still have to fight myself to get through it.