Feeling negative about writing in general?

Hi all. I've honestly been feeling deeply...I don't know, negative about the whole prospect of writing literature in general, at least for myself.

I've written fanfic for three years, and I'm not ashamed of what I have written, but earlier this year I came to the conclusion that it was never going to garner sufficient attention and support for me to really continue. There just wasn't enough to motivate me to continue, and so I decided to stop. Instead, I've decided to take up visual arts and drawing because I feel like that's the medium that suits the story I wanted to tell better.

Now, the problem is I feel like my experience has colored my impression of writing stories in words in general - like, I feel like it's something anyone with a half decent grasp of language can do, that it's nothing amazing, especially when compared with drawing, modeling, composing and other kinds of creative skills. I keep feeling like this is why my work got no attention - it's in the wrong medium.

No matter how much I'm reminded of successful literature authors like JK Rowling or George RR Martin, or TV/movie writers like Joss Whedon, or video game writers like the ones at Bio Ware or Obsidian Entertainment, I just can't seem to be convinced of the merits of being a good writer relative to being an artist, modeler, musician etc. This can cause issues since I don't think I know how to encourage others to be writers anymore, like a friend of mine.

I know this is almost certainly an irrational view, and it's even more complicated because despite everything I actually do still have ideas for a possible novel or even a series of novels, but my mind is just kind of stuck on this position right now.

Is there anything I could do about this? Thank you for any suggestions.

To relative merits: Why is not being a *more* significant art-form than music or painting important? All art is a valid form of expression. Channelling your thoughts and feelings into a given shape or form should not be prioritised based on medium. Prose has certain advantages, including the opportunity for description and context; theatre, sculpture and animation have others. If you feel like your thoughts are best conveyed in words, write them down!

Also, why should getting a lot of money off of your personal expression ever be a goal? Being able to support yourself doing what you love, sure, but you talk about "successful authors" like writing a best-seller is the only kind of "success" that matters. The ideal is connect with people who care deeply about what you do and be able to afford to give yourself the creative time that you need. Wide acclaim is a tangentially possible perk, not the Holy Grail.

Also bear in mind that judging the possibility of supporting yourself as a writer ( which most writes don't by the way) by the reception of your fanfic is... well, rather foolish. Fanfic does not have much (if any) of a paying market to start with. The likelihood that you could support yourself with fanfic is vanishingly small, even if the quality of your writing is on a par with Hemingway, Thurber, Tolkien, Pratchett, Adams, and Gaiman all rolled into one.

edited 22nd Jun '14 1:01:01 PM by Madrugada

Add to the fact that most of the audience for fanfic is just other people who write fanfic and some diehard fans of that thing and you have a really, really skewed gauge of what being an author is like. Most art is appreciated primarily by people who love that art but do not make it, at least with serious intentions, particularly fictional prose. You are not preaching to the choir most of the time, even if you are one of many or part of a niche. Art should be an open world.

Thank you for your replies. I shall try my best to address them.

I'm not putting down the medium of writing or calling it inferior or anything - apologies if I gave that impression.

I just feel that, on the whole, writing is not something that wows people, or draws people's attention. A paragraph describing how a fight scene is happening? Nobody is going to stop to read 200 words of that. A picture showing a fight scene? Done nicely, that might get a whole lot of notice within just a second.

That, and well, I don't believe words are adequate for me anymore. They have served me well up to this point, but more and more it has begun feeling like a limit or constraint on what I want to do.

I guess it's worth mentioning that I'm mainly looking at the internet as my distribution platform, especially websites like Deviant Art, rather than traditional publishers. And from my experience, at least, pictures really do speak louder than the words. Maybe it's because the people I hang out with or the audience I want to aim for generally do not read, but who knows.

Sorry, I meant 'successful authors' not in the sense of being rich (although the ones I mentioned can't be doing badly in that regard either way), but in the sense of being recognized by the wider public at large, having a following, having a name, having influenced or inspired others to write as well. Personally, my creative ideas are likely always going to be more of hobby than a career - it's why I'm studying IT instead of arts in college right now.

This is sort of what I was saying above, but I am aware the amount of money I can make off fan projects is about $0. Regardless, though, even for a fan-project, I think visual arts will work better in drawing in an audience.

I suppose you have a point here though. Again it probably comes from using the internet to spread my works, especially for free. I'll need to think about this more.

You point out that almost anyone can do it, but can't almost anyone make a picture or play with a video camera to make a movie? Sure, the other two may grant a person more attention, but that might be because while art or film-making has the visual aspect, writing does not, so on the surface, it may seem less glamorous or less difficult than the other mediums, because you are not trying to make something that the audience will find visually appealing, but instead are just putting words on paper. The thing is, writing is just as much about skill as the other forms of art. Sure, anyone can "write", but not everyone can do it well. It's just as much about vision and creativity than the other forms, it just takes longer to know the whole story and to really understand what the author was getting at. I guess what I'm trying to say is, neither form is really superior- I guess, it's about what the creator things will get their vision out the best. For some people, like me, writing is the way to do it. For others, it's best done on a canvas, or on the movie screen, or many other mediums. There's no right or wrong medium, it's just dependent on the strengths of the creator. Your skills and mindset may just not be compatible with writing, but that doesn't mean it's not as good as other mediums of art.

edited 25th Jun '14 11:25:23 AM by Sibuna

I just feel that, on the whole, writing is not something that wows people, or draws people's attention

I've been wowed by written stories, just as I've been wowed by comics, videos, games, etc.

Anyway, a quick browse through any fanfiction site will show you that writing is not something just anyone can do.

I've had writing make me catch my breath, but it rarely has to do with "action." Visual media can make a big deal of things physically happening, but writing can make a stray thought hit home just as hard.

Which is not to say that action can't be impressive in writing: I seem to recall reading some pretty effective action scenes; some of the combat in the Mistborn books comes to mind, for example.

Fight scenes in literature just aren't instantly eye-catching. Admit it- if you're walking down the street and see an out-of-context fight scene described in words and the same, equally out-of-context fight scene depicted in a painting, your eye will probably go to the painting first. But the painting probably isn't going to catch all of the context of the scene that you would get from reading the scene in-context. Who's fighting? How do they feel about it? Are they enemies? Friends? Did one of them betray the other, or is it just a friendly spar? Why? What's at stake here if one of them loses?

OP, you're comparing apples and oranges here. Visual arts and literature have their own niches and stories they're most suited for telling. Literature is good for slow-boiling, introspective narratives, requiring patience and a time investment from the reader, while visual media would probably be better for spectacle. And you're correct- anyone can 'write' just by putting words on a page or computer screen, as any half-baked amateur writer or You Tube comment section will show you, but don't forget that anyone can 'draw' just by creating a picture, for which a lumpy-looking stick figure suffices, and anyone can 'make a movie' just shaking their vertically-held iPhone around.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeling that a different medium would suit your stories better; it's the nature of art. But you must understand that creating a masterpiece, regardless of medium, takes skill. No art form is any more nor any less valid than another just because one might be better at performing some arbitrary task.

edited 3rd Jul '14 9:43:28 AM by CrystalGlacia

Of course action scenes in literature can be quite powerful, just like anything else. It depends on how it's written, unlike with art where the visual aspect is what matters, not the build up, conclusion or characters involved, like in writing.

I've been amazed by art, and like the rest of you said, there have been many moments in books that also amazed me, whether they were action scenes or quiet scenes didn't matter.

So what I'm saying is, I agree with the rest of you on this topic.

edited 3rd Jul '14 11:58:59 AM by Sibuna

Oh, I'll grant that actions scenes aren't eye-catching in text (indeed, nothing is, since it's all text); that doesn't mean that written action scenes can't be impressive.

I do agree, however, that visual media tend to be rather better at grabbing attention while not actively engaged with the work—at catching the eye, in other words. That is probably one of the great strengths of visual media.

That is true. But what the visual medium lacks is the context, the build up and the emotional connection that the writing would have added. That's probably one of the best things about film, actually; it combines the eye-catching appeal with the emotions and build up to make something great.

Oh, I agree about (static) visual media lacking context and so on.

Film has its weaknesses too, I think—in particular it tends to be weaker than text at portraying thoughts and motives, and portraying abstracts and non-visual elements, I find. There are a number of books that I think wouldn't translate well to film, simply because they have elements that I feel tend to work rather better in text than on film.

Similarly, there are games that I feel would translate poorly to film or text, because interactivity or choice is an important part of the experience that they offer, which (naturally) tends to be somewhat less effective in the non-interactive media.

And again, there are stories and movies that would be poor choices for games, lacking in the opportunities for interactivity that is the video game's strength.

(These translations all presume a complete translation, not a separate experience in the same setting; indeed, I think that creating a new story in the setting can be an effective way of creating a tie-in work in a new medium, since it allows you to pick an experience that works well with that medium.)

Of course, Film has it's flaws. But if you want context as well as an appealing scene, film is one way to go.

Then again, books with illustrations probably do even better, with the novel's best elements still intact, but with an image to add to the scene with the visual aspect (barring the fact that many people may prefer to see it in their heads, and not an artist's version, which is another problem with bringing literature to film)

Though, these are if you are moving one work from one medium to another; just comparing the mediums separately makes for a whole different story, which is why they can't be compared- they are just too different.

Writing is far from easy, but it has tendency to look trecherously oposite. In fact you need whole lot talent to make something so boring looking like text engaging. At times it is really, really hard. I'm certain most here will admit sometimes (all the times?) being paranoid about quality of their text.

Only easy part about writing is starting it. Tools (computer with right program) and base skills (language and typing) are easy to aquire. But that is where easy part ends.