In an article for Writer’s Digest, Julia Crouch offers advice for shutting up your inner critic. “At some point in their career, all writers question whether they are actually any good at the job,” she writes. “Some blithely brush their doubts aside and just get on. Others work themselves up into such a lather of inadequacy that at times they find they cannot write at all.”
Crouch’s tips include:
- Give the inner critics a name. They hate it when you call them out. [ed. note: We also give them the voice of someone we hate.]
- Write fast. Don’t give your inner critics time to butt in.
- Don’t get it right, get it written. Perfectionism is the inner critic’s currency. Acknowledge that your fast writing or first draft won’t be the best and just get it done.
- Don’t teach creative writing. Crouch does and she says it brings up all kinds of grammar issues when she should be writing.
- Have a plan. Even if you’re a pantser, try to have some plan for your novel, even if it’s only a bare story. Work out the kinks and dead zones before you start drafting.
- Accept that this is a sign that you are doing it right. “Questioning the work, pushing for the best possible word, phrase, sentence, is the most important part of writing,” Crouch says. “Without that, we become complacent and our writing starts to really suck.”
