What Do You Do With the Doubts?

[Surihpas]

Would love to hear some of your opinions, and maybe tips as well, about doubts and how you deal with them.

Recently I've been feeling them far more often, and much more strongly at that. It puts me in a situation where I want to write but also can't bring myself to do it, since I feel like my ideas/writing are just not good enough. I could say I should wait until I have an idea I'm 100% confident in but I don't think it'll happen, certainly not if I'll just sit around and wait for it to show up. Then again, a part of me thinks that maybe these doubts are justified, and that what I have is just not good enough, that maybe this is something I should give up on.

My question is, what do you think about doubts? Do you listen to them, or find a way to counter them? And if you do, what helps you overcome these doubts, or at least make them a little more quiet?

[faisalhussein394]

When I start making stories for the first time, I have doubts as I go along and this happens more often until I realised what I like is not enough to expand my mind for storytelling.

I first look and read at comics from western pop culture and Japanese comics but I realize I was just paying attention to battles and that's not convincing enough to start stories. I made mistakes of starting it off with a bang and I don't think it's a good start.

Although I'm not much into novels, I look into entertaining reviews about novels such as the expanse, hunger games, and more on Youtube and they point out some flaws. Even with that, I am not filled with confidence to start a story writing just yet so what do I do? I start reading into histories, mythologies, and real-life events.

Histories about the bronze age all the way to the Napoleonic age got me excited to learn more, and the mythologies of gods and heroes are fascinating. That was the moment where I am now confident and passionate about making my own comic though inspired by histories, and mythologies, I try to make it as original as I can.

It is at this current event, That I made a comic that has middle eastern influence, histories, and mythologies but with my own set of originality called Mukhtar on Tapas.

You just need to find something you like/love and turn it into a comic/Novel the way you like it. It may not satisfy everyone but than again, everyone has their preferred genres.

[Snowdrop]

Hi !
In my opinion doubts are a big part of the creative process. It does become inconvenient and unpleasant when it takes too much place and stops you.

I personally do not have a way to avoid them, with time I tried to understand how they appear and the role they play.

They can be useful, I often try to take them in consideration when having to take a decision.
But when getting overwhelmed and need to just get things done, I would suggest to do it one little thing at a time. Do not look at the mass of work, you already are aware of the whole picture. If you do not know where to start or do not have an order of priority, just start something (and then another, and another etc.).

And if it is just too much or goes nowhere, sometimes it can be a relief to take a few steps back (like you are doing now) or decide to stop.
Ideas will always come back one day or another .

I hope I didn't confuse you here and that you'll find your own way to deal with your doubts !
Take your time and hang in there !

[Surihpas]

Hahaha no you did not confuse me at all. I actually think it's a solid piece of advice especially considering the fact the doubts now are because I tried getting back into something I'm working on (and have not put up anywhere yet) that I don't have all the details of sorted out. Ironically, that thoughts came up after making some progress with organizing (though not with more writing yet). So trying to not look too far ahead might be what I need to do... or at least try to lol.

Regardless though, even just the encouragement in and on itself really helps. So thank you.

[RainbowCat]

Happens to me all the time Some days I just wonder if my writing is really worth all the time I put into it. This happens a lot when I didn't get any feedback on my story for a while (no views, likes, etc.)

Depending on the situation and the specific doubts I have, I found different way to overcome that phase:

• Reread my own work, scenes that I really enjoy, and try to act as a fan of my own work. Sometimes that's enough to give me back the fun of writing
• Message a friend who always supports me. She doesn't read my stories because she's really busy and prefers a different genre but she always tells me that when I'm passionate about it, I'll do something great. Some days I really just need someone to tell me that I can be good enough
• Message a friend who read my stories. I can talk to her about the story, get feedback on specific scenes or characters and tell her exactly what I'm worried about.
• Message a friend who writes. Talking about my general doubts while writing helps when the person I'm talking to can relate and give advice or at least just makes me feel like I'm not alone with this feeling

[powerplantanimations]

Whenever that happens I usually reevaluate my entire story and try to add something that I think would get me motivated again. Maybe there's something in there that just isn't working forcing me to tinker with it more.

So far I've created new lore, created a cool new concept, and then finally I killed off the main character. I also recommend creating soundtracks. Try to find songs with beats and lyrics that connect. This should motivate you. Especially when you find new songs. Makes the story deeper.

[LCT_m_a_d]

Doubt is the only one who is personally invested in what I draw.

In all seriousness I have more experience with being surprisingly successful, than I have with knowing what I'm doing is good enough or worthwhile. So I just try to go into anything ambitious knowing that performing in the face of doubt will always be 80% of the struggle. I don't have the experience as an artist to be sure about much of anything.

[Nada]

I doubt all the time, the writing, the plot, the dialogues,... and if I post something and then I don't like it, I have to find a way to solve it in later episodes, I always investigate, but inevitably, I make mistakes, like everyone else and I'm aware of it.

We weren't born with billions of pieces of knowledge in our heads (that's obvious), but we learn everything based on our experiences.

[EncryptedWriting]

Toss them in a blender and into the garbage can. I may write horrible stuff, but if I let that haunt me, then I'll go nowhere.

[Lensing]

Split your work in 2 phases
It´s necessary to have doubts for phase 1
There are no doubts in phase 2

Phase 1 is called training
Doubts are necessary. Know that you suck, everyone sucks.
Get critique, have a mentor, write down a list with things to work on
train

Phase 2 is creation
No doubts, don´t think about rules and theory
This is the most important part: don´t think about a target audience
or what people might think about your creation, there is no place for
this in the creation phase. Create something only you are passionate
and emotional about and which is 100% entertaining for you.
When a "I´m not good enough" pops up in the creation phase then
it means that you don´t listen to your own inner voice what you really
want to create

repeat phase 1
repeat phase 2

To find the inner voice is not easy because it makes you vulnerable and that can be a reason for doubts
to but that´s also where the authentic and interesting stories are hidden

[MottotteShinji]

I always doubted myself ever since I could remember and even more so now, always comparing my novel to Mushoku Tensei thinking that my novel is trash, which almost made me prevent myself in publishing my novel online. do I listen to my doubts? most of the time yes... but there are times that I don't listen to it, listening to songs to help me push the thoughts or doubts plaguing my mind, sometimes playing with friends helps me.

[darthmongoose]

Well, here's my advice:
Set realistic, achievable goals for your projects.

You say you're not 100% confident in your idea and you don't think your ideas are good enough... but the question then is... "you're not 100% confident in your ideas being good enough to achieve what?"

Like okay, if you're still developing and learning, then maybe you're not ready for a goal like "I want to make something that gets picked up as a Tapas original and made into an anime!" and putting that kind of goal on yourself is a bad idea. Start out with clear, manageable goals like:

"I want to make a series and continue until I have 100 updates"
"I want my novel to have 50,000 words."
"I want to write/draw a complete story"
"I want to make a 12 page comic that I can submit to an anthology"
"I want to make 5 pages of my best sequential art and go to a portfolio viewing with a real editor."
"I want to make a series that can get 100 subs on Tapas without sub-for-sub"
"I want to make a short, self-contained series to test out a totally different style/genre"
"I want to have fun and make friends!"

These are things that you CAN reasonably aim for. If you feel intimidated, it's probably because you're putting way too much pressure on both yourself and your idea to rocket to the big leagues before you're ready.
My past comics usually had aims like "I want to try to place in this national competition" which I sometimes succeeded at, and sometimes didn't, or "I want to make this short comic for this anthology before the deadline", or "I want to show I can do a different genre from the ones I'm known to work in".

I aimed a little too high with my comic and got pretty demoralised because I set myself "get 2000 subs and pitch to be on a Tapas Premium program" as a goal, thinking that was reasonable for an experienced artist, and when the algorithm changed and sub gain slowed a lot for everyone, I felt really bogged down.
Some smart friends seeing the state I was in told me to instead focus on what had been my secondary goal: Complete book 1 (chapters 0-3) so I can make it into a print edition. This was the right call, because Tapas changed things around, scrapped the 2000 sub requirement for premium series, and then not long after I finished chapter 3 (during which I broke 1000 subs) I got an email from Tapas inviting me to a Premium program. If I'd quit because my idea "isn't good enough" to achieve the ridiculous goal I'd set myself, I wouldn't have achieved it! I'm thankful to my friends for telling me to just focus on making a fun and solid 150+ page comic to the best of my ability as my goal and just believing in my ability to do that.

Pace yourself! It's okay for your goal to just be "I want to challenge myself to draw/write things I struggle with and learn from the experience" or "I want to write a long enough short story to get a really thorough critique from more experienced creators." Your stories don't all need to be top-drawer ideas. Some of them can be silly little things you just make for fun, or to explore a style or idea... and sometimes those are actually the ones that unexpectedly blow up! Remember; your story doesn't have to change the world or be the greatest ever, it just has to entertain people, so focus on that first.

[river121693]

remember that you need to make shitty work before your work gets better. Even if you doubt your work, just keep going. Have checkpoints at the end of each chapter to rest your mind and recuperate. Put what you wrote away for a week or month, then move on to the next chapter.
Then go back and see what you can do better. Ask for critiques. Find for an editor.

I've dropped projects out of doubt before, only to go back a year later and find that "hey this actually was pretty decent." I've also improved a lot over the course of my story, and have had to re-write/draw my earlier chapters. Both are encouraging.

[system]

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