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One thing that you’ll find as you try to progress with your creative writing is that you’ll pick up a lot of `shoulds’ and shouldn’ts:
- I should write in one genre
- I shouldn’t write that type of story as it has been done before.
- I should follow everyone else’s advice instead of my own as they must know better.
- I should write daily or be quicker/slower/more perfectionist/less perfectionist in my writing/editing.
When you start hearing all these shoulds you will find it difficult to enjoy your writing because you are becoming caught up in a `must do’ attitude.
The way to help yourself get out of this is to remember how you would have written as a child. Chances are you wouldn’t have cared about all of the above shoulds and shouldn’ts but would have just written what you wanted to write. Granted we do have to up our game more as we get older but don’t block yourself with too much limitations. Think of your options as open. Keep them open. You may have a plan and a route but allow yourself room to manoeuver.
Years ago, I would have never considered having anything too fantastical in my writing, fairies were out, dragons were out. Not because I didn’t like them but because I felt that I should try to be as realistic as possible. While that is true to some extent, I now see the error of my ways. Fae don’t have to be tiny, little winged creatures neither do dragons have to mean high fantasy. I also realise that I was limiting myself where previously I would have written a story I wanted to tell and would try to create a sense of realism.
Sometimes you have to forget all the limitations and all the pressure and just tell your stories.
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Nicely said; it is true sometimes we are the ones that limit our writing. I have learned to write without expectations, just for the love of it.
Thanks. I look back now and realize just how much I limited my writing in the last few years. Then I remember writing just for the love of it all through my teenage years and how wonderful it felt.