Ah it is going to the "Advisory Board" and the "Publication Committee". So maybe "reviewers" would be a term for one of those.

You're welcome...I hope my changes helped. Good luck with the next step, which I haven't heard of, either.

126,665

Chopping revision done, now for more editing.

How do you all shut your internal critic the hell up?

I do a lot of my writing in my head, you know? I even do this with things like recaps. It's just how it works for me. And for me, this process does work (more often than not). I get a pretty good jump on how it's going to be written down (even wording, etc.), before I even write it, but...

A couple of weeks ago I had this powerful experience. I referenced it up-thread. I saw this person and a good chunk of this story popped into my head. I've been mentally writing it since then, but keep criticizing it and changing it -- even so far as to genre-hop. Now my mental critic is telling me it's trite, predictable and shouldn't even be written.

That's fine, I've had lots of trite ideas that I've chucked. But my memory of this guy -- who spawned this character -- he isn't going away. And he's brought some other characters with him, and they're not going away, even though they're the ones my critic hates.

I'm starting to think the critic is self-doubt and fear, this time, not a helpful filter. I'd knock her unconscious if I could do it without knocking the rest of me unconscious. At this point, I think I have to write this story or I'll never write another thing again.

My critic has been relentless, though. I can't get out of the first scene, never mind the first chapter.

This is different than anything you've written before, Cindy? If it is, I bet that's exactly what the self-critic is.

The only way out is through, though, you know? You just have to ignore the voice and sit down and write it. My best advice after that would be to let it sit for a week or more, don't reread it, don't touch it, and then go back and see what you've got with a fresh eye.

Well yes, and really, I haven't written (or completed, more properly) much fiction at all. This is fiction. There's a love story element. There's a supernatural element.

Thanks, Amy. The problem is, I now have nothing but a title page, because I tend to delete stuff I hate. I'm going to take a shower, eat something, go into my office, close the door and write and try to not be afraid of how bad it sucks.

I do a lot of mental writing myself (I think it counts as my first draft), and I often run into "Well, really, this sucks, you know" after a while. I've had to just trust myself sometimes and write down what I think sucks and if it will at least get me through whatever section is hanging me up to a better section. If my head is generally stalling out on a section, there often is something really wrong, but in this case I think you're right in that it's "new stuff" that's providing the bogging down.

Thanks, Connie. (I'm so glad to know I'm not the only one who does a mental first draft.)

eta...

I've been reading through this whole thread this morning and back in 2008, Barb told Joe to try a DLD (don't look down) draft. I think that's what I need to do. It's scary, but something has to give.

It's not so much a draft as a "spread it out, clear the workspace in your head, sift through for savables." Along the way, you can get to the story that works and you can play with the bad stuff later.

I've been reading through this whole thread this morning and back in 2008, Barb told Joe to try a DLD (don't look down) draft. I think that's what I need to do. It's scary, but something has to give.

It IS scary and if you're just dipping your toes into fiction, perhaps it's the best approach. I do a LOT of mental writing-- as Connie said, it pretty much counts as my first draft, so that when I sit down to write, I just pretty much go and produce a pretty clean "first draft." Doesn't mean I'm not tweaking and editing as I go along, but by this point, I know my process fairly well.

However, lately, I've been fighting with the inner critic as well, because I find myself branching out into genre conventions that are MASSIVELY unfamiliar territory for me. (Ghost YA anyone? Scary? Oh, my, YES.)

Trust the story instincts, Cindy. See where it takes you.