Living With Your Inner Critic

“That’s a stupid idea.” “You should be doing something else.” “That doesn’t make any sense.” Sound familiar? That’s the inner critic talking. What’s the inner critic? It’s that little whisper in your head that tells you everything wrong with your writing and ideas, sometimes even before you write it!

It can strike at any time. It sneaks up on you when you least expect it, and plants tiny seeds of doubt. For me, it is usually the worst when I first begin a story. When I’m still working out the kinks, it loves it give its opinion. “This has been done a million times,” it’ll say. Or, “that’s terrible sentence structure.” I know, it’s called a first draft.

Reading your work is also a way to attract the inner critic. It’s why so many writers have a secret folder buried deep in the abyss of their computers where all of their drafts go to collect cobwebs. You know which folder I’m talking about.

The reason why I wanted to address the inner critic is because how damaging it can be to a writer, especially a new one. It can hold writers back, making them fearful of creating. The inner critic can impede any field or hobby, but since writing is such a drawn-out process, a bad relationship with your inner critic can sometimes derail an entire project.

In certain cases, though, the inner critic can be helpful.

Wait, what? How?

The reason why it exists is to protect us from embarrassment and awkward situations. It’s a natural defense mechanism. When we give into it too much is when it can become dangerous. Viewing it as constructive, however, can sometimes be helpful. In best case scenarios, it is most helpful during the editing process. It points out all of the awkward sentences and forces you to rethink them. It can make you re-evaluate a certain character’s role in a story, helping you flesh-out their personality. Finding that balance, however, is the challenge.

5 Tips for Dealing with the Inner Critic

• Stream-of-consciousness writing

By nature, most of my writing is stream-of-consciousness. Jumping into a story with little to no idea where it is going is something I find fun and exciting. You don’t have to write an entire novel like this, but try starting with a blank page and just writing what comes to mind. Don’t edit, don’t second guess, just write.

• Turn a negative into a positive

Fight back! The worst thing you can do is let the inner critic make you believe you aren’t capable of writing. When it rears its ugly head, turn what it says into a positive. “Yeah, that’s a bad sentence, but it’s only the first draft.” “This character does seem flat, but I’m still fleshing it out.” When it’s time to edit and you need the inner critic, view it as constructive criticism. When it says, “This paragraph is pointless,” examine it and determine how you should go about revising it and why you wrote it to begin with instead of deleting the whole thing out of reflex.

• Write all of the "weirdest" things that pop in your head

One of the first things my inner critic likes to tell me is, “that’s a stupid idea, it’s too weird.” However, fantasy is one of my favorite genres, and I remind myself that when everything is “weird,” nothing is weird. This isn’t the case for all fiction though. An exercise I like to do is writing out ideas that pop in my head, no matter how “weird” they may seem. These can be story ideas, plot points, characters, whatever. The repeated act of getting an idea from brain to page will help you become more comfortable with writing out your own ideas.

• Don’t compare yourself to others

Comparing your work to someone else's or an author you admire is a fast way to stall your creativity. No work is perfect. In case no one has told you yet, your first draft won’t be the greatest work of all time. Often times when I write, I limit myself on the amount of books I read. It helps me focus my ideas and polish my writing style.

• Go easy on yourself

Often times when we write, we are jumping ahead and trying to determine how an audience will view our work. While this is helpful when determining if a sentence makes sense or not, it can impact your creativity. Not everyone is going to like your work. Shocking, right? But that also means that plenty of people will. Don’t take the fun out of writing just because your work isn’t as polished as you think it should be. Allow yourself the time to learn and grow as a writer. As my high school art teacher would always tell us, “the Mona Lisa wasn’t painted in a day.”

Learning how to deal with your inner critic will take time and patience. Don’t beat yourself up and remember why you started writing in the first place. If you have any tips of your own, leave them in the comments below!

Happy writing!

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