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What Is Your Greatest Fear as a Writer?

November 17, 2010 by Nathan Bransford 265 Comments

Writers are by nature intense creatures. I really believe people who are creatively inclined tend to experience life, well, more intensely than other humans.

Combine that with trying to break into or stay afloat in a tough publishing business, and the writerly pursuit is not without its fears and anxieties.

So what is your greatest fear as a writer? A horrible review? People not liking your book? Obscurity? Paper cuts?

Filed Under: The Writing Life Tagged With: Staying Sane While Writing, You Tell Me

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. elczenius says

    November 17, 2010 at 9:46 pm

    That anything I get published will be reviewed as "just like [insert famous author]'s writing!" I'd hate to be known as a poor mimic of a great author I admire.

    Reply
  2. wonderer says

    November 17, 2010 at 9:51 pm

    It's a toss-up between:

    – never being published

    and

    – being published (in novel length) once and selling so poorly that I'm never published again.

    Reply
  3. See Elle Oh says

    November 17, 2010 at 9:57 pm

    Lots of things about writing scare me. Sometimes I'm afraid I don't read enough or widely enough or the right things. Other times I fear not having the stamina or the stomach to make a serious go of it.

    My biggest fear, though, has to be that I'm not good. That somehow I managed to dupe all the people who ever complimented my work, or that the good stuff was a fluke.

    All She Writ

    Reply
  4. Ted Fox says

    November 17, 2010 at 10:13 pm

    I'm with you, Michelle–never dropping that "aspiring" moniker.

    Reply
  5. Julie says

    November 17, 2010 at 10:19 pm

    My greatest fear is that I'm kidding myself and maybe, I suck.

    Reply
  6. Bryan Russell (Ink) says

    November 17, 2010 at 10:20 pm

    Hmmm… that's a tricky one. I'd have to say the worsts fears for me would be 1) never becoming as good a writer as I want to be, or 2) never having a chance to write all the stories I want to write.

    Reply
  7. Jeanne says

    November 17, 2010 at 10:22 pm

    That I'll find out that while I'm good at expressing myself with words and relating descriptions of my observations, I suck at storytelling or coming up with innovative fiction.

    It wouldn't be a total loss. I could focus on creative non-fiction. But would I still be able to dream of being a novelist?

    Reply
  8. Shane says

    November 17, 2010 at 10:26 pm

    Fears? We don't need no stinking fears! (Said with a cheech and chong accent.)

    Nothing. I fear no one or nothing. Well, except that guy who pointed a gun at my head once, I was in a bit of a pickle that day.

    As a writer, nothing. Do what you love, love what you do and let the chips fall where they may.

    Ok, enough trite, cliche's… TIME! Not enough time in the day to get the story out and on paper, err, disk.

    Reply
  9. crow productions says

    November 17, 2010 at 10:34 pm

    I went as far as writing it, querying about it, sent it in to an agent… I haven't heard anything. What if they hate it?

    Reply
  10. Anonymous says

    November 17, 2010 at 10:38 pm

    Mine is exactly was Sabrina Shields said.

    Reply
  11. Shayda Bakhshi says

    November 17, 2010 at 10:40 pm

    That all my blood/sweat/tears, careful research, and wordsmithing prowess will be no match for the powers of Bad Timing.

    "I love this project, but I just recently sold something like it. . ."

    "I'm not taking clients anymore. . ."

    "I'm not a literary agent anymore. . ." *COUGH* 😉

    (In all seriousness, you are awesome and I think it's cool you're doing something new and exciting! But I did have to throw that in.)

    But yeah. That's got to be my biggest fear–doing everything right, but submitting at the wrong time/with the wrong project for the agents/market.

    Although I'd be willing to bet that if I'm successful, I'll have a whole new slew of fears, which is both exciting and scary.

    Reply
  12. Cathi says

    November 17, 2010 at 10:57 pm

    My greatest fear is that I've put the last 5 years of my life on hold for nothing…

    Reply
  13. Rane Anderson says

    November 17, 2010 at 10:59 pm

    My greatest fear is dedicating all of my time and energy and soul and hopes and…and………

    and then not arriving at the goals I've set for myself.

    I try not to think about my fears about writing and publishing, though. It will only hold me back.

    Reply
  14. Jodi Henry says

    November 17, 2010 at 11:03 pm

    That Stephen King will read my novel and tell everyone I am a hack.

    Oh, wait, he's already done that to someone.

    Okay new, fear.

    That no one will read the things I want to write about.

    Or if they do it will be in the bathroom for lack of anything else to read.

    J

    Reply
  15. G says

    November 17, 2010 at 11:03 pm

    My biggest fear is being ignored.

    Reply
  16. Katherine Hyde says

    November 17, 2010 at 11:35 pm

    1) That I will never publish a novel.
    2) That I will publish something that I will later be embarrassed by–that I will fail to live up to my own internal standard of excellence.

    Reply
  17. Susan Lewis says

    November 17, 2010 at 11:50 pm

    My greatest fear is that I'm not good at it and don't have the ability to be great.

    Reply
  18. Leah says

    November 17, 2010 at 11:52 pm

    That I'll never finish. Or if I somehow manage to complete a whole book… that it'll be crap.

    Reply
  19. Lillian Grant says

    November 17, 2010 at 11:52 pm

    I used to be terrified I would never get published. Now I am terrified that with one book out I will never get another one published. The time it takes to get a response to submissions in the publishing world doesn't help. It has me on the edge of a breakdown 24/7.

    Reply
  20. johnvise says

    November 17, 2010 at 11:55 pm

    Never getting that first bloody book sold.

    Reply
  21. johnvise says

    November 17, 2010 at 11:56 pm

    Though rationally, once that book is sold, I'm sure another greatest fear will develop.

    Reply
  22. Wendy and Charles Siefken says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:07 am

    My greatest fear as a writer is that no one will like my stories. I have been working of finding an Agent for almost a year now and still haven't had any luck yet. I have edited and revised but still no takers. Now I find that you are no longer an agent! I will keep trying and keep revising. But I fear I have edited as… much as I, a non professional, can do. I hope someday you are open to receiving queries again. Have a great day,

    Reply
  23. Henya says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:11 am

    Paper cuts…number one on the list. Seriously…I'm afraid of success. That means going out there and having to talk about my book and, oh boy, about myself. I am not that interesting. I am not that good of a writer (Oh…the voices…the voices. They'll kill me).

    Reply
  24. Will Foley says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:12 am

    I'm actually torn: I have two.

    The first, obviously, is not getting published. That would be terrible.

    The second is not expressing an idea where it would fit perfectly, like if I come up with some new scene that's just filled with crazyawesomeYEAH, but won't fit into the book where I am now, but rather at some later point. And then once I'm past said point, I look back and realize that I forgot to use that awesome scene I had envisioned, and that if I went back to rewrite it would make the plot's direction look like a squiggly line.

    Reply
  25. Mariam Maarouf says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:13 am

    I don't worry much about people liking my book – I can't please everyone and other people have already told me they liked it. But my greatest fear as a writer is people not liking my *writing* per se – technique wise.

    I'm a science-lover, and I believe that everything, including writing, should follow some certain rules and guidelines, and if my writing doesn't follow it, it means that I, as a writer, have failed to make my writing worth reading.

    Reply
  26. Anonymous says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:18 am

    "I really believe people who are creatively inclined tend to experience life, well, more intensely than other humans."

    Some might think that's a little self-indulgent.

    I remember a great line from an old film that went something like this: Some people drink because they are poets, some drink because they aren't poets.

    Reply
  27. Kristin Laughtin says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:19 am

    Lately it's been that my writing doesn't live up to my ideas.

    If I were to be published, it'd probably be inadvertently writing something that can be interpreted as offensive and getting labeled as racist, sexist, etc. I know some people will not like whatever work I produce anyway, but I would hate to write something so poorly that it could be misinterpreted like that.

    Reply
  28. Heidi says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:20 am

    Haha, paper cuts. Just kidding. I would have to say either that 1) I never finish anything properly or 2) my writing is actually terrible.

    Reply
  29. JDuncan says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:20 am

    This is a hard one. I think currently, my greatest writerly fear is finishing my three-book debut contract and having things go so poorly that I never sell again. It's that whole, "dreams achieved and then dashed" thing. It's an irrational fear and I don't think it will happen, but it's there nonetheless.

    Reply
  30. Anonymous says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:24 am

    My antidepressant keeps me from writing well so I've just stopped taking it. Doing so has done leaps and bounds for my writing inspiration and output. I need to feel certain feelings in order to write what I have got to write. I fear both finding out that my writing is not worth putting my well-being on the line and also that putting it on the line is the only way to write.

    Reply
  31. Jil says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:27 am

    That my computer skills will not get my manuscripts out formatted in the way I have spent so many hours preparing them. The one time I did send something the rejection came advising me not to send things in pink! Pink?

    Reply
  32. wheresmypencil says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:33 am

    My biggest fear is putting all this time and effort into doing something I love and am acutally passionate about and discovering it's no good. I'm no good. That my writing, the story, everything is so bad my own family won't even pick it up. And yes, even though I'm on my third revision, no one but me as actually read what I've written.

    This kind of failure I've never experienced in anything, and yet I'm more terrified of it than anything else because writing is the one thing that has and always will just be me; my thoughts, my words. And if they fail I'll have no one to blame.

    Reply
  33. Magdalena Munro says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:38 am

    I am deathly afraid of mediocrity….something that has plagued me since having been besieged by the happy bug for about a year now. (Yup…I'm one of those writers that writes best when wallowing in angst)

    Reply
  34. StaceyW says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:41 am

    While I was writing the first draft of my first novel, I experienced this fleeting fear each time I sat down to start a new section or a new chapter or even a new sentence that I'd somehow lost my touch.

    That I no longer had the ability to craft strong sentences. That I'd lost the drive that kept my fingers flying across the keys. That I'd lost the ability to write, period.

    It was irrational – and thankfully unfounded. I can still put a sentence together. I'm still driven. I'm still a writer.

    And I completed the manuscript.

    Now, my greatest fear is that it won't be published.

    Reply
  35. Lia says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:41 am

    That I only had one good idea and I already used it up.

    (Otherwise, what Sherri said!)

    Reply
  36. Niki Schoenfeldt says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:44 am

    Working to hone my craft all this years only to find out I suck.

    Reply
  37. Aimee Dearmon says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:46 am

    That I'm kidding myself. That I'm one of those fools who considers themselves a writer, but can't really write any better than a British mute can speak Chinese.

    Also, that my real endeavors are nothing but a huge waste of time.

    Reply
  38. February Grace says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:47 am

    Writing like a coward–meaning worrying too much what other people will think of the work.

    It's been a new experience for me the past year, and only started once I began looking into the idea of finding an agent. I hate that.

    I quickly realized I'm not cut out for the 'business' end of writing, and now, I just want my art back.

    I'm trying to find my way back to fearless writing, but it's proving more difficult than I'd imagined in my nightmares.

    My fear? Staying where I am now. I have to get beyond it.

    ~bru

    Reply
  39. Bryan says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:49 am

    Bears.

    Reply
  40. Becky says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:52 am

    not finishing my novel after I told everybody I was writing one.

    Reply
  41. Alex Adams says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:55 am

    That the zombie apocalypse will start before my book hits the shelves. I don't think zombies are big readers.

    Reply
  42. Harbinger of Truth says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:56 am

    My greatest "FEAR" is spending an entire lifetime BEGGING literary agents like yourself to look at my work and being turned down, only to be discovered and become a raging success after I either commit suicide or get hit by a bus, because my death will make me "more marketable."

    Reply
  43. Benjamin Keay says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:57 am

    Becoming posthumous before my time.

    Reply
  44. EBM says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:58 am

    There are 180 some odd responses before mine and the likelihood of this being read is low….so I will be completely honest.

    My biggest fear is losing my ability to write…..my voice. I know the day is coming when Alzheimer's will silence me and yet I still have so much to tell the world.

    Reply
  45. Anonymous says

    November 18, 2010 at 1:07 am

    For my writing to have just about as much substance and depth as a Stephanie Meyer novel.

    Reply
  46. anonymous-writer says

    November 18, 2010 at 1:14 am

    My greatest fear is that I will stop writing. That I will lose time, or lose passion. That I will forget how great it feels to start a book and how great it feels to end one.

    My greatest fear is that in a few years, I will look back and think "Why did I waste all of that time?"

    Reply
  47. Micky says

    November 18, 2010 at 1:17 am

    I'm definitely most afraid that I'm just wasting my time with writing. I'm terrified that I suck, and that no one's going to tell me until I've spent hours writing and editing my novel. I've been told all my life that I'm a good writer, but these people are my friends and family. What if the moment I query an agent I learn that I'm a horrible writer with no chance of a career? Talk about depressing!

    Reply
  48. M. M. Justus says

    November 18, 2010 at 1:21 am

    Never being read.

    Reply
  49. Becca says

    November 18, 2010 at 1:22 am

    My greatest fear is not liking what I'm writing myself. (however grammatically incorrect that sentence was.)

    Reply
  50. Anonymous says

    November 18, 2010 at 1:25 am

    I write erotica so I'm mildly concerned, strike that – terrified, that my conservative neighbors or in-laws will find out. I think of myself as a superhero trying to keep their secret identity from the world.

    Reply
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Hi, I’m Nathan. I’m the author of How to Write a Novel and the Jacob Wonderbar series, which was published by Penguin. I used to be a literary agent at Curtis Brown Ltd. and I’m dedicated to helping authors achieve their dreams. Let me help you with your book!

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