Imagine this: you’ve just finished writing a new short-story. This is your best work yet, and you have to share it with somebody. You decide to share it with your best friend, and while they’re reading through your writing in front of you, you suddenly feel doubtful. This is no longer your best work, but one of the worst pieces you’ve ever written. You no longer feel like the world should read it; you’d rather delete the document entirely or throw the pieces of paper into the trash. Why’d you think your writing was ever good? Can you even call yourself a writer? Maybe you should’ve chosen another hobby- but suddenly, your friend finishes reading your story and is ecstatic about it. The plot is absorbing, the characters are relatable, and your writing is impeccable. You suddenly feel better about your writing- you want to take the document out of your deleted files, you’d like to pick up the pieces of paper out of the trash. You take a step back, realizing that you’ve been through a whirlwind of emotions within the course of only five minutes. What is this, really?
This feeling is called Writer’s Imposter Syndrome, a very common feeling amongst writers. Writer’s Imposter Syndrome can be defined as an extreme doubt of one’s writing abilities to the point that they question their title as a writer or their talents as a writer. There is usually no evidence that shows that this individual should be doubting their writing, either. So, what causes this dismal feeling?
I think a multitude of outside factors can affect writers and their feelings about their writing. Why is it that we can write when there’s no deadline, but when there is a deadline, we experience the worst writer’s blocks of our lives? Why can we freewrite, but a prompt makes us second-guess our work?
Writer’s Imposter Syndrome appears in the strangest of circumstances and in the strangest of ways. Perhaps there’s a big change about to happen in your life, or maybe you’re completely dry of ideas. Whatever the circumstance is, it tends to make you doubt yourself when you’re writing. So, how can we defeat the scary feeling of being an imposter? The simple answer is this: let your writing come to you in waves. While it may feel torturous to stare at your screen or piece of paper without any words to throw onto it, know that it’ll come to you eventually. This may be hours later, days later, or even weeks later, but art cannot be rushed. I think that’s the biggest thing to take out of this. The more forced or rushed the art is, the more you yourself may not enjoy the finished product. At the end of the day, what you do is for you, and that can be enough motivation to help overcome that feeling of Writer’s Imposter Syndrome. Ideas will come, and art will be made. If you write once a year or once everyday, you’re still a writer. Writing is a talent that we hone in on when we discover that we enjoy doing it, and it takes time and patience to formulate. Never lose hope!