To Suck or Not To Suck? [Writing Tips]

|32| How We Know We're Good Writers

Requested by: WALKERSPERKS

Thanks for requesting!

And I'm so sorry for the long wait.

Ladies and gents, I bring you the last chapter of To Suck or Not To Suck?: How We Know We're Good Writers. I see it as only fitting since the first chapter of this book was titled Why We Think We're Good Writers?

In this chapter I'm not going to go on my usual rants or suggest any tips that a majority of you will probably ignore anyway. I'm going to be as honest as possible, without all the snark and sarcasm. But if it comes off like that anyway, I apologize. Sometimes I can't help it.

When Maria first requested this chapter, I was super happy. I saw it as the perfect opportunity to complete this book that I've been writing since 2015 (crazy, right?), and come full circle in a way. It's almost ironic that the last chapter was about ending stories, and here I am, ending this one. It's kinda bittersweet. But let me get back on track, before I get emotional.

The deeper I got into writing this chapter, the more I noticed that it wouldn't be like the others. It was different. A revelation, of sorts. It might not give you what you're looking for when you read it, but I'm sorry 'cuz it's all I've got. Okay, here we go.

How do we know we're good writers? It shouldn't be that hard of a question to tackle, but it is. It's one of those questions you can rack your brain about, or analyze until there's nothing left. You know, analyzing sounds like a great idea, so let me do that.

First we must ask ourselves what is good? I'll tell you. Good is subjective. Good is really freaking subjective. It's you saying that this restaurant down the street from you is good, but some other person doesn't like it all that much. It's you thinking this celebrity is good, but someone else thinking they're awful. It's one of your family members thinking a television show is good, but you thinking it's absolutely ridiculous and wondering where they got their taste in television.

Yes, we have different opinions, but why is it that these things are good to one person but not the other? Why, it could be for a multitude of reasons. The food at the restaurant is good, but their service is awful. The celebrity is a good person, but not so great of an actor. The TV show is good to that certain demographic, but not to yours.

So, yeah, good is subjective. And something can be good for a lot of reasons, but it's got to be justified. You with me? I hope so.

The reason why we think we're good writers is because people coddle us. I said it once before and I'll say it again. Fans of writers are people-pleasers, and they want to be nice, but that's not what we need. We need constructive criticism. For example, take a look at the comments you see on your books. How many are the usual compliment, and how many are telling you exactly what they like/you're doing right? Weed out those comments that take thought and really read them to know what people think of your writing.

While that won't give you the answer to the above question, it'll give you a good idea of where you probably stand.

How do we know we're good writers? It's tricky, because how do we know we're good at anything? How do we know we're good at school work, or a sport we play, or a celebrity impersonation? Easy. Validation. People tell us we're good at things, and we take those words and run with them. That validation becomes law. But does that validation really matter when it's coming from family or a trusted friend? Of course it does, but not in the way you might think.

You see, that validation is how one out of ten people may view us, but it's not how we view ourselves. Can we validate ourselves? Heck yes. Does it have much basis? Not necessarily, but it does matter. The same can be said for our writing. If you're proud of what you write, that's great. Keep being proud, let your writing make you happy. But does being proud of what we've written mean it's good? No, unfortunately.

I'm going to be honest. I have no idea if I'm even making sense, because my ideas are all over the place trying to give an answer to this question, but I can't. That's how deep this is, with so many layers to examine that thinking about delving into them makes me want to pull my hair out.

I wish I could sit here and tell y'all that I have the answer to this, but I can't because I don't. I'm just one person, and this is a question that one person cannot answer. I can only give you this: writing is hard. It's so dang hard, and translating our thoughts into words is a feat not everyone can manage, so even if we suck, that's gotta count for something, right?

How do we know we're good writers? It's simple. We don't, because the definition of good fluctuates. Good is never the same for anyone, and due to that very fact, there is no valid answer to this question. 

Maybe some days we're good, and some days we just aren't. Maybe we were never good and thought we were, or maybe we thought we were bad and were actually good. Maybe we think our writing is good while nobody else does, and maybe our writing we think is awful is good to others. Outside of the obvious, nobody knows what anybody is looking for when they say "good" writing because the definition is different for everyone.

Here's the thing: maybe we're not good writers. Or maybe we're awesome writers. Or maybe we just flat out suck. We can never be sure of what we are or aren't and it took me, the tips writer, some time to realize that. Going back to something I said earlier, perhaps the only thing we have is our own validation. We'll never truly know if we're good writers, because ours and society's definition of good is always changing, always evolving. So . . .

To Suck or Not To Suck?

In the end, who really knows?