Ignoring the Inner Critic

There are some people whose writing is so delightful, it always amazes me when they express doubts about their work. I mean, if *I* am in awe of the words they string together, how can THEY not feel the same?

At the same time I understand how easy it is to doubt ourselves. There is an endless supply of writing (and authors) to compare ourselves to, so we're bound to feel inadequate way too often. Especially when our nemesis, the dastardly Inner Critic, twirls his mustache and whispers evil nothings in our too-receptive ears.

We can try to brush aside the Inner Critic, but he is resilient. You can send him sailing over the fence with one well-placed blow, yet he returns with equal force, like those punching bag toys we had as a kid. You could flatten the thing, celebrating that it was vanquished, on the ground. . .until it came flying back to pop you in the nose.

Some days it is even possible to harness the IC's negative energy, bending it to my will so that I can prove that the wretch is wrong, about me and my abilities.

But on those days when the IC seems to have been injected with some powerful venom, akin to a superpower, making his taunts particularly vicious and derailing my writing efforts, another strategy is needed.

One of my favorite wordsmiths, Janga, recently observed her grandchildren at play, and shared some of the lessons she learned in her blog post: "Child's Play: Defeating the Inner Critic". This paragraph really resonated with me:

Whether it’s Caitlin dressing—or undressing--her dolls, Luke transforming Optimus Prime to vehicle mode, or Myles practicing soccer moves, they are completely focused on what they are doing. They are able to concentrate sufficiently to block out the noise of their siblings and cousins, to ignore calls to dinner, and to respond with only an absent nod to parental demands to gather shoes and coats.

When I am consumed with my story, and the scenes the characters are re-enacting for me, I am oblivious to the Inner Critic. He could have me in a chokehold, trying to wrest me away from the laptop and I'd still be reaching towards the keyboard to type in just a few more words, all while wondering why my throat felt a little weird.

Writing isn't meant to be a chore, and when we treat it as such, it's easier for the Inner Critic to prey upon our insecurities. When we think of writing as a more joyful activity, we pretty much don't care what anyone has to say about our talents, our abilities, or our skills. The Inner Critic can blather on like the boring person at a party, unaware your eyes are glazed over because you're interested in a completely different story, the one unfolding in your mind.

This is the best way to banish the Inner Critic. Immerse yourself in your story, making yourself impervious to his taunts. Focus on what is most important: telling a story so irresistible that even the harshest critic, the one we harbor inside, can't touch it.

Comments

[Maureen O. Betita]

Or you can throw them overboard and let the kraken eat them...

[Donna Cummings]

True! Sometimes ignoring isn't quite enough. LOL

[Quantum]

It's curious, I read a lot about that annoying IC, but he doesn't bother me at all.
I might be a bit fearful of peer review, but am blissfully ignorant of my IC's opinion.

Perhaps this is a gender thing. Janga in her latest blog discusses empathy, expecting that women have more sensitive mirror neurons than men and so are more empathetic to the characters of romance fiction.

Though I wonder if visualization is involved. If you can visualize your IC criticizing you, then he will be much more powerful, and set your mirror neurons firing. I regard my IC as an abstract non-entity which cannot be easily visualized. A bit like an infinite dimensional Hilbert space. If I can't visualize him then I can't empathize and get my mirror neurons agitated.

So Donna, you simply have to stop visualizing the blighter and his power will dissipate.
Easy as that.

You could also feed him to the Kraken, like Chance suggests *LOL*

[Donna Cummings]

That's interesting, Q, about the empathy, and visualization. They are things that make it possible to write fiction, but they're the same things that give the IC such power. Mmm. I guess I'll have to quit giving him any of my visualization time now! That's an easy solution (with Kraken-feeding being a good Plan B. LOL)