Are you a good writer?

[TheOscar]

I don't consider myself a good writer and I am rarely content with what I write. Like, I will sit writing the same thing in ten different ways until I'm satisfied. And if I'm not, something's not getting turned in. My professors seem to think that I shit gold and everything that I write is just fab and I just have to sit back and wallow in my own vomit and think to myself, "If they think this is good, I can only imagine what others are turning in."

So I guess this question can be split into two:
1. Do your readers (whoever they may be) like your writing; and
2. Do you consider yourself a good writer?

I say yes to the first, but I will NEVER get passed how shitty my writing is no matter how many people tell me it's good.

Yes! I totally am the same way! I feel that my writing is HORRIBLE. I criticize it all and when I re-read it, I want to barf and sometimes I avoid re-reading it.

But I still consider myself a better writer than most people. I've always been good at it (I'm minoring in English), but I am a big critic to myself.

 

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

da world as is obvious folk no can writes shit

thankyou

 

[Swellegant]

The question I would ask is "Why do you write?" If you don't like your own writing, then maybe the form isn't for you. Maybe it's just the discipline of college papers that disgusts you. Maybe you could try a different format of writing, poetry or screenplays or something; maybe your creativity belongs somewhere else entirely.

I know I'm an excellent writer... even in college, I wrote with an almost innate skill. I recently re-read a pile of my old papers from college, and was incredibly impressed with my upper-division work. I wrote one paper without even reading the book I was writing about...the whole thing was taken from the Introduction and class notes, but it absolutely dripped with scholarly authority.

Writing fiction that will appeal to a larger audience has been something of a trial for me, though. I've had people read my work and get turned off completely by having too much sexuality right in the very beginning... and not just straight people, either. Then I start trying to pick it apart and figure out what I'm trying to say and whether I could say it without describing a young man masturbating with so much detail. And then I get all fucked up and mired down with editing.

I think I have a lot more developing in terms of telling a story before I'm ready to publish. But one of the tools that's gotten me past the futz-and-edit cycle is participating in NaNoWriMo, squeezing out a whole story of fifty thousand words in thirty days, which forces me to forge ahead without looking back until I'm done. The one year I completed the challenge, I ended up with my first finished story, which needs some revisions (a lot of revisions), but is a story with which I am wholeheartedly delighted.

Anyway, I write because I have these little universes constantly evolving in my head, and I feel compelled to turn them into little jewels on the page. Even if I never get published, I will keep on writing, simply because I love it... and I love reading my own writing almost as much as I love writing it.

 

[freefall]

Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's so bad I want to tear it into pieces.
But it's part of the process.

 

[gsdx]

1. Do your readers (whoever they may be) like your writing; and

So I've been told.

2. Do you consider yourself a good writer?

More popular than good, I would say. Apparently I have a way of 'getting a rise' out of my fans, though.

 

[Sam Blum]

...
But, back to your desired responses:
a/ Mostly, and;
b/ Yes.

 

[HornyHenry]

I have a 50% favorability which aint bad for an amateur.
For an amateur I feel I have improved over the years. I still have to proof-read what I write for typos, etc. before I post it.

 

[zoltanspawn]

I say yes to the first, but I will NEVER get passed how shitty my writing is no matter how many people tell me it's good.

You're writing seems solid to me, though we all make the odd mistake.

 

[BearBoi]

1. Do your readers (whoever they may be) like your writing; and
2. Do you consider yourself a good writer?

Yes, though I revise my writing until I achieve the level of clarity I desire. I thank an old English Prof for that good habit. It is the only way you improve. I've found that, over the years, I need to do it less and less whether I am writing an essay, responding to debate, or having fun with some fiction.

The "other stuff" your Prof. receives is probably written by folks who don't care for writing and only do it as a means of completing the course.

The difference between the two is blatant, and true educators can spot it quickly. I've no doubt the complements are genuine.

I say yes to the first, but I will NEVER get passed how shitty my writing is no matter how many people tell me it's good.

Then you are impeding your skills from growing with confidence. When you stop to doubt yourself, and you overly-revise your work, you are stripping out the ‘you’. It may read well, but it is also sterile.

The ability to to express thought and feeling with words is a gift and a craft, like any other. When you are able to relax yourself and present your innermost thoughts with ease and flow, others will read it, know it, and resonate with it -- even if they disagree with what you have to say.

The next time you receive a complement, take it for what it is. (Unless your prof. complements everybody, in which case, get yourself a new prof!)

 

[blackbeltninja]

I write well, and it has been well received and I have been published.

It is the dry, scientific stuff which has been published, though; not my preferred material which is mostly narrative.

-d-

 

[SonOfSlobone]

Most writers spend a lot of time re-writing. In fact any good writing teacher will tell you that the process of writing is mostly rewriting. So that's not a bad thing.

But what you have to learn to do, if you're working on a deadline, is not to get too hung up on one section of your piece. Don't let yourself do any serious revising until you've finished a whole draft.

 

[GamerBear]

1. I don't even know who read my writings or if anybody really likes what I write. I just continue writing if it sucks or not.

2. I think I might be a good writer I try to write stories in my head and try my best to make sense of what I write down. But to answer the question, yes I do think I'm a good writer to myself that is, to anyone else it might be no they probably don't think I'm a good writer at all.

 

[anchihiro]

I enjoy my writing, but i'm no Herman Melville. I'm always content with my ideas, the problem is finding the eloquent way of which to illuminate it best for others to truly comprehend.

 

[hylas]

every now and then, i write something that im really proud of, and it gets appreciated by others, too. but its fucking hard work.

 

[EJMichaels]

Most writers spend a lot of time re-writing. In fact any good writing teacher will tell you that the process of writing is mostly rewriting. So that's not a bad thing.

But what you have to learn to do, if you're working on a deadline, is not to get too hung up on one section of your piece. Don't let yourself do any serious revising until you've finished a whole draft.

Good points. I think the advice applies regardless of the deadline, but it becomes more important in that case.

To answer the question - I've always been told I'm a good writer - all my life, that is. I have some non-fiction publications and expect to have at least short story published soon. I did well writing school papers. I never dislike my writing, but I also don't evaluate it more favorably than anyone else does. I'd call it above average, not excellent, although I have my moments. It doesn't come easily; it takes many tries to make it acceptable to me.

 

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

is a curious of

if book shops a closes cuase folk alls move ta soundbites ans internet keep busy spinnin air etc ans world got folk alls a panic ans doin nonstop busy with alls da gizmos comein ans goin ans ooh ya out job cuase book shops closin get another ans oooh next job? ooh dat now no longers a require etc so on

who read? beside realtiy tv shows ans gossip ans stuffins?

let me guess implants just round corner
leisure whiles ya work or retrain or work or
' sorry no time fa wife or husband '
But ya gotta or
' no tell me got retrain as female or male? '
nah
' ya downsizin da population ans out of a life? '
not yet
' what ? not wanna me proof read Harry potter??? NOOOOO pleasee '
Nah got pigions ta do dat
' what then? '
it classified at mo
' OOH if was a pigion me go

anyway

sound bit mean dude just bite ma ass
OWWWWWW

 

[AlmondMilk]

I'm a terrible writer. I used to like doing it, though. My problem is that my writing really doesn't flow well. My thoughts are very scattered, so to write something, I need to do multiple revisions

Blogging kind of helped me with my writing urges in high school. I feel it helped improve my writing to a degree. Then I graduated and felt less of a need to highlight my life all over the internet. I stopped, and I think my writing became way sub-par.

 

[TheOscar]

Yeah, I know I'm better than my peers, but I just can't stand anything I write. It makes me nauseous.

Maybe that's just how good writers are? ;D

They say we are our own biggest critic.

 

[Berbenli]

My English teachers and college professors constantly pushed me to submit my writings to the various campus newsletters and read in front of everybody for school competitions. I always refused because I'm too shy and thought all my work was crap