Everybody’s a critic - Why you hate writing - The setup

Writing FAST - Jeff Bollow 2012

Everybody’s a critic
Why you hate writing
The setup

Since I’m a movie guy, I have another analogy.

I call them the Oscar-winner and the Movie Critic.

Tell me if you recognize this scenario.

One day, you have a brilliant idea for a story (a screenplay, a novel, whatever). You love it. It’s fantastic! This may be the best idea you’ve ever had in your whole life.

Inside your mind, there’s this little voice. I call him the Oscar-winner. And every time you come up with an idea, the Oscar-winner inside your mind goes nuts. He loves it. He thinks it’s the best idea since canned tuna. (He thinks your movie idea is going to win him an Oscar, see. Hence his name.)

But the problem is that the Oscar-winner loves every idea you come up with. Just the fact that you have an idea, sends the Oscar-winner into fits of hysteria. This idea is amazing! I’m so totally pumped about this one! This one’s going all the way!!!

And then you start writing.

And then you notice the other voice inside your head. I call him the Movie Critic. He starts looking over what you’ve written. But he’s a critic, so he starts pointing out all its flaws and imperfections.

Which can be a good thing. You don’t want to send your work out flawed, right?

But this voice isn’t like a real movie critic. This one criticizes everything. He doesn’t offer a balanced review. He just shreds everything. “This is terrible.” “That’s horrible.” “That over there is downright embarrassing.”

And before you know it, you’ve stopped writing, because the Movie Critic has quashed the Oscar-winner’s enthusiasm. (Now he can’t even imagine winning an Oscar. ...What, with that crap?) You hate writing because you’re judging yourself every step of

the way. The Oscar-winner is the Right-brain. The Movie Critic is the Left-brain. You need both. You couldn’t write your project on the enthusiasm of the Movie Critic. And you couldn’t objectively judge your project on the critique of the Oscar-winner.

If you can recognize those two voices in your mind, you can give each their time in the spotlight. And you can yank them off-stage when they’ve overstayed their welcome.