The Writer’s Inner Critic

The inner critic is the voice that tells you that your writing is terrible and will always be terrible. That you're not meant to write. That your sentences are pathetic, your story is something only a novice would write, that you have no imagination. That you'll never be as good as this writer, or never make as much money as that writer – so what's the point?

“For me and most other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts. The first draft is the child's draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

This is an excerpt from The Successful Author Mindset. Available now in ebook, print and audiobook formats.

This inner critic can fuel our self-doubt and fear of failure and can even stop us writing altogether.

So how do you shut down that voice in order to get words on a page?

Antidote

Recognize the thoughts

You need to identify those critical thoughts so they are not just running through your mind like black sand, squashing the life from you.

Julia Cameron's idea of morning pages from The Artist's Way is one method for doing this. The idea is to write three pages longhand every day and let everything out, all your thoughts and feelings about the world, about your writing. In that way, you will recognize the negative thoughts and exorcize them on the page.

Sure, they will come up again tomorrow – this isn't something that ever ends for creatives – but for today, you know what they are and you can move into writing. I do this by journaling, but often only write a few paragraphs. That is enough.

Another way is meditation. Sit and watch your thoughts, listen to them and identify that they are not you. They lose their power and you can get on with writing.

Tell your critic to relax for now

We need that critical voice during the self-editing part of the creative process but not in first draft writing, so tell your critic to please take a nap for now and that you will honor her later when her help is needed. You don't want to banish her completely, because that critical eye is important for improvement, you just want her to rest for now.

I used to get angry and try to shut that part of me down. There are countless articles on silencing or removing that inner critic. But I try to be thankful now, and gentle. I talk to that part of myself, something like this:

Thank you for helping me to be critical in the editing process, but right now, I need some time to play and be creative. I need you to rest, but please come back when I'm done and you can help me with the next part.

This may sound weird, but talking to myself has become part of my creative ritual. I do it in my head so I don't look like a crazy person!

Start writing anyway

Put your butt in the chair and get some words on the page. You don't have to sit down to write ‘the best book ever,' as your inner critic will slaughter that idea pretty fast! But you can sit down to write the few lines that are in your head, or just a little chapter on something.

Don't make the event into something scary. Don't build your part up. You're just sitting down to write. What could be so threatening about that? Make it fun and your inner critic may not even notice that you're writing!

“We are not our writing. Our writing is a moment moving through us.” Natalie Goldberg, Wild Mind

This is an excerpt from The Successful Author Mindset. Available now in ebook, print and audiobook formats.