Reading other people's work has left me discouraged

[Newdress]

I decided it was time to start sharing my work, get some feedback. I registered on a website recommended on another thread. You review others and when you have enough credits you post your own work for feedback. All great, I feel like it would be very useful to read others work and I'm keen to learn.

But I have tried to read one after another and I struggle to even get through a short story. There is so much detail, so much description. Very imaginative ideas. I had already thought that my vocabulary was too limited to write well and that has been reinforced. My writing feels threadbare.

Is threadbare fiction a genre?!

You will always notice the things in other people’s writing that you feel are absent in yours. Raymond Carver wrote wonderfully concise, terse stories, so brevity and a lack of lavish description are not faults in themselves. It’s vital to develop your unique voice in writing and not to feel you need to be similar to anyone else. That said, if you are re-reading your writing and feeling something else needs to be said in a few places, that could be worth considering - and you can ask yourself what a character might be thinking about, how do they dress, what music do they like? Interview them in your head. This can help when you are having a problem making a character ‘live’. For me, I know I’ve nailed the person when I get a certain telling detail - they collect postcards, say, or steal small items from other people’s houses.

And read, any and everything! Low brow, high brow, The Daily Mail (ok, maybe not the last one). Cut up sections of newspapers, magazines etc and see if you can make a story out of the ‘found’ words and phrases. Language is fun, enjoy playing with it and the rest will follow.

If you are struggling to get through even short stories, that suggests these writers aren't writing what you like to read. Excessively detailed description can be off-putting, especially if it happens at the start of a story - readers don't want to wade through a long description of a place before they know its significance. Don't assume that everything you see on a forum is an example of how things should be done - like you, the other writers are using the forum to hone their craft.

Have you built up enough credits to get a critique of your own work yet? Why not see what sort of feedback you get before deciding the way you write is threadbare.

Read some Graham Greene. His was beautiful, spare, efficient prose.

I’m not sure getting into too many mutual reading situations with other unpublished writers (be it groups, websites or what have you) does an aspiring writer any good.

I have been playing writing about an event, rewriting several times, to include descriptions, change perspective, focus only on emotion etc. Then I delete it but I have kept the most recent work thinking about outside input.

I have a story I have worked on a little, but I feel I need to do some more work first. I like the suggestions about characters. Something else to play with.

My hope was to improve enough to join a local writing group. There are a few that meet up. (Obviously not at the moment). But perhaps that won't assist with finding my own voice.

I haven't submitted my own work. I might go online and start afresh tomorrow.

That I wasn't enjoying what I was reading is definitely a good point. But it did feel like there was a lot of creativity, I felt like I could benefit from being a bit less restrained.

I have been reading a lot of non fiction recently. Probably doesn't help. Have just started by recently to read fiction again. Will check out GG and RC. I have read some of both but not recently.

If you have been endlessly rewriting the same scene, I think you should put it aside and work on another part of the story - it will be easier to see what needs fixing if you leave it along and return to it later.

I think reading as widely as you can, both fiction and non-fiction, can only benefit your work.

I've been writing short stories or even just a description of a memory or event and then playing with it. So several different pieces. As much for the fun of it as for development. Have done very little on my actual "story/book".

I think some authors rely a lot on descriptions etc because they haven't got a lot to say. Do those pieces you're reading have compelling, original characters youre interested in? Does the story move along at a decent pace? I read a lot of sci Fi fantasy and loads of authors seem to think that "good" means enough flowery descriptions to knock out an elephant. I much prefer precise, tight writing with interesting characters and a good plot.

Try not to worry nor let this stop you writing your story.

You might want to balance your reading between forums of unpublished writers (many of whom in my experience significantly over-describe but slow the telling of the story) and the published authors in the genres you enjoy.

A silly example but in my experience, unpublished writers will look for a hundred different verbs for characters speech to describe how the person said/shouted/told/declared/uttered/observed.... The published authors tend to just use 'said' and drive the story along with what the character said. Literary fiction tend towards more description than genre but still less than many unpublished authors in my experience.

I don't think writing is a competition to use fancy/unusual/esoteric words. Use simple words so more of the potential audience will understand your story without reaching for a dictionary.

Good luck.

I suspect I'm on the same website.

I felt the same when I joined, and I've now been on two years and seen multiple threads saying the same. You read someone else's and feel you can't possible have the cheek to critique it because they're so much better and more knowledgeable and experienced than you. What I've found from the friends I've made on there, that the majority (and some of these are truly brilliant writers) also felt the same way at the beginning, and some still feel like it now every time they post a work.

I remember the first bit I posted, I was convinced that the main feedback I'd get was to never write again. I can't say that I've never had a bad critique. I have.
Sometimes you go away, lick your wounds and come back realising they're right. That's particularly hard when you know and respect the other's writing.
Sometimes you go away, sulk for a day and realise that it's actually their opinion, and the other critiquers disagree.
And then I've had a couple which have effectively been a waste of time. One jumped into chapter 8 and spent the entire chapter going "why haven't you described this person at all?" (because they were described in chapter 1) "You haven't given any motivation for this action." (see chapter 4 for motivation) etc. The other I took a look at their other critiques and realised they were just always nasty so I ignored. But 2 bad ones out of around 200+ overall is pretty good.

I still get a nervous flutter when I see I have a critique. I tend to have a quick glance at the comments and give it 24 hours before I look at it in depth.
And you have to remember it is people's opinion. Sometimes you may agree, sometimes you disagree.

No one has said "you are the most amazing writer in the world and I fall at your feet" (unsurprising) but no one has said "you really shouldn't bother writing as it's rubbish" which is far more surprising!

Try submitting one. Your first one is in a lot of ways the most nerve-wracking. I don't think anyone had read my writing since I did GCSE when I put mine in.

I went back on the website and found a short story i enjoyed and bits of others. But I also thought about how little I have read recently. I am now reading some Patricia Highsmith short stories, having loved the Ripley books years ago. Maybe I need to read and then return to my work. I also read some short stories that have won prizes or been shortlisted in recent years, and although different to what I usually read, they were great.

I don't think I will ever be a great story teller. I don't have lots of very imaginative plots tucked away in my head. I find life and people interesting. This was of the concerns when reading others work, some of the storylines and events felt over the top but given experience and refinement I could see how those writers could produce original exciting stores. I wonder if what I offer is sparse language and a low key plot!

I guess it's only the starting point for now.

"I don't think anyone had read my writing since I did GCSE when I put mine in." I found writing anything creative at school cripling by GCSE. I think I'm probably writing about GCSE level now! I will definitely submit something soon.

This thread had been very encouraging. Thanks.

For what it's worth, OP, I think most critics think plot is not the most important aspect of telling a story though perhaps a little more so in some of the genres (thriller, science fiction). Character is almost everything and most plots are to some extent recycled. A shame as novelty in plots is my strength. When people laud Shakespeare, it's his insight into character and language, not his plots.

Good luck.

Read a lot of published fiction and develop your own style. Not everyone needs a lot of description. I hardly ever write what my characters look like (just don't think it's important) and others could spend pages on the same. Be you.

I love threadbare writing. The godfather for example is one of my favourite books and it's very streamlined. If someone overdescribes scenes characters or anything else it really pisses me off. I think they call it 'workmanlike' prose.