General Discussion

@VividWolf No offense meant, but if it’s really as simple as “my friend told me my writing is bad so I feel like quitting, should I?” then maybe writing just isn’t your thing, if you’re willing to give up on it that easily I mean. But the thing is maybe you’re not ready to give up. Maybe you’re just going through a rough patch like all writers do. I think in the end if you really are a writer at heart then 1. it doesn’t matter if your writing is good or not, you just need to keep writing, and 2. that you won’t ever give up for good, maybe here and there, but not completely.

It’s okay to quit for a while, but to flat out quit because you feel like you’re bad at it…being bad at it isn’t a good enough excuse to quit. Everyone’s bad at it at first. Heck, a lot of people are terrible at it for a really long time. You can’t write because you want the positive feedback from other people. It’s okay to WANT positive feedback, but you can’t expect it. You have to write for the sake of writing.

I hope you won’t quit. I hope this is just a rough patch for you. But hey, if you do quit writing then it really wasn’t meant to be anyway. My advice is that all you can do is to keep trying, be open to learning of new ways of doing things, and accept your flaws so that you can work on them.

@Vividwolf

I don't care if a person is the worst writer imaginable or the best writer ever, no matter what never ever quit on something you enjoy.

Your friend gave you an opinion. Whether she went about it wrong or not is down to how she went about delivering that opinion, but don't ever feel disheartened! Writing is a thing which is constantly developing and changing the more and more a person keeps going, and the only way for it to grow is to keep enjoying and pushing forward with it!

Editing isn't necessarily a bad thing either! So many authors go through drafts and drafts of their works before it's published, and that's totally normal! They always say the first draft is the hardest, but that's because it's the beginning: you'll go back and spot mistakes or new things you want to add in or take out, but it's something that's natural to go through. Don't feel disheartened, it's part of the fun and the learning and growing as a writer.

I was part of a writing group once, and sometimes the criticism was harsh. Very harsh, because we were all planning for publishing one day. But it was like 'tough love', and although sometimes I felt like giving in, you pull through. Because some of that crit was constructive and useful, and it made my writing better (of course, there was the time where I chewed a person out because they thought my elves were Tolkien elves and couldn't understand why they acted so differently, even though I'd made it very clear they were their own thing and not like that at all. That was a fun discussion).

Always, always, always push forward. With criticism, take the stuff that's useful, but shake off that which isn't, as everyone has different tastes! Maybe ask your friend to expand on things they feel needs editing (get them to ignore spelling and grammar, since that is something to worry about later!), but get their perspective on scenes and stuff. Because their eyes are fresh to the piece, and they might see things differently or point out something you hadn't considered, like a small additional scene here or there to make a transition flow better. Sometimes, it's the tiny changes that can bring a piece together!

I wish you the best of luck with your work, and know that you have at least one person over here cheering for you! To quote one of my favourite movies, never give up! Never surrender!

Please continue to have fun and keep enjoying your writing! Be passionate about it!

@VividWolf

I think you shouldn't give up. The only way to improve is to keep writing. Also, there's nothing wrong with editing, whether it's a story or an essay for class. It is, in fact, highly encouraged to take another look at the text with fresh eyes. Besides, if a traditional publisher doesn't pick up your novel, that doesn't mean that it's bad. There's a lot of marketing strategies involved in their choices. Most people's novels are not picked up and the reason is not always quality. I'm not sugesting that you should quit trying, just that you shouldn't get discouraged if it doesn't work out. There's always the option of self-publishing.

Ask your friend for more clarification, but keep in mind that her opinion is not the only valid one. Look up any well known book on Goodreads and you'll see that it has plenty of five-star reviews, lots of one-star reviews and everything in between.

@VividWolf
As others have said: If you enjoy it, keep going.

Another important thing to note here is that editing is absolutely essential. No published authors, no matter how good or bad they are at writing, gets a book perfect on the first try. Absolutely everyone edits. Everyone's first drafts have mistakes and problems of all sizes.

Advice that you should ignore all criticism will only hurt you in the end. You must be open to the idea that your first draft might need a LOT of work. You must take a step back. If someone tells you an element in your story doesn't work, it's not a personal attack. It means you need to look at that part of the story again and think hard about how you might improve it. It's easy to get angry or defensive when people give feedback that's not all praise, but those reactions will slow your growth as a writer.

I'm not saying you need to completely change the story because one person thought one part was bad. However, if someone is telling you a part of the story doesn't work, you should take a long look at that part. Maybe they were wrong, but maybe they were right.

@vividwolf
No, for the love of food and sleep, dont quit.
If you quit now, you can never improve anymore.
So just keep going, so you can become better .

Never stop - do what you like to do. If you really set your sights on something, you can for sure do it. Just don't stop.

@VividWolf DON'T. QUIT. WRITING. NEVER EVER DO THAT. If you love it so much, just keep going, even if you feel like your stories are crap. I know it's hard sometimes and there are days where you just want to give up and feel like nothing you write is good. But you know what? Many aspiring writers feel like that, myself included.

I want to be a professional writer one day (and I haven't written anything in three years ooops, but that's mainly because of a lack of time), and I feel like my stories and ideas are really, really bad a lot of the time, especially because I don't have many friends that are interested in fantasy novels, especially ones about animals, so I don't really have anyone who can tell me whether the stories are worth it or not. But do I give up? No! I don't! I keep telling myself that I need to go on.

What helps me overcome those feelings is thinking: "well, I want to write the stories for MYSELF and not anyone else, so who cares? I think the stories are great, otherwise I wouldn't think about them and work on them." Who cares what others think? Write these stories for yourself and nobody else. It takes a lot of pressure off of you and makes you feel a lot better.

Besides, you can always change them later if there's something you're not satisfied with. Just keep going! I'm sure you can make it!