Building Confidence in Writing: A Guide for Writers With Doubts

Confidence is an essential part of being a writer. Confidence in our abilities, our process, and our own writing.

It’s easy to assume that every successful writer possesses an innate self-confidence in their writing abilities. The kind that allows them to write regularly and freely, unencumbered by self-doubt and negative self-talk. 

But that isn’t true. Every writer struggles with critical internal dialogue at some point along their writing journey. The good news is that building confidence in writing is a skill, something we can learn, develop, and practice.

In this blog post, we’re going to dig deeper into why confidence falters, what it looks like when the doubt creeps in, and how you can focus on ways to be a more confident writer.

Lack of writing confidence is not a lack of skill

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that if you were really good enough, you wouldn’t be nervous when you sit down at your desk and stare at your blank Word document.

Writers (especially beginners) tend to compare their first drafts to published works, which is a terrible idea. Remember: everyone starts their first draft the same way—with inspiration and a blank page. If anything, let yourself feel confident that you and that successful author you admire both start writing a book the same way.

When you begin a new creative writing project, try to see that little flashing cursor on your screen as a friendly wave, rather than a finger shaking at you, telling you to hurry up and get on with it.

Be a more confident writer by taking the pressure off

An important part of gaining confidence is giving yourself achievable goals. Manageable word counts and realistic expectations help us build our confidence levels. Whereas, if you expect your fingers to be flying across the keyboard the moment the writing starts, as brilliant and fully formed ideas grace the page, you’ll be disappointed with anything less!

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To doubt is to care

The reality is, every writer struggles with confidence. It’s normal to doubt ourselves. It’s human—and believe it or not, if harnessed correctly, it can even be helpful. Self-doubt, which is what a lack of confidence is, just means that we care. And that’s a positive thing!

Instead of beating yourself up about where you’re at in your writing journey, practice a little positive self-talk. Tell yourself it’s okay that you don’t know everything yet, that there are more writing skills to learn, uncover, and explore. Isn’t that why we write in the first place? We want to make sense of ourselves and the world we live in through our writing—to explore the unknown, to engage and entertain.

Gain confidence as you go

Every novel is a new story waiting to be revealed, and as a result, each one presents new challenges. Even the most highly acclaimed authors feel this way. Bestselling author and 2011 Booker Prize winner, Julian Barnes, had this to say:

I think it’s true that with each new book, you make new mistakes... You start off with different possible tonalities and the right one only gradually comes into play... As you get older, you understand time, you understand fictional time better, how to move in time, how to move through time in fiction... Updike, in his later work, he got very good, and canny and clever about time. So we do learn some new tricks.
—Julian Barnes

How to be a more confident writer: a three-step process

Making new mistakes, gaining new skills to address them, understanding how we work and what our strengths are... All of that is part of our writing process. But it’s easy to get a case of writer’s amnesia and forget this. So, whether your current project is your first or your tenth, it’s helpful to view your own work as a multi-step process.

Step 1: It’s all about you

Pretend nobody cares. It’s easy to do—and it’s true. Nobody cares as much about your book as you do. So, when you’re stressing over telling family and friends or other writers that you haven’t written much lately, or that you are behind on your word count or in a slump, remember—they don’t care (in the best way).

Sure, they’re interested in what you’re doing. It’s different or unusual to them, but they are not sitting around wondering why you haven’t finished yet. So, don’t feel bad. Your novel isn’t going to solve their problems or make their dreams come true. Your novel will not save the world—but it could make it a whole lot more enjoyable.

As founder of The Novelry, Louise Dean, reminds us:

Relax. You’re writing for you. Because you know more than you care to know—and some of it’s got to leak out sideways.
—Louise Dean

Step 2: Raise your game with other writers

The second phase is all about raising your game. You’ve got a great idea, you’re getting it down, and now you want to make sure that it comes across to the reader just as you hope. This is a great time to read the works of authors you admire—not to compare or feel bad about yourself, but with admiration.

Focus on how the authors you love introduce a character, create a setting, turn a phrase, write snappy dialogue, and set the tone. Grab a pencil and some sticky notes and mark up your favorite book, or write down the bits and pieces that stop you in your tracks with envy and awe. Great writing inspires us to write better.

Acknowledge the brilliance of other writers and root for their success, as you’d like others to do for you. After all, you’re on the same team—even if it doesn’t always feel like it, as showcased in this great excerpt from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Less by Andrew Sean Greer:

“Do you think of yourself as a genius, Arthur?”

“What? Me?”

Apparently the Head takes that as a no. “You and me, we’ve met geniuses. And we know we’re not like them, don’t we? What is it like to go on, knowing you are not a genius, knowing you are a mediocrity? I think it’s the worst kind of hell.”

“Well,” Less said. “I think there’s something between genius and mediocrity—”

“That’s what Virgil never showed Dante. He showed him Plato and Aristotle in a pagan paradise. But what about the lesser minds? Are we consigned to the flames?”

“No, I guess,” Less offers, “just to conferences like this one.”
—Andrew Sean Greer, Less

Reading widely and appreciating the work of others without falling into doubt and harmful comparisons is a necessary skill that we need to develop as writers. When we read like a writer, we are seeing how someone else has done it—which means it’s possible, and that we can do it too.

Building our confidence also allows us to handle constructive criticism in a positive way instead of taking it personally. As our confidence grows, so does our ability to tackle new challenges in our writing.

We are liable to miss the best of life if we do not know how to tingle, if we do not learn to hoist ourselves just a little higher than we generally are in order to sample the rarest and ripest fruit of art which human thought has to offer.
—Vladimir Nabokov, Lectures on Literature

Step 3: Dig deep

The third step is about digging deep. Now’s the time for self-indulgence, for capitalizing on your personal experiences to mine the very best—or worst—of your character.

This step is about bringing truth, the way you see it, to the page. It’s how you’d like the world to be. Justice served the way you imagine it, and dialogue delivered in the way we only wish we could. This is your story: the one you want to read.

If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.
—Toni Morrison

Doubt just means that we haven’t made up our minds about everything: it means we are still curious. If we can accept that a lack of confidence is just a part of the writing process, one that ebbs and flows as we become more familiar with our work-in-progress, we can place it where it belongs, alongside all the other feelings we experience when writing.

We can say, “Oh hello, doubt, there you are! I see you’ve come to make me second-guess everything I’m doing today. Okay, then. Duly noted. Now, if you don’t mind, take a seat, because I have work to do!” 

Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.
‍—William Faulkner

As William Faulkner says: take chances. Build your story one word at a time. You don’t need to have it all sorted before you begin. You just need to begin. Beginning builds confidence. So, let’s begin building yours.

Wherever you are on your journey as a writer, our online novel writing courses offer the complete pathway from the idea to “The End.” With personal coaching, live classes, community support, and step-by-step lessons to fit your schedule and inspire you daily, we’ll help you complete your book using our unique one-hour-a-day method. For mentorship from published authors and publishing editors to live—and love—the writer’s life, sign up and start your novel writing program today. The Novelry is the famous fiction writing school that is open to all!