How to Get Over Feeling Like Your Story is Stupid

As a writer, you’ve likely had one of those “my story is stupid” moments.

Maybe more than one.

Most of the time, we can get past it by stepping away for a little while, then going back to fix whatever may not be working.

But other times, we can get a little overwhelmed to the point of potentially abandoning the story, and that’s usually not a good idea.

If you’re thinking about ditching your work and starting over, ask yourself these five questions first to be sure that’s the right move.

1. Has something else made me feel like my story is stupid?

A writer’s emotions tend to bleed  into their work, so it’s important to make sure that something else isn’t affecting your thoughts about your story. Review what’s happened to you over the past few weeks or even months.

Try to zero in on when you started feeling like your story was stupid. Check your memory files to see if something else occurred to plunge you into a negative mindset.

It’s possible that a rejection, critique, contest loss, or even a plot struggle could have invited self-doubt into your writing world. The instant this demon arrives, it likes to color everything dark, until pretty soon you’re questioning whether you should be writing at all.

Action: Realize that your current mindset may be coloring your ability to truly evaluate your work. Set aside your judgment and finish your story. Even if you ultimately decide not to publish it, finishing it is almost always a better option than abandoning it. (Read more about finishing your work here.)

2. Am I writing in a genre where it’s common to think my story is stupid?

If you’re writing speculative fiction, welcome to the club: it’s common for story ideas to sound stupid.

Writes story doctor David Farland: “Imagine Frank Herbert [the author of Dune]: ‘My story is about giant worms who live in sand dunes on an alien planet. They have bad breath that is sort of laced with this LSD-like drug that lets you see into the future, and one young man even learns how to unlock his genetic memories so that he has all of the knowledge of all his ancestors, and he takes over the universe!’”

Of course, Herbert went on to great acclaim. “Your story idea sounds dumb, too,” writes Farland, “if you’re writing speculative fiction. As a writer, you need to get comfortable with that.”

Action: If you’re writing speculative fiction, realize that pretty much anything goes, and that a master writer can turn a dumb-sounding idea into a magical tale. Your job is to work on building your skills so you can become that master writer.

If you’re not writing speculative fiction but still think your story idea sounds dumb, review other books in your genre and boil them down to their basic ideas. Even Romeo and Juliet could sound stupid on its surface: “Couple dies because one of them faked suicide.” (As aptly summarized by a Reddit commentator.)

3. Am I trying to create and judge at the same time?

When we’re children, we create without judgment. We don’t worry about what other people will think. We just assume they’ll love it!

Unfortunately, as we get older, we are taught to bring judgment into the picture far too early. This kills creativity. Author, speaker, and general systems scientist Dr. George Land discovered this in his research.

He tested children between the ages of 3-5, then re-tested them at age ten and again at age 15. Finally, he repeated the test on 280,000 adults. The results showed something rather disturbing: children became significantly less creative as they got older.

Land blamed this decline on education, noting that we’re all taught as we grow up to engage in two types of thinking simultaneously:

1. Divergent thinking: Like brainstorming or imagining, this is where you come up with new ideas and new ways of approaching a problem.
2. Convergent thinking: This is when you test those ideas, judge their worth, and refine them to the point of usability.

Each type of thinking uses a different part of the brain and requires a completely different cognitive process. One (divergent) is like an accelerator while the other (convergent) is the brake.

Although it’s important to learn to use both types of thinking to generate and evaluate creative ideas, each has its place and should occur in its own time.

Action: If you’re trying to judge your work at the same time that you’re creating it, you’re bound to get frustrated and overwhelmed. Try to keep yourself in the creative mindset until at least the first draft is finished, then go ahead and allow some judgment in.

Be sure to focus on how you can improve the story structure and pacing and not on whether the story is “good enough.” Save that for others to decide.

4. Am I in the middle of my novel and questioning whether my story is stupid?

Here’s a general rule: If you’re somewhere in the middle of your novel and you’re thinking that it’s stupid, just keep going. What you’re feeling is completely normal and it will fade as long as you don’t quit.

“I’m at a point in my novel where I’m questioning everything,” writes a contributor on a writing forum. “I’m probably about halfway. And what was once brilliant prose and a (falsely) believed sophisticated story is now starting to feel really stupid…. And that sort of got me wondering if there’s something that happens in the process of writing a novel that makes us want to quit it. Everything starts to seem like a better idea.”

This writer hit the nail on the head. There is something about the process of writing a novel that makes us want to quit. I’ve felt it with every novel I’ve ever written. Before I knew what was going on, I used to allow those feelings to rule my decisions.

No more. After interviewing over 300 writers about the writing process, I now know that we all struggle in the middle of the novel. It’s an endurance project, and just as you may want to quit in the middle of a marathon, so too might you begin to think that the story is too stupid to finish.

Action: Don’t give up on your story. Allow the flaws and problems to exist and keep writing. You can adjust anything you want in the second draft.

5. Is my story really stupid or do I need more writing help?

If you look at the wide variety of stories out there that have been successful, you can easily conclude that there’s probably no bad idea—only bad executions.

Ask yourself this: “If I gave your story idea to a writing master, like Stephen King or Margaret Atwood, could they create a good story out of it?”

If the answer is, “probably!,” then realize that the issue lies in your ability to execute that idea.

Action: Get some professional help on your story. Sign up for an online workshop, hire a book editor, or grab a book that will help you overcome whatever you think the issue might be.

Make sure that you turn to the experts. Don’t ask your friends or even your writer’s group. This is about your education as a writer, so invest wisely. When you figure out how to finish in a way that makes you proud, you’ll be glad you did!

How do you get past feeling like your story is stupid?