Imposter Syndrome in Writers: How to Beat It and Keep Writing
What is imposter syndrome?
Imposter syndrome is when you consistently doubt your own skills or abilities despite your successes. A more concise definition would be a pattern of self-doubt. Perfectionists tend to be particularly susceptible to this, but most writers experience imposter syndrome at some point in their writing journey.
New writers often doubt their abilities, especially when they see other writers online who have won contests or received accolades. Later in the writing process, many writers experience self-doubt during the querying process. Querying is a highly subjective process that often involves a lot of rejection, and it can get under the skin of even the most seasoned writers.
Writers, at any stage, are uniquely vulnerable to imposter syndrome because creative pursuits don’t have many objective standards to fulfill as proof of one’s abilities. Publishing is a very subjective industry, and until you secure an agent, hire an editor, or get beta readers, writers don’t always have access to substantial feedback. Writing can be a very isolating pursuit, and when you don’t receive direct feedback on what you are doing well and actionable advice for improvement, it’s easy to doubt yourself. Despite the isolation of writing, there are a plethora of ways we can compare ourselves to other writers. Online, we see writers announcing that they’ve landed an agent or a publishing deal. We read books that we admire and think, “I could never write a book this good.” Imposter syndrome limits us, but the truth is, you are not alone, and you can overcome it. Many successful writers doubt themselves despite their success.
What are the signs of imposter syndrome?
Imposter syndrome can look different for different writers. For some, it paralyzes them, preventing them from continuing their draft. They doubt all their ideas and stop making forward progress.
For other writers, it shows up as getting stuck in a cycle of writing and rewriting the same scene or chapter over and over again. The writer doubts their originality and overthinks, constantly rewriting.
Unfortunately, imposter syndrome has led many writers to give up and stop writing books all together.
So how do writers overcome imposter syndrome?
Strategy 1: Focus on your “why”
Every writer has a reason for writing their book. They have a perspective they want to share. There is some aspect of human nature that they want to convey. Why must you write this book?
Spend some time reflecting on your “why” and write it down. Pin it up where you can see it when you are writing. When you’re lost in minor details or doubting whether you can actually write a book, ask yourself: “Are these thoughts I am having right now true? Can I prove beyond doubt that they are true?” Then, look at your why and remind yourself that you have a message that someone is going to connect deeply with. Someone out there needs to hear your perspective.
Strategy 2: Listen to the The Career Novelist Podcast
Camille Pagán is a Master certified mindset coach and the author of eleven books (several of which I have read and loved!). Her podcast, The Career Novelist Podcast, seeks to “coach aspiring and established authors how to write books, actually enjoy the process, and create even better writing careers”. I am not in any way affiliated with Camille or her podcast, I am just a big fan. Camille is a warm and inviting speaker. The first several episodes, she coaches a writer live on the podcast. Later, she switched to no longer coaching live on the podcast. I find both formats extremely helpful. The episodes are short and digestible, about 15-20 minutes in length. The episodes that deal with imposter syndrome and all the ways it may manifest itself include:
Episode 15: How to believe that you can write a book
Episode 25: How to deal with imposter syndrome
Episode 40: How to feel confident talking about your book
Episode 43: How to stop overthinking and start writing
Episode 51: How to believe you can reach your writing goals
Episode 61: How to care less
Episode 67: How to put the wind back in your sails
Episode 69: How to feel self-confident
Episode 75: How to move past the fear of failure
Episode 76: How to stop fearing success
Episode 94: How to enjoy success (when you secretly feel lousy)
Episode 96: How to deal with not-enoughness
Strategy 3: Move the needle forward
No matter how small the action, do something. Outline a scene or write a page. If you’re in the editing stage and you are doubting yourself, let someone read one chapter or, alternatively, tell someone about your story idea if letting someone read a chapter or the whole draft feels too big. If you are querying and doubting yourself look for a writing coach, like myself, who can review your query and give you feedback.
The point is, take a step forward. Often, getting back to work is the hardest part, but once you make one step it gets easier to take another and then another. Even tiny steps get you a little closer to your goal.
Strategy 4: Resist the urge to burn it all down!
You’re not alone if you start doubting yourself and want to throw everything out and start over. It’s not just in writing that I see this in my own life. For example, when the house gets overwhelming, my instinct is to give into what The Lazy Genius, Kendra Adachi, calls “Big Black Trash Bag Energy” and donate everything, or obsessively research and implement new cleaning routines (as if I had a routine in the first place, ha!)
In writing, this urge might look like scrapping an entire draft or story idea without very compelling reasons to do so, obsessively researching different outlining methods, or reading lots of writing craft books instead of doing any actual writing. We often tell ourselves that if we just find the “right” system we will be able to accomplish our goals and that everything will be different.
To overcome imposter syndrome, you must resist these urges and realize that there is no perfect, magical system. The only way forward it to sit down and write. Focus on continuing to move forward. Remember that your first draft is not your last draft – it isn’t supposed to be perfect!
Final Thoughts
Will imposter syndrome ever disappear forever? Probably not. We are only human after all. However, by equipping yourself with tools and strategies, you can manage imposter syndrome when it rears its head. I hope this post has supplied you with some helpful strategies!