Be Confident- It’ll Shine on Paper
A few days ago, I was reading this article from a magazine/website called Teen Ink by Blair H. about how our self-confidence can affect how we write our stories. It's was rather short and on the point, but what made me really think was when in the article, Blair's M.F.A program's teacher stated that many young authors nowadays are adding words like "sort of" and "kind of" into their sentence. For example, his eyes seemed sort of blue or the sun is kind of yellow. (Which doesn't make literal sense because eyes are usually one color and the sun is yellow, in our eyes anyway). The teacher thinks that this is because young teenagers are comparing their writing to "professional" authors' writing, meaning that “the young writers today seemed to be lacking in courage when compared to the writing of the past.”
And honestly, I have to agree.
For me, when it came to sharing my talents to the public, I seem rather calm in that state of matter. I've been on stage since I was 5 and ever since then, been playing the piano in recitals, talent shows, you name it. Of course, I get flustered at times and I blush when I'm on stage, but still, showing people my talents gives me the sense that I'm giving everyone a little piece of me. So posting fanfictions online seemed a piece of cake compared to what I've gone through my whole life.
However, I'm not going to lie to you when I say that everyone gets nervous- and I mean, everyone.
It's okay to be nervous, it's all part of being a human being, but when you allow that nervous feeling to get into your head and destroy your self-confidence, it's going to show. Even when you take that huge leap and show the world your talent (and that's like climbing Mount Everest for some), people can still tell if you're confident in your skills or not. That may sound harsh, but it's true. I'm not saying that anyone cannot enjoy a story because of the lack of confidence in it, but it would be nice to show your watchers that "Hey, I'm strong and brave and I have confidence in myself. I'm giving you a piece of myself and I'm proud to do that."
So, what's the are first steps in gaining confidence in yourself?
Do not beat yourself down. That is the worst thing you can ever do especially if you want to showcase your skills to people. If nervousness starts creeping into your brain, then ward it off and tell it to bug off. You're in control of your feelings, not in reverse.
And please, for Irene sake, don't say you're not worth it. That is untruthfully, horribly, terribly wrong! You are worth every word you write and maybe even more. You are the king/queen of your own personal domain so make sure the work you show is YOUR work.
There are bad people out there in the world who just want to ruin someone's life so don't listen to them. They are haters and they have no effect in your life, whatsoever. Let them say what they want to say, because you know that you are better than that.
Trust your gut feeling. If you're looking at something you made and something inside is telling you to keep it private, then by all means, don't post it publicly. You might regret it someday and it'll lower your self-confidence.
If you see someone pointing out a few things that they didn’t like in your writing piece, do not panic or get mad. They’re not criticizing you, they’re criticizing your work. Calm down and look at what that person is saying again. Maybe he meant to say it in a friendly way and point out some things that might benefit you in the future.
Spend some time to yourself and think about all the things that make you special. It could be your beautiful green eyes or your long black hair or it could your amazing talent of being able to draw human fingers (which are a pain in the butt for many artists). It doesn't matter the reason- just lay out the things that make you, you and appreciate yourself for them.
And just for the sake of your writer's ego (everyone has one, even me), if you see words like "sort of" or "kind of" or even "seem" in your story, unless it just has to be there or else the sentence won't work without it, take it out and replace it with something else. It's hard sometimes, even I use "seem" a lot of times in my writing. Even if your readers won't pay much attention to those type of words ("types of" does not count, people!), it's still a nice feeling to become more confident in your writing skills. Same goes for any other words or phrases in your story that you use because you're either lacking the confidence or just are uncertain about. Take them out and believe in yourself.
And last but not least, the one thing that is super cheesy but honestly works every time, SMILE! :) That single act can change the world around you and how you feel about your wonderful self.
Sharing your talent (whenever it’s writing or playing the piano or drawing) can be terrifying, especially when you’re not sure what other people would say about it. However, you must always think about yourself first and not worry about what others might think about you. You are you and if you are not confident in yourself, you can never really reach your full potential.
Works Cited
H., Blair. "Be Brave When You Write" Teen Ink. Teen Ink, March 23, 2016. Web. March 23, 2016.
<http://www.teenink.com/Weekly/2016-03-23-article>
