"I have a great idea for a book, but I think I don't have enough experience as a writer to do the story justice."
This is precisely the best reason to actually go ahead and write it anyway, because this is how you gain the experience you lack.
And yes, your first draft will probably not be up to your expectations. That is why after you finish it, you have to go on and keep writing other stuff. In a few years, with more experience, you'll be able to go back to that first draft and make a much better second draft. But you need to write it now or you'll forget it or simply no longer care.
The same will happen to any other idea you get. You will still feel inadequate until you have actually done the ground work to gain the experience, and you can only gain it by writing.
I don't use Spotify, but you can probably find most of these in your favorite music provider's site. Only very few of these songs are explicitly about a same-sex relationship or a non cis/het person, but the artists themselves are mostly queer and the songs should be interpreted in that light.
The list is under this cut.
Songs in English:
Go West, YMCA, In the Navy, Macho Man (all by Village People)
Go West, It's a Sin (these by Pet Shop Boys)
Fast Love by George Michael
All The Things She Said by t.A.T.u.
Together We Are Beautiful by Chiwetel Ejiofor (yes, the actor! This is from the Kinky Boots sountrack, I recommend the entire album and the movie, of course!)
Born This Way, Highway Unicorn (by Lady Gaga)
Beautiful by Christina Aguilera
I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend by Girl in Red
Heather, The Story, Found Heaven (and basically anything else by Conan Gray)
Found My Way, Defined (both by Ronan Parke)
Karma Chameleon, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me, The Crying Game (all by Boy George/Culture Club)
Te Amo by Rihanna
UPDATE:
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, True Colors, by Cindy Lauper
Freedom! '90, by George Michael
I Kissed A Girl, by Jill Sobule
I Kissed A Girl, by Katy Perry (totally different from Jill Sobule's)
Ballroom Blitz, by Sweet
Can't Remember to Forget You, by Shakira, feat. Rihanna
Walk on the Wild Side, by Lou Reed
I Was Born This Way, by Valentino
Girls and Boys, by Blur
Euphoria, by Loreen
Come To My Window, Melissa Etheridge
Proud, by Heather Small
Me Against The Music, by Brittney Spears feat. Madonna
I'm Coming Out, by Diana Ross
Glad to be Gay, by Tom Robinson Band
By Elton John: Elton's Song, All the Girls Love Alice, The Ballad of The Boy In The Red Shoes, Swing For The Fences, Believe
By Queen: I Want to Break Free, Don't Stop Me Now, Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody to Love, March of the Black Queen, Good Old-Fashioned Loverboy, Killer Queen, Spread Your Wings,
And by David Bowie: Queen Bitch, John I'm Only Dancing, Lady Stardust, Boys Keep Swinging, All The Young Dudes (written by Bowie, but interpreted by Mott And The Hoople), and Heroes
Love My Way, by The Psychedelic Furs
Over the Rainbow, by Judy Garland
The Rainbow Connection, by Kermit (yes, Kermit the Frog, aka Jim Henson; the rainbow theme, just like with Judy Garland's song, is what makes it appropriate for this list IMO)
Songs in Spanish:
Por Qué Será - Rudy La Scala
Simplemente Amigos - Ana Gabriel
Mujer Contra Mujer - Mecano
El Gran Varón - Willie Colón (this one may sound homophobic/transphobic if you don't pay too much attention, but it is actually supportive)
Stereosexual - Mecano
Amor Ilegal - Zayda
Entre Las Dos - Miranda! & Javiera Mena
Bonita - Mon Laferte
Era Diferente - Los Tigres del Norte
Cómo Hemos Cambiado - Presuntos Implicados (more about childhood friendship and not explicitly LGBTQIAP+, but you can absolutely interpret it this way and I love it)
Ay Amor - Ana Gabriel
Quién Como Tú - Ana Gabriel
Por Amor al Arte - Thalía
Sol, Noche y Luna - Chenoa
Platonik - Danna
Bisexual - Cariño
Ana - Mon Laferte
Inspiradora - María Becerra
Dime Cómo Hago - María Becerra
Hipnotiza' - María Becerra
And basically anything from Chavela Vargas: La Llorona, ¿Dónde estás, Corazón?, Ella, No Soy de Aquí No Soy de Allá, Noche de Ronda, Se Me Hizo Fácil (Cavela sang many love songs written for male singers, and she was openly lesbian, so yeah, it was intentional)
UPDATE:
¿A quién le importa? - Alaska y Dinarama
There are so many more but I don't want to make this list too long. Enjoy the music and remember, Pride Month may be about to end, but that does not mean we can't keep celebrating all year-round!
"Is there a correlation between LGBTQIAP+ and neurodiversity?"
My personal hypothesis is… most neurotypicals are at least a bit living in denial about their true identity (and not just in terms of gender and sexuality, but about many other things as well).
Neurotypicals are much more prone to living within society's arbitrary rules handed down from previous generations in terms of religion, politics, gender expectations, and so many other areas.
In contrast, we neurodiverse people tend to be more honest about ourselves, about what we truly feel and think, and we often have a hard time understanding, accepting or following social norms.
So IMO, it is more likely for a neurodiverse person to accept themselves as non-straight or non-cisgender, than it is for a neurotypical person.
If anyone knows of reliable scientific studies about this please share them in the comments. I'd like to learn more.
This image was created with Picrew’s “makowka character maker II“!!
Yours Truly: WordsmithOfDoom
I'm a writer, artist, and geek. I enjoy Science and Humanities in almost every form, as well as Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror in literature, cinema, tv, art, and other media. I also have been a long-time fan of Dungeons and Dragons, videogames, art, and the occult/supernatural/spiritual. (I know, right? Science and Spirituality coexisting in the same brain? "Nonsense!" you say, yet here I am.)
English is actually my second language, so you will probably notice my writing here does not usually sound very natural. I am neurodivergent as well, which only adds to the weirdness.
Many of my characters are like myself: neurodivergent, queer, and woke (as in the proper sense of the word, not the slur some groups are actively trying to turn it into). If you don't like any of those, feel free to ignore my publications or even better, block me right away.
I welcome criticism if, and only if, it is well thought, respectful, and constructive. I will block anyone who comments saying things like "yuo sux!" and similar (bad spelling intentional). If you don't like the kind of stories I write, or the subject matter, or any of the elements that I've clearly tagged, then just ignore and scroll past.
Oh and one more thing: FUCK AI! I write and create art because I enjoy it, not because I want to show off without having worked for it. If you use generative AI to write for you, you have no right to call yourself a writer. Furthermore, you are actively harming artists everywhere in the world, as well as yourself by delegating your own human creativity to a thieving slop machine. Your brain is rotting right now thanks to AI, so don't look for any respect from me. I will block you if I see you publish AI slop. (Human-made slop is ok, though. My writing probably is, too.)
Be yourself. Be weird. Stay woke. And write on!
--WoD
PS: You can find me at AO3 by this same username, but I haven't published anything there, yet.
PSS: I have GOT to learn how to format these posts to make them look more appealing.
"My writing is crap. I wish I could write better, like my favorite authors." :(
Everyone starts at level 0 of skill. Those writers you like? They started just like you and got better over time. Practice makes perfect, and the only way to get to where you want is starting now and never stopping. You can do it. Go!
This happens all the time: a new idea for a completely unrelated story pops up in my brain, usually while in the middle of writing my previous WIP. What to do?
In my experience, it is always better to finish what you start first.
Otherwise you will begin to accumulate unfinished works, which can be overwhelming later. You may end abandoning perfectly good stories because you lost momentum, got distracted and, ultimately, lost interest.
By finishing your current work first you can let your mind rest from it, and also so you can celebrate your achievement. Then you can start the new one.
HOWEVER, do write down any ideas you come up with for any new projects so you don't forget, but without working too much on them yet.
If you’re a writer or creative of some kind, you’ve probably had the experience of creating something that turned out to be below your expectations. The words just don’t sound right. The drawing doesn’t look anything like the picture in your head. The idea falls flat. The design just can’t be made to work. Disappointment gives way to impostor syndrome and you suddenly feel an urge to delete and destroy.
Don’t do it!
This happens even to great artists. Franz Kafka was such a perfectionist writer, never satisfied with his work, that he considered it disgusting. He wanted to destroy everything he’d written and even asked his friend Max Brod to burn it all without even reading it once he died. Thank goodness Brod did not fulfill Kafka’s wish but instead went and edited then published much of the material he left. That's how the world knows about The Trial and so many other amazing stories. Sadly, Kafka still destroyed about 90% of what he wrote during his lifetime, but what survived proved he was a great writer, with a legacy worth preserving.
All artists must familiarize themselves with imperfection, practice and rework. A musician must rehearse a song a thousand times to get it right every time. An artist must sketch and correct and re-draw constantly to develop their skill. A writer must re-write and revise countless drafts, and so on.
You may think your work is worthless now, but if you keep it and come back to it after a few years, you may be surprised by how much of it can actually be turned into a good story or some other art form. Even if in its current shape it seems lacking, the content, the idea, the vision can still be preserved and reworked once you have acquired more experience.
You can also go back to your old works, even the failed ones, and compare them with your newest creations, to see how much you have grown as an artist.
If after all considerations you still prefer to get rid of it, at least know that no creative effort is ever wasted. What you wrote, what you drew or sculpted or composed or designed, even if you don’t like it now, has made you a better creator. The struggle is what makes you grow.
“If you stuff yourself full of poems, essays, plays, stories, novels, films, comic strips, magazines, music, you automatically explode every morning like Old Faithful. I have never had a dry spell in my life, mainly because I feed myself well, to the point of bursting. I wake early and hear my morning voices leaping around in my head like jumping beans. I get out of bed to trap them before they escape.”
― Ray Bradbury
In other words, if you feel uninspired to write (or to make any other form of art), take a break and fill your mind with art. Do include non-fiction as well, especially if you already know your project requires some research.
If you are not currently working on anything in particular, just reading a book, or listening to music, or perusing art books or even online museum pages should get your creative juices flowing. It doesn't need to be directly related to anything you do. I cannot count the times I was painting a watercolor of a picture I found online, only to suddenly come up with an idea for a new short story.
And if you are stuck in your current work in progress, you can be more intentional in your consumption. Say, for example, you are writing a thriller mystery and don't know where to take your story next. Reading or watching the news, and specifically news about the topic you are writing about (crime, police cases, real detective cases, court procedures, articles on forensics, etc.) will probably give you interesting ideas, as well as valuable information to include later.
A word of warning, though: in today's digital world it is all too easy to get yourself lost on consuming media aimlessly. It is not uncommon to spend hours doomscrolling on your phone, losing track of time, and then feeling like you only wasted your day. If this sounds familiar, try to set a timer for, say, 30 minutes. Once the timer is off, stop browsing and start writing. Or painting, or composing, or whatever creative work you like doing.
