January 2, 2024 • 19 mins
“Try learning new skills and then putting what you learn into practice right away, because, at the end of the day, you can only really learn through doing anyway.” - Savannah Gilbo
Is imposter syndrome holding you back from writing a novel? Here are the EXACT action steps you can take right now to combat your feelings of self-doubt, inadequacy, and fear—and to overcome imposter syndrome for good.
Read the blog post here!
Here’s a preview of what’s included:
[01:28] What exactly is imposter syndrome? How can you conquer it?
[06:18] How overindulgence in work can drain the creativity and enjoyment from crafting a novel and may even jeopardize your relationships.
[11:06] Overly independent writers tend to reject assistance or input from others, even when it is necessary, out of the fear of being perceived as incompetent.
[14:13] Writers who believe that continually reading more craft books, enrolling in additional training, or rewriting the opening chapter repeatedly, might eventually amass enough knowledge to create a flawless novel.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Ep. 122 - Counting Down The Best Tips From FWME In 2023
- The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women by Dr. Valerie Young
- Unlock Your Story Challenge
All podcast episodes are available here.
Click here to register for my FREE training: 3 Things You Need to Write Your Novel in 2025.
👉 Looking for a transcript? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, scroll down below the episode player until you see the transcript.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I want you to stop trying to learn all the things
simply for the sake of hoardingknowledge for comfort.
Try learning new skills andthen putting what you learn into
practice right away, because,at the end of the day, you can
only really learn through doinganyway.
Welcome to the Fiction WritingMade Easy podcast.
(00:20):
My name is Savannah Gilbo andI'm here to help you write a
story that works.
I want to prove to you thatwriting a novel doesn't have to
be overwhelming, so each weekI'll bring you a brand new
episode with simple, actionableand step-by-step strategies that
you can implement in yourwriting right away.
So whether you're brand new towriting or more of a seasoned
author looking to improve yourcraft, this podcast is for you.
(00:41):
So pick up a pen and let's getstarted.
In today's episode, we're goingto talk about imposter syndrome.
And did you know that over 80%of the population experiences
imposter syndrome at some pointin their life?
At this point, I'd be moresurprised meeting somebody who
has never experienced impostersyndrome than meeting somebody
(01:03):
who experiences it on a dailybasis.
It's that thing that not onlyfills you with dread, but
feelings of inadequacy, lowself-esteem and skepticism about
your talent, skills andcapabilities.
And if left unchecked, it mayeven lead to you sabotaging your
own hard work and giving up onyour dream of writing a novel.
So in today's episode, I wantto peel back the layers of
(01:25):
imposter syndrome and reallytalk about it.
Because what is impostersyndrome anyway?
What does it mean and when doesit pop up?
How can you recognize it forwhat it is and, more importantly
, how can you overcome it?
So let's dig right in bytalking about what imposter
syndrome is.
An imposter syndrome was firstdescribed by two psychologists
(01:46):
back in the 1970s, like thisQuote imposter phenomenon occurs
among high achievers who areunable to internalize and accept
their success.
They often attribute theiraccomplishments to luck rather
than to ability and fear thatothers will eventually unmask
them as a fraud.
What a definition right Now,even though imposter syndrome
(02:08):
isn't technically recognized asan official diagnosis, most
people, including psychologists,acknowledge that it is very
real and it is super common.
Today.
Dr Valerie Young, author of theSecret Thoughts of Successful
Women, has broken down impostersyndrome into five different
types, and understanding yourtype is really important,
(02:29):
because each has slightlydifferent habits or patterns
that can keep you stuck, whichmeans that each type also has
specific things that you can doto get yourself unstuck.
And when I read Dr ValerieYoung's book, this was a total
game changer for me, because I'mguilty of so many of these
habits that I never realizedwere actually imposter syndrome
(02:51):
showing up in disguise.
So we will link to Dr ValerieYoung's book in the show notes,
but if you're taking notes, it'scalled the Secret Thoughts of
Successful Women.
Now, with all of that being said, let's dig into the five types
of imposter syndrome asidentified by Dr Valerie Young,
along with how these types ofimposter syndrome show up for
(03:13):
writers and the action steps youcan take to overcome imposter
syndrome.
So the first type is theperfectionist, and perfectionism
and imposter syndrome go handin hand.
Perfectionists will often setextraordinarily high goals,
standards and expectations forthemselves, and then, when they
fail to reach those goals orexpectations, they experience
(03:36):
major self-doubt and feel likethey might actually be a total
fraud.
Just last week, one of thewriters in my notes to novel
course asked me how do I staymotivated when everything seems
to get in the way of my writing?
And after talking for a fewminutes, we realized that she
just had really unrealisticexpectations that were
essentially setting her up forfailure.
(03:57):
This writer worked a full-timejob, she had two kids under the
age of 10, she volunteered ather local church and she was
caring for an elderly parent,all while trying to write a
novel from scratch.
Now, I'm not saying this writercouldn't write a novel while
juggling all of this, but hergoal was to have a finished and
ready-to-query draft in threemonths, which was unrealistic.
(04:20):
So every time she thought aboutwriting or whenever she sat
down at her desk, she feltuninspired and like something
must be wrong with her becauseshe wasn't feeling motivated to
do the work.
However, it was really just herunrealistic expectations that
were zapping her motivation.
So what I mean by this is thatif she were to write an average
(04:41):
length novel of, say, about80,000 words in three months,
that means she would have had towrite about 6,500 words per
week, and that's a lot, not tomention the fact that she wanted
her draft to be in good enoughcondition to query.
That means she would haveneeded to build in editing time
too, and possibly even some timeto get some outside feedback.
So her timeline just wasn'trealistic, no matter how you
(05:03):
looked at it.
So who could blame her forfeeling uninspired and
unmotivated?
I know I certainly couldn't.
Now, if you relate to thiswriter, I hope you know that
you're not alone.
I resonate with this type ofimposter syndrome the most, and
it's something that I have towork on actively every single
day.
So if this is you too, thenhere is the action step I want
(05:24):
you to take.
First, you'll need to acceptthat it's literally impossible
to be perfect all the time.
There will always be somethingthat you could have done better.
So it's really important justto accept that.
So it's really important justto acknowledge and accept that.
Second, I want you to focus ongiving yourself grace and start
(05:44):
celebrating the small wins thatoccur along the way.
Oftentimes, we can be sofocused on one big goal that
we're never satisfied, even ifwe've been doing some pretty
awesome things along the way.
So it's really, reallyimportant to celebrate those
small wins.
The second type is thesuperhuman.
So have you ever felt like ifyou pushed yourself a little
more or worked a little harderthan everyone else, then maybe
(06:07):
you could measure up and thenmaybe, just maybe, you wouldn't
be exposed as a fraud?
If you're nodding your head,don't worry, you are not alone.
But this type of workaholism canlead to serious burnout and
mental fatigue.
It takes the creativity and thefun out of writing a novel, and
it could even sabotage yourpersonal relationships.
(06:27):
It's just not healthy.
A rider I worked with this yearhad recently joined a critique
group and everyone else in thegroup except her had written and
published at least one book.
For some people, being in thistype of scenario would be
inspiring.
Sometimes it's really awesomebeing the least experienced one
in the room, but for manywriters this can be a breeding
(06:49):
ground for insecurities tofester, and that's exactly what
happened in this writer's case.
Because her peers had alreadywritten and published books.
They'd gone through the entirewriting, editing and publishing
process already.
They knew what certain termsmeant and they had connections
in the industry and they didn'tfeel as nervous or insecure
about some of the things thatnew writers stress over.
(07:10):
So, long story short, thiswriter that I worked with told
me that every time she went toher critique group meeting she
felt like she didn't measure upto the other writers.
So the other writers in thegroup could crank out a first
draft in three to six months,but it was taking her that long
just to brainstorm and outlineher novel because it was her
first one.
It was taking her that long tobrainstorm and outline her novel
(07:33):
, and instead of running her ownrace, she tried redesigning her
schedule and getting up earlyand staying up late to write at
the same pace as the otherwriters in the group.
And no surprise, she burnedherself out pretty quickly doing
this.
Now, if you can relate to thiswriter again, you're definitely
not alone.
But here's an action step thatyou can take to start combating
(07:54):
this type of imposter syndrome.
First, stop comparing yourselfto other writers.
Yes, we're all guilty of thisfrom time to time and in a sense
, it is a little bit normal.
But when your sense ofvalidation comes directly from
how you think you measure up toothers, you're never, ever going
to feel good enough.
Instead, you need to learn howto be confident in your
(08:15):
abilities and where you're atright now.
No one expects a newbie writerto have the same skill level as
a seasoned pro.
So let off the gas a little andlet yourself grow without the
insane and unrealistic pressure.
Type number three is thenatural genius.
These type of imposters settheir internal bar ridiculously
(08:35):
high, just like perfectionists,but the difference is they don't
just judge themselves based ontheir ridiculous expectations.
They also judge themselvesbased on getting things right on
the first try.
So if they can't mastersomething immediately, then
that's when they start to feellike an imposter, and this is
another one I feel like manywriters can relate to.
(08:56):
So many of us start outexpecting to produce a draft
that matches the quality of thebooks we read, but this is super
unrealistic.
The books we read are someoneelse's finished product.
They've gone through multiplerounds of editing and they've
had multiple sets of eyeslooking over them to make sure
they're as cohesive and asperfect as possible.
It's a totally unfaircomparison, but we do it anyway.
(09:20):
A writer I worked with recentlywas so scared to move through
her first draft without knowingeverything about her fantasy
world.
She would show me pages fromher favorite stories and say
things like see this how didthat writer know how to plant a
clue about this thing that wouldmatter later?
I don't even know how to thinkabout this stuff this early on
in the process, and she wouldfeel so bad about herself
(09:43):
because to her it seemed likeher writing would never compare.
But again, she was comparingher draft in its early stages to
someone else's finished product.
It was not a fair comparison.
So, long story short, I wasable to finally encourage this
writer to just keep going and totrust that she would figure out
how to plant all the clues andforeshadow things once she got
(10:06):
to the end of her draft.
And so she did.
She finished her draft and shewas so surprised at how much of
a difference it made in herability to go back through her
messy draft and do all thosethings she saw in other books.
So if you can relate to thiswriter, I have an action step
for you.
First, I want you to challengeyourself to try new things.
One of the biggest faults ofthis type is being afraid to try
(10:29):
new things out of fear offailure or getting it wrong.
So the best thing you can do toovercome it is to feel the fear
, but do it anyway.
This is a mantra I have on asticky note by my desk Feel the
fear and do it anyway.
And if you try this, just knowit's not going to feel good or
natural the first time, or maybeeven the first dozen times, and
(10:50):
that's okay.
But I do want you to stopplaying small out of fear of
striking out.
You won't hit any home runs ifyou don't try right.
Type number four is the soloist,and the soloist goes through
the entire writing process alone.
They believe that asking forhelp means that they're a fraud
or a phony who has no clue whatthey're doing.
So, in other words, they areindependent to a fault.
(11:13):
These types of writers willrefuse help or input from others
, even when they need it, infear of being thought of as
incompetent.
And oh gosh, I relate to thisone a little bit too.
It's so hard to ask for helpsometimes.
Right, I feel like writers havethis extra hard too, because, a
our stories are so personalthat sometimes it's not just
(11:35):
about feeling incompetent, wealso don't want to feel judged.
And then, b writing is kind ofa solo activity in general.
But it's super, super hard togrow and to become a better
writer in a silo.
I know this for a fact becausenearly every writer who comes to
me for help has tried going atit alone, usually for years and
(11:55):
years, and they've finally grownso frustrated and sad that they
haven't manifested their big,beautiful writing dream that
they just need help.
And asking for help ends upbeing less uncomfortable than
going another year of notpublishing their story.
But also, I'm a writer too, soI really know how this feels
firsthand.
(12:15):
I also know how it feels to getfeedback and to get help, and
I'll tell you that I'm never,ever going to do it alone again.
It's just not worth the time andthe frustration when you could
reach out for help, improve yourskill set and accomplish your
goals.
So if you can relate to this,if you think you're a soloist,
here is an action step for you.
First, I want you to try askingfor help.
(12:38):
You might need to give yourselfa little pep talk first, and
that's okay, but just rememberthat there's no shame in asking
for help.
You don't know what you don'tknow and, trust me, it's better
to ask for help than to juststumble along in the dark trying
to figure things out foryourself.
Second, you can try reframingthe way you think about writing.
So in my notes to novel course,I encourage my students to say
(13:00):
that they're discovering theirfirst draft, not writing it, and
that word discovering justtakes some of the pressure off
the process.
You can also remind yourselfthat, just like a toddler
learning to walk, you'relearning to write a novel.
You would never reprimand achild for messing up or not
doing things perfectly whenthey're learning to walk right,
(13:22):
so why shouldn't you receive thesame grace while learning to do
something new, like writing anovel?
Type number five is the expert.
If you like learning more thanyou like doing, then you're
probably the expert.
This type usually measurestheir competence based on how
much they know, and typicallythey put off starting anything
(13:42):
until they know all there is toknow, without a fear of being
exposed as inexperienced orunknowledgeable.
This type is a little similarto the soloist and the natural
genius, but instead of feelinglike you're not a quote unquote
real writer unless you can do iton your own, that's more of the
soloist.
Or like you have to geteverything right on your first
(14:03):
try, that's the natural genius.
The expert likes to collectinformation as a kind of armor
against failure.
So these writers think that ifthey just read another craft
book or sign up for anothertraining or rewrite the opening
chapter for the billionth time,then maybe, just maybe, they
will have all the knowledgeneeded to write a perfect novel.
(14:25):
Last year I worked with a writerwho wanted a manuscript
evaluation of their story,because he felt like something
wasn't working, but he didn'tknow what.
So he sent me all of hismaterials.
He sent his draft along withthis giant spreadsheet that had
tables of all these differentplotting methods on it.
So the hero's journey, the savethe cat beat sheet, the
snowflake method, the key scenesand conventions of his genre.
(14:48):
I mean, you name it and heprobably had it on his
spreadsheet.
So when he sent all of this tome, he also said in his email my
story doesn't match all ofthese different plotting
templates, so should I just giveup?
Does this mean that my story'sfundamentally broken and I've
done something completely wrong?
And my answer was no, of coursenot.
So I read his draft and, longstory short, his story was
(15:12):
actually fine.
It was a very normal firstdraft that needed some things
removed and other thingsclarified.
His story was actually reallyinteresting, but he couldn't see
the forest for the trees.
He had spent so long collectingall the information about all
the different methods that itwas almost his downfall, so he
almost gave up on his storybecause of it.
(15:34):
Like this writer, we tend to doa lot of things to convince
ourselves that our self-doubthas merit, and in this writer's
case he used all the differentplotting methods as a way to
quote unquote, prove that hewasn't good enough or smart
enough to figure things out andthank goodness he asked for help
and for a second opinionbecause, like I said, his story
was actually really enjoyable.
(15:55):
It just needed a little morework, as most first drafts do.
So if you can relate to thiswriter, I have an action step
for you.
First, I want you to stoptrying to learn all the things
simply for the sake of hoardingknowledge, for comfort.
Try learning new skills andthen putting what you learn into
practice right away, because,at the end of the day, you can
(16:16):
only really learn through doinganyway.
Second, I want you to trynarrowing down who you learn
from to one or two trustedmentors and or pick one or two
writing methods that reallyresonate with you.
You're going to make so muchmore progress and gain a much
better understanding of thecraft by going deeper into a few
methods or models than tryingto learn all of them.
(16:38):
Now there's a few things I wantto say before we wrap up, and
one of them.
I just want to go through thedifferent types really quick.
So type one was theperfectionist, type two was the
superhuman, type three was thenatural genius, type four was
the soloist and type five wasthe expert.
If I could summarize one maintakeaway from all the advice in
(16:59):
this episode it would be to justwrite anyway.
So feel the imposter syndromehowever it shows up for you, and
then just write anyway, becauseimposter syndrome is never
going to go away completely.
It might decrease as yourconfidence and your skills grow,
but then you try somethingdifferent or do something new
and all of a sudden impostersyndrome is back at a whole new
(17:22):
level.
So the very best thing you cando is start recognizing imposter
syndrome for what it is andthen, when it shows up, you can
just say, hey, imposter syndrome, I see you over there.
And then just keep doing yourthing, because I really believe
that if you fail to recognize it, you might fall victim to the
doubt and fear that willinevitably come up and you might
(17:42):
even quit something that'sreally important to you, like
writing a novel, or, even worse,you might not try to do it at
all.
So that's it for today'sepisode.
As always, thank you so much fortuning in and for showing your
support.
If you want to check out any ofthe links I mentioned in this
episode, you can find them inthe show notes listed in the
description of each episodeinside your podcast player or at
(18:05):
savannahgilbocom forward slashpodcast.
If you're an Apple user, I'dreally appreciate it if you took
a few seconds to leave a ratingand a review.
Your ratings and reviews tellApple that this is a podcast
that's worth listening to and,in turn, your reviews will help
this podcast get in front ofmore fiction writers just like
you.
So if you're there, go aheadand hit that follow button,
(18:25):
because there's going to beanother brand new episode next
week, full of actionable tips,tools and strategies to help you
become a better writer.
So I'll see you next week anduntil then, happy writing.
I want you to stop trying to learn all the things
simply for the sake of hoardingknowledge for comfort.
Try learning new skills andthen putting what you learn into
practice right away, because,at the end of the day, you can
only really learn through doinganyway.
Welcome to the Fiction WritingMade Easy podcast.
(00:20):
My name is Savannah Gilbo andI'm here to help you write a
story that works.
I want to prove to you thatwriting a novel doesn't have to
be overwhelming, so each weekI'll bring you a brand new
episode with simple, actionableand step-by-step strategies that
you can implement in yourwriting right away.
So whether you're brand new towriting or more of a seasoned
author looking to improve yourcraft, this podcast is for you.
(00:41):
So pick up a pen and let's getstarted.
In today's episode, we're goingto talk about imposter syndrome.
And did you know that over 80%of the population experiences
imposter syndrome at some pointin their life?
At this point, I'd be moresurprised meeting somebody who
has never experienced impostersyndrome than meeting somebody
(01:03):
who experiences it on a dailybasis.
It's that thing that not onlyfills you with dread, but
feelings of inadequacy, lowself-esteem and skepticism about
your talent, skills andcapabilities.
And if left unchecked, it mayeven lead to you sabotaging your
own hard work and giving up onyour dream of writing a novel.
So in today's episode, I wantto peel back the layers of
(01:25):
imposter syndrome and reallytalk about it.
Because what is impostersyndrome anyway?
What does it mean and when doesit pop up?
How can you recognize it forwhat it is and, more importantly
, how can you overcome it?
So let's dig right in bytalking about what imposter
syndrome is.
An imposter syndrome was firstdescribed by two psychologists
(01:46):
back in the 1970s, like thisQuote imposter phenomenon occurs
among high achievers who areunable to internalize and accept
their success.
They often attribute theiraccomplishments to luck rather
than to ability and fear thatothers will eventually unmask
them as a fraud.
What a definition right Now,even though imposter syndrome
(02:08):
isn't technically recognized asan official diagnosis, most
people, including psychologists,acknowledge that it is very
real and it is super common.
Today.
Dr Valerie Young, author of theSecret Thoughts of Successful
Women, has broken down impostersyndrome into five different
types, and understanding yourtype is really important,
(02:29):
because each has slightlydifferent habits or patterns
that can keep you stuck, whichmeans that each type also has
specific things that you can doto get yourself unstuck.
And when I read Dr ValerieYoung's book, this was a total
game changer for me, because I'mguilty of so many of these
habits that I never realizedwere actually imposter syndrome
(02:51):
showing up in disguise.
So we will link to Dr ValerieYoung's book in the show notes,
but if you're taking notes, it'scalled the Secret Thoughts of
Successful Women.
Now, with all of that being said, let's dig into the five types
of imposter syndrome asidentified by Dr Valerie Young,
along with how these types ofimposter syndrome show up for
(03:13):
writers and the action steps youcan take to overcome imposter
syndrome.
So the first type is theperfectionist, and perfectionism
and imposter syndrome go handin hand.
Perfectionists will often setextraordinarily high goals,
standards and expectations forthemselves, and then, when they
fail to reach those goals orexpectations, they experience
(03:36):
major self-doubt and feel likethey might actually be a total
fraud.
Just last week, one of thewriters in my notes to novel
course asked me how do I staymotivated when everything seems
to get in the way of my writing?
And after talking for a fewminutes, we realized that she
just had really unrealisticexpectations that were
essentially setting her up forfailure.
(03:57):
This writer worked a full-timejob, she had two kids under the
age of 10, she volunteered ather local church and she was
caring for an elderly parent,all while trying to write a
novel from scratch.
Now, I'm not saying this writercouldn't write a novel while
juggling all of this, but hergoal was to have a finished and
ready-to-query draft in threemonths, which was unrealistic.
(04:20):
So every time she thought aboutwriting or whenever she sat
down at her desk, she feltuninspired and like something
must be wrong with her becauseshe wasn't feeling motivated to
do the work.
However, it was really just herunrealistic expectations that
were zapping her motivation.
So what I mean by this is thatif she were to write an average
(04:41):
length novel of, say, about80,000 words in three months,
that means she would have had towrite about 6,500 words per
week, and that's a lot, not tomention the fact that she wanted
her draft to be in good enoughcondition to query.
That means she would haveneeded to build in editing time
too, and possibly even some timeto get some outside feedback.
So her timeline just wasn'trealistic, no matter how you
(05:03):
looked at it.
So who could blame her forfeeling uninspired and
unmotivated?
I know I certainly couldn't.
Now, if you relate to thiswriter, I hope you know that
you're not alone.
I resonate with this type ofimposter syndrome the most, and
it's something that I have towork on actively every single
day.
So if this is you too, thenhere is the action step I want
(05:24):
you to take.
First, you'll need to acceptthat it's literally impossible
to be perfect all the time.
There will always be somethingthat you could have done better.
So it's really important justto accept that.
So it's really important justto acknowledge and accept that.
Second, I want you to focus ongiving yourself grace and start
(05:44):
celebrating the small wins thatoccur along the way.
Oftentimes, we can be sofocused on one big goal that
we're never satisfied, even ifwe've been doing some pretty
awesome things along the way.
So it's really, reallyimportant to celebrate those
small wins.
The second type is thesuperhuman.
So have you ever felt like ifyou pushed yourself a little
more or worked a little harderthan everyone else, then maybe
(06:07):
you could measure up and thenmaybe, just maybe, you wouldn't
be exposed as a fraud?
If you're nodding your head,don't worry, you are not alone.
But this type of workaholism canlead to serious burnout and
mental fatigue.
It takes the creativity and thefun out of writing a novel, and
it could even sabotage yourpersonal relationships.
(06:27):
It's just not healthy.
A rider I worked with this yearhad recently joined a critique
group and everyone else in thegroup except her had written and
published at least one book.
For some people, being in thistype of scenario would be
inspiring.
Sometimes it's really awesomebeing the least experienced one
in the room, but for manywriters this can be a breeding
(06:49):
ground for insecurities tofester, and that's exactly what
happened in this writer's case.
Because her peers had alreadywritten and published books.
They'd gone through the entirewriting, editing and publishing
process already.
They knew what certain termsmeant and they had connections
in the industry and they didn'tfeel as nervous or insecure
about some of the things thatnew writers stress over.
(07:10):
So, long story short, thiswriter that I worked with told
me that every time she went toher critique group meeting she
felt like she didn't measure upto the other writers.
So the other writers in thegroup could crank out a first
draft in three to six months,but it was taking her that long
just to brainstorm and outlineher novel because it was her
first one.
It was taking her that long tobrainstorm and outline her novel
(07:33):
, and instead of running her ownrace, she tried redesigning her
schedule and getting up earlyand staying up late to write at
the same pace as the otherwriters in the group.
And no surprise, she burnedherself out pretty quickly doing
this.
Now, if you can relate to thiswriter again, you're definitely
not alone.
But here's an action step thatyou can take to start combating
(07:54):
this type of imposter syndrome.
First, stop comparing yourselfto other writers.
Yes, we're all guilty of thisfrom time to time and in a sense
, it is a little bit normal.
But when your sense ofvalidation comes directly from
how you think you measure up toothers, you're never, ever going
to feel good enough.
Instead, you need to learn howto be confident in your
(08:15):
abilities and where you're atright now.
No one expects a newbie writerto have the same skill level as
a seasoned pro.
So let off the gas a little andlet yourself grow without the
insane and unrealistic pressure.
Type number three is thenatural genius.
These type of imposters settheir internal bar ridiculously
(08:35):
high, just like perfectionists,but the difference is they don't
just judge themselves based ontheir ridiculous expectations.
They also judge themselvesbased on getting things right on
the first try.
So if they can't mastersomething immediately, then
that's when they start to feellike an imposter, and this is
another one I feel like manywriters can relate to.
(08:56):
So many of us start outexpecting to produce a draft
that matches the quality of thebooks we read, but this is super
unrealistic.
The books we read are someoneelse's finished product.
They've gone through multiplerounds of editing and they've
had multiple sets of eyeslooking over them to make sure
they're as cohesive and asperfect as possible.
It's a totally unfaircomparison, but we do it anyway.
(09:20):
A writer I worked with recentlywas so scared to move through
her first draft without knowingeverything about her fantasy
world.
She would show me pages fromher favorite stories and say
things like see this how didthat writer know how to plant a
clue about this thing that wouldmatter later?
I don't even know how to thinkabout this stuff this early on
in the process, and she wouldfeel so bad about herself
(09:43):
because to her it seemed likeher writing would never compare.
But again, she was comparingher draft in its early stages to
someone else's finished product.
It was not a fair comparison.
So, long story short, I wasable to finally encourage this
writer to just keep going and totrust that she would figure out
how to plant all the clues andforeshadow things once she got
(10:06):
to the end of her draft.
And so she did.
She finished her draft and shewas so surprised at how much of
a difference it made in herability to go back through her
messy draft and do all thosethings she saw in other books.
So if you can relate to thiswriter, I have an action step
for you.
First, I want you to challengeyourself to try new things.
One of the biggest faults ofthis type is being afraid to try
(10:29):
new things out of fear offailure or getting it wrong.
So the best thing you can do toovercome it is to feel the fear
, but do it anyway.
This is a mantra I have on asticky note by my desk Feel the
fear and do it anyway.
And if you try this, just knowit's not going to feel good or
natural the first time, or maybeeven the first dozen times, and
(10:50):
that's okay.
But I do want you to stopplaying small out of fear of
striking out.
You won't hit any home runs ifyou don't try right.
Type number four is the soloist,and the soloist goes through
the entire writing process alone.
They believe that asking forhelp means that they're a fraud
or a phony who has no clue whatthey're doing.
So, in other words, they areindependent to a fault.
(11:13):
These types of writers willrefuse help or input from others
, even when they need it, infear of being thought of as
incompetent.
And oh gosh, I relate to thisone a little bit too.
It's so hard to ask for helpsometimes.
Right, I feel like writers havethis extra hard too, because, a
our stories are so personalthat sometimes it's not just
(11:35):
about feeling incompetent, wealso don't want to feel judged.
And then, b writing is kind ofa solo activity in general.
But it's super, super hard togrow and to become a better
writer in a silo.
I know this for a fact becausenearly every writer who comes to
me for help has tried going atit alone, usually for years and
(11:55):
years, and they've finally grownso frustrated and sad that they
haven't manifested their big,beautiful writing dream that
they just need help.
And asking for help ends upbeing less uncomfortable than
going another year of notpublishing their story.
But also, I'm a writer too, soI really know how this feels
firsthand.
(12:15):
I also know how it feels to getfeedback and to get help, and
I'll tell you that I'm never,ever going to do it alone again.
It's just not worth the time andthe frustration when you could
reach out for help, improve yourskill set and accomplish your
goals.
So if you can relate to this,if you think you're a soloist,
here is an action step for you.
First, I want you to try askingfor help.
(12:38):
You might need to give yourselfa little pep talk first, and
that's okay, but just rememberthat there's no shame in asking
for help.
You don't know what you don'tknow and, trust me, it's better
to ask for help than to juststumble along in the dark trying
to figure things out foryourself.
Second, you can try reframingthe way you think about writing.
So in my notes to novel course,I encourage my students to say
(13:00):
that they're discovering theirfirst draft, not writing it, and
that word discovering justtakes some of the pressure off
the process.
You can also remind yourselfthat, just like a toddler
learning to walk, you'relearning to write a novel.
You would never reprimand achild for messing up or not
doing things perfectly whenthey're learning to walk right,
(13:22):
so why shouldn't you receive thesame grace while learning to do
something new, like writing anovel?
Type number five is the expert.
If you like learning more thanyou like doing, then you're
probably the expert.
This type usually measurestheir competence based on how
much they know, and typicallythey put off starting anything
(13:42):
until they know all there is toknow, without a fear of being
exposed as inexperienced orunknowledgeable.
This type is a little similarto the soloist and the natural
genius, but instead of feelinglike you're not a quote unquote
real writer unless you can do iton your own, that's more of the
soloist.
Or like you have to geteverything right on your first
(14:03):
try, that's the natural genius.
The expert likes to collectinformation as a kind of armor
against failure.
So these writers think that ifthey just read another craft
book or sign up for anothertraining or rewrite the opening
chapter for the billionth time,then maybe, just maybe, they
will have all the knowledgeneeded to write a perfect novel.
(14:25):
Last year I worked with a writerwho wanted a manuscript
evaluation of their story,because he felt like something
wasn't working, but he didn'tknow what.
So he sent me all of hismaterials.
He sent his draft along withthis giant spreadsheet that had
tables of all these differentplotting methods on it.
So the hero's journey, the savethe cat beat sheet, the
snowflake method, the key scenesand conventions of his genre.
(14:48):
I mean, you name it and heprobably had it on his
spreadsheet.
So when he sent all of this tome, he also said in his email my
story doesn't match all ofthese different plotting
templates, so should I just giveup?
Does this mean that my story'sfundamentally broken and I've
done something completely wrong?
And my answer was no, of coursenot.
So I read his draft and, longstory short, his story was
(15:12):
actually fine.
It was a very normal firstdraft that needed some things
removed and other thingsclarified.
His story was actually reallyinteresting, but he couldn't see
the forest for the trees.
He had spent so long collectingall the information about all
the different methods that itwas almost his downfall, so he
almost gave up on his storybecause of it.
(15:34):
Like this writer, we tend to doa lot of things to convince
ourselves that our self-doubthas merit, and in this writer's
case he used all the differentplotting methods as a way to
quote unquote, prove that hewasn't good enough or smart
enough to figure things out andthank goodness he asked for help
and for a second opinionbecause, like I said, his story
was actually really enjoyable.
(15:55):
It just needed a little morework, as most first drafts do.
So if you can relate to thiswriter, I have an action step
for you.
First, I want you to stoptrying to learn all the things
simply for the sake of hoardingknowledge, for comfort.
Try learning new skills andthen putting what you learn into
practice right away, because,at the end of the day, you can
(16:16):
only really learn through doinganyway.
Second, I want you to trynarrowing down who you learn
from to one or two trustedmentors and or pick one or two
writing methods that reallyresonate with you.
You're going to make so muchmore progress and gain a much
better understanding of thecraft by going deeper into a few
methods or models than tryingto learn all of them.
(16:38):
Now there's a few things I wantto say before we wrap up, and
one of them.
I just want to go through thedifferent types really quick.
So type one was theperfectionist, type two was the
superhuman, type three was thenatural genius, type four was
the soloist and type five wasthe expert.
If I could summarize one maintakeaway from all the advice in
(16:59):
this episode it would be to justwrite anyway.
So feel the imposter syndromehowever it shows up for you, and
then just write anyway, becauseimposter syndrome is never
going to go away completely.
It might decrease as yourconfidence and your skills grow,
but then you try somethingdifferent or do something new
and all of a sudden impostersyndrome is back at a whole new
(17:22):
level.
So the very best thing you cando is start recognizing imposter
syndrome for what it is andthen, when it shows up, you can
just say, hey, imposter syndrome, I see you over there.
And then just keep doing yourthing, because I really believe
that if you fail to recognize it, you might fall victim to the
doubt and fear that willinevitably come up and you might
(17:42):
even quit something that'sreally important to you, like
writing a novel, or, even worse,you might not try to do it at
all.
So that's it for today'sepisode.
As always, thank you so much fortuning in and for showing your
support.
If you want to check out any ofthe links I mentioned in this
episode, you can find them inthe show notes listed in the
description of each episodeinside your podcast player or at
(18:05):
savannahgilbocom forward slashpodcast.
If you're an Apple user, I'dreally appreciate it if you took
a few seconds to leave a ratingand a review.
Your ratings and reviews tellApple that this is a podcast
that's worth listening to and,in turn, your reviews will help
this podcast get in front ofmore fiction writers just like
you.
So if you're there, go aheadand hit that follow button,
(18:25):
because there's going to beanother brand new episode next
week, full of actionable tips,tools and strategies to help you
become a better writer.
So I'll see you next week anduntil then, happy writing.
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