Failure Modes of Writing
Just don’t write it at all.
Literally, do not let it exist except through the format of letting people talk to you about it. This is okay if the topic is controversial, easily misunderstood, or the benefits to you are limited, or the idea really is just not ready to be explained. A lot of ideas don’t get written because the process for generating ideas is a lot faster than the process of manifesting them. However, if you want a piece of writing to exist and it does not, not existing is indeed a real failure mode.
When you are thinking about writing, but you are doing something other than writing.
This is a failure mode because you could just be writing down what you are thinking. For certain kinds of writing, the thinking and the writing really are quite separate. The thinking about what you would be writing is separate from the act of writing. But there are many kinds of writing where having the thought and writing it down can be coordinated to co-occur in time, and ideally should be done at the same time to save time, save energy, and capture the emotions and structures of the moment, rather than having to remember or re-derive them later. Dividing this up into a few different steps, such as thinking about the writing, checking if you actually care enough to write it, being anxious about doing the writing, being anxious about not doing the writing, mustering up the energy to write, finally writing, then second-guessing your writing, all add extra steps that can really exhaust a person and get in the way of both getting the motivation and the energy to write.
Not using your existing knowledge.
If you are thinking about something, chances are you have thought about it before, in some shape or form. You may have even written about it before. Not referencing your old thoughts and your old writing — because you have some belief that writing needs to be hard and you have to be original every time for every iteration of your writing — means that probably, actually, you either are not writing enough or not looking back at your old writing enough. I say this because when you have a big enough catalog of writing, you do notice that when you have thought about the idea that seems like the same idea but at different times, and with a different specific zoomed-in fractal focus, the ideas and the writing actually end up quite different from each other in a way that justifies the different pieces existing. You can think about your favorite novelist if you want a clearer example. Probably, the novels have the same or a similar themes that the author is exploring and even similar modes of expression, and sometimes even the same characters, but you are still happy that the different novels exist because they actually do feel quite different to you.
Getting too tired with writing by not using the right parts of the day for your writing.
It’s okay to get tired. Maybe you’ve been doing a stream of consciousness or talking through a specific point and realize you don’t have an answer to a specific question about what you’re trying to say and need to think more. Maybe you’ve been editing and the piece is long and it’s just taking you several hours to read it aloud line by line to actually get through it. A failure mode of writing would be to get too frustrated by one specific part so that you never get to other parts, or sticking to one part for too long without realizing that the other stages actually make the work easier if you allow yourself to do that work first or skip perfecting a step before moving on, and then allowing yourself the permission to go back to a previous step later.
Not Starting
If you don’t start, you will never get to the editing stage, or to the publishing stage. You won’t capture the initial moment, and mood, and moment of inspiration. Don’t let the self-consciousness keep you from starting! Perhaps you are having self-consciousness about bottling the moments of inspiration, because it feels vulnerable. Remember that this is only the first step and even if you mess up, there will be many more opportunities to both mess up and also to fix it. Turning it over and over in your head is not as useful as just starting, and getting feedback early if you need it. But you cannot get feedback or iterate drafts when everything is just in your head. Unless you have a specific reason for keeping it there, and you probably don’t, and if you do you know it already, get it onto something like a page as soon as you can.
Not Finishing
If you finish, somebody can read it and point out edits to you, or things that are worth expanding, cutting, things that they love, things that are wrong. You might have to admit you’re not actually done and have to revise. Some people see this as a great thing and love getting to this stage because they love having all these things. Some people are terrified of all these things, see these all as negative, and want to finish in spirit to “have a finished product” but don’t like either the process or then what one gets to have at the other end. However, even if there are mistakes, having a finished product does mean there are many more things you can do with it, than not finishing. If you finish it you can show it to people and actually they can coordinate with you and know more of your mind. What seems so clear and safe and cushy and perfect in your head probably is perfect in your head, but nobody can see it. And that is the point of all the hard work of the writing, is to make flawed and external the perfect thing that only you can see. If you were initially inspired to write because you thought this trade was worth it, it is still worth it even in the middle stage where the perfect thought in the mind falls apart on the page.
Do not get discouraged.
<3
