Creator Confessions: The Writer’s Gut

Writing stories is difficult for a whole host of reasons. There are financial obstacles, time obstacles, and even creative obstacles. But perhaps there is no bigger challenge than overcoming yourself. There’s a reason imposter syndrome exists. It is because writers are often their own worst critics. They’re constantly second-guessing themselves and questioning their decisions. It also doesn’t help that everyone else has an opinion, too. Everyone thinks they are an amateur critic, and when people begin posting reviews everywhere on the internet, it’s hard not to take them to heart. To make matters even worse, a big tip for writers is to get an editor and beta readers that will help you sharpen and hone a story. And although they do help, they also can be harsh in their feedback.

But as a writer, the most important thing to remember is that the story is yours. It came from your head and was birthed from your creativity. Every storyteller has what I like to call the “writer’s gut.” It might be instincts or vision, but regardless of what you call it, the writer is ultimately the driving force behind the story. As a creator, you have to trust yourself and where you want the story to go.

In moments of doubt, when you have an editor making a suggestion that you’re just not sure about or you have reviewers that are very critical of a character arc, you want to feel confident in the decisions that you made and know that the story you told is the way you want to tell it. In short, you have to be able to sleep at night with the story you crafted. It might not be for everyone, and in fact, it could be bad. That’s a very real possibility. But as a writer, that’s the chance we take by telling our stories. We offer ourselves up to be vulnerable to the world, and we do so by following our gut. Trust it, because that’s really all we have.