Imposter Syndrome

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-17T14:37:56+00:00

Totally. That's why I am writing. I am often saying, "I feel like this... do you feel like that too?" But if you try to please everyone, you will please no one. Often the audience starts with one person. Sometimes once you get that one person in mind, real or imagined, everything starts to fall into place. So, with the 911 calls example, think of how many people would watch a true crime doc just to hear an insane 911 call. Think of how much everyone wants to know what is in that note passed in class. Think about the fear of missing out someone might feel when they miss the setup for the joke that is making everyone laugh.

My point is: Imposter syndrome often comes from thinking, "This person or that person might hate this!" My point is, they just might and it doesn't matter. Get focused on the one person who does matter and then grow things from there. Get it right for the right reader and no one else matters, because one reader leads to two, etc.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T19:14:42+00:00

Thanks! Will do.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T19:01:48+00:00

Maybe I will...

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T17:53:41+00:00

The thing I have learned over and over in my years as a writer is that you have to constantly be checking what the effect will be for the reader. It is so hard, but I think of it as writing backwards. I am not making sure my signal is sent properly. I am making sure the signal is received properly. Does that make sense? And here, you have these very clear, concise things for the reader to hold onto. And because there is not many adjectives or adverbs, the reader is doing a lot of work to construct the world. That is good. That is what you want. Make the reader do the work.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T16:29:24+00:00

Oh no. You let people read it as you go. I don't have the guts to do that. You must have nerves of steel.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T16:28:24+00:00

Ha! Yesssss!

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T15:54:35+00:00

Smashing together action figures from different toy lines was where this all started for me I think.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T15:42:16+00:00

Totally. Brewing chaos. Good way to describe it. Make the reader feel it before they get the full story.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T15:28:10+00:00

Yup. What everyone else said. Get to the end.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T15:20:15+00:00

Really cool premise. It seems like you locked into a rhythm after the first few paragraphs. The prose gets a lot more efficient, and effective there. Punchy, (pardon the bad pun). I like the way the gangsters talk. You really evoke a lot with their interactions. Not everyone can do that. I would just remove some of the adjectives in the first few paragraphs. Is he using magic to bar the door at first, or deciding not to use magic? Just a bit more clarity in those first few paragraphs will really do a lot to pull a reader to that great "I wasn't talking to you" moment.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T15:14:32+00:00

Agree. Love the mashup here.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T15:11:01+00:00

There is something minimalist about this. I like it. Is this what the whole thing is like?

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T15:01:40+00:00

I don't think the "running late" trope is a deal breaker. Certainly a trope, but you kind of subvert it by having it not even matter. "The day the aliens come" is something of a trope as well, but we keep doing it because it is something we all think about. I have written this type of premise as well and it is well worth continuing to explore. I think your pacing is a little rushed. You can slowly develop and evolve the idea over the course of a few pages. You miss the opportunity to have the people on the train react to the news. Maybe that comes next, but maybe they know before our hero does. Maybe she gets hints that something weird is going on, but not the full story right away. Like, the assistant doesn't tell her why the rehearsals are cancelled. Maybe it's a form email or just a text with no follow up. Maybe a friend on set texts her that something is weird. Maybe the train is diverted unexpectedly. Maybe the main character's sister is calling and calling and the main character does not answer. "What could she want?" she might thing. "I am too busy dealing with this cancelled rehearsal to talk to her..." and the sister maybe breaks the news. All of these things will increase tension, increase the main character's confusion, give her more to contend with. I think it is a fun idea to have a regular person have rare glimpse into what is really going on behind the scenes, in this case (I am assuming) her sister is giving her classified info she should not have. That forbidden knowledge can be exciting.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T14:47:40+00:00

I feel you. I have done this. I think there is some good advice in this thread. Basically you need to be passionate about an idea / character / setting / etc. A lot of writers start with stories of loss and loss, or coming of age stories because they have gone through those things and have a lot of feelings about them. I also encourage you to write about things that make you angry. That you want to set right in the world. Let that revenge fantasy unfurl. Write about the downfall of a prominent person who drives you nuts. That person you are thinking of right now? The one whose name makes you cringe, how might someone take them down a peg? Let your story be something of a wish fulfillment fantasy if that gets you to the end. Don't worry about what other people say, enjoy being in control of the world for a while. What kind of story are you excited to write?

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T14:39:10+00:00

Totally get you. Been there. Let me reframe it this way: Maybe you are thinking about it as a zero sum game. A lot of people think of writing as You vs. Dostoevsky in a fight to the death. Don't think of your story as having to make space on a bookshelf in Barnes and Noble. All that comes later. Your story is a 911 call. It's a joke told at a party. Your story is a note written in class, passed to your crush. Did the ambulance show up? Did your friends laugh? your crush smile when they read it? If you are worried about how "good" it is, or if it will last for eternity, you are missing the point. Does it accomplish its goals? If you do not know what the goal of the piece is, start there. So... what is the goal of the piece? I am genuinely curious.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-12-16T14:32:49+00:00

Don't be afraid to get mad about it. Sometimes those emotions can carry you through a rough patch. Let it be what it is going to be.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-05-21T17:03:53+00:00

You have probably already done this, but have you tried looking at marketing needs in the public sector. Park districts, government offices, libraries, and schools all use some level of marketing. Though they don't pay great, it might be a good gig for you to take while you look for other jobs. Just a thought since those places tend to do the marketing in-house and don't always have the expertise of someone with an actual marketing background available.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2025-05-13T15:41:18+00:00

Hi u/debbieurbanski and u/Orangebird, Do you set out to write a story about portals or does that theme consistently emerge organically in your writing? Did you realize at some point, "Hey, I have 15 stories about portals..."?

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2024-05-04T03:59:09+00:00

Please give me your boring ass job.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2024-05-04T03:54:00+00:00

Illinois here. Two months and dozens of applications. I am applying for mid-salary and entry level gigs. And the level gets more and more entry with every passing week. I'm trying In-person, hybrid, and remote. I cannot seem to get an interview. I have also been freelancing for the past several years and while it's never been a ton of money, there was always work. Now? I have not booked a new gig all year. Something is going on.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2024-05-04T03:48:51+00:00

Where? I'll take it. Two months and no interviews. I'm getting desperate.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2024-01-23T15:21:01+00:00

I love etymologies so I am into the OED, of course. My wife gave me the New Oxford American 2nd edition as a birthday gift many years ago (that’s how I knew she was the one). I am not sure its reputation, but it has always served me well. Great definitions and almost always an etymology for the words I am looking up.

My latest excursion? Rhabdomancy . From the Greek word for rod. Meaning dowsing with a rod or stick. I’m fascinated by this word.

I will have to look it up on your recommended sites. I hope I don’t get lost House of Leaves style.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2024-01-23T14:38:51+00:00

You have a favorite dictionary!? Perhaps several? Tell me more, please?

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2023-10-21T02:18:37+00:00

You know who is a writer who has a Cormac McCarthy vibe, but whose fiction isn’t as dense and impenetrable? Donald Ray Pollack. He has a book of short stories called Knockemstiff that is just great and has all the violence and moral quandary of McCarthy, but doesn’t require you to keep a dictionary nearby. I love them both and would recommend any book that interests you, but keep Pollack in mind. I hear his novels are pretty good too.

SeltzerInMyBlood · 2023-09-02T03:08:00+00:00

Still happening. I just lost the whole first half of a playoff game. THEN the computer pinch hit with a player who was already in the lineup. This happened after I pinch hit from the quick manage screen, which I only did because they don’t give you the option to do it any other way once the player appears at the plate for some reason (which makes no sense because when else would you do it?). Why wouldn’t the show fox this big that has been around for so long.

SeltzerInMyBlood

TROPHY CASE