Maybe none of my ideas are good enough.

[Agrippa]

I'm assuming that most people here have noticed my adventure academy threads. I haven't had very much luck with brainstorming for it, maybe that's for the best anyway. Is it just me, or is every idea I come up with or every project I try, world-building and drawing, just a complete waste of time? I start a project just full of hope, enthusiasm and brimming with confidence, then I get stuck and I don't know where to go, or the computer crashes and I lose every thing I'm working on all because I forget to back it up. Maybe it's just that nothing I do can be any good and that wasting everyone's time even trying anymore. What's wrong with me?

[Eldan]

Most people who try writing probably never produce anything exceptional. That's sort of the definition of "exceptional". So, you're not unusual in that regard, just average. Doesn't mean it's wasted time, if you enjoy doing it.

[Lord Raziere]

listen.

art is.....a thing. a thing of maintenance and dedication. Its a process of coming up with ideas and trying them out, seeing if they work and if your willing to follow through on them. some ideas, eh, maybe they aren't as good as others, some ideas, while good, maybe you aren't the right person to execute them because you just don't have right experiences or whatever, or you find yourself losing interest halfway. and thats ok.

art is all about what your interested in, what you want to do. if the project no longer interests you...it no longer interests you. you either introduce a twist to change things up and make it go off in an interesting new direction or you just drop it and try something else, and keep trying until you get something that works. something that sings. an artist will probably go through MANY ideas before they find the one that truly works and resonates with them, the creative process is very much one of coming up with tons of possibilities, testing them out then eliminating all the ones that don't work for you for the ones that do. think of it like the science of your self expression, where there are many possibilities but you don't what will work until you experiment, until you try and find out what doesn't work and what does.

it is hoped that you build upon the successful works, that you get a feel for what you want to express and why from the works that came before and how to do that. that you build a foundation for what you can do, and what you know about yourself.

but the ideas themselves, they're just tools. tools that you prefer to use over others, but tools nevertheless, or pieces and materials you prefer to work with, the stuff you are skilled at using and making things from- some are good at working with copper, some are good with forging iron, we all have our metals. but really, the ideas, they're only good as what you make of them, most of the time. iron doesn't become good steel unless you work to make it so. ideas, they're only as good as what you think of them. a person who believes in justice but doesn't think about it all that much, they're not making much from the idea of justice. however a philosopher who spends his lifetime thinking about nothing but justice, working it out and trying to determine what is and isn't just- they're probably making grand things from justice.

so ask yourself not whether your ideas are good enough, because that is a stupid question. ask instead: what have I been making from those ideas? your ideas are only the raw metal, what is the finished work? and no failure is never a waste of time. even a dead end path means that you have at least eliminated one place to go, and that you can now go explore others and see where they lead. why many of the things I come up with, they don't even see the light of day even though I wish them to.

I mean I have an idea for a story called Internet City, where it explores what internet would be like if it was an actual society- but I never got all that far on it.

I had this crazy idea for a setting called Napoleon Stone, where the alchemists did discover the philosopher's stone, and that this lead to a whole weird alternate history where by the time 1950's roll around, the time the setting is set, Immortal sorcerer Napoleon rules half the world and has brainwashed everyone in his empire into thinking he is the christian messiah, and the only united front against him is the Axis of Freedom led by Hitler the artist and Stalin. but while it was a wonderful crazy idea, I haven't worked on it much.

or Shattered Rassiteh, that was a fantasy setting I really developed, but haven't gotten around to working on in years. and it had a bunch of wonderful things going on it that are really too many to list, but suffice to say I like it. I particularly liked the organization of Godsbane, an organization constantly hunting cults so that gods may never rise to power through faith ever again.

point is, they were all good ideas but after a while I couldn't come up with new ways to develop them, so I just let them sit. hope one day I'll get back around to them and make more things on them, hasn't happened yet but one can hope.

point is to all my rambling that I broke my lurking for, is that you really shouldn't give up if your artist and are really are passionate about it. However you also have to be flexible and open-ended about this sort of thing. you never know if a certain possibility might be the golden one, so you might as well keep it until you can figure out whether it is or not. I'd hate to see a fellow artist fall into despair and give up their passions, hate to see any potential go to waste, but it is not my choice whether you do so or not. I personally prefer it if you pick yourself up and try again, try another kind of expression, try another way to see if you like it, but thats your decision- whether you keep being an artist or decide that your passions, what you really care about and want to work are something else, I encourage you either way, for art is all about beauty and beauty is best achieved when you really care about it, no matter what you are doing. if art expresses you- go for it, if something other than art expresses you better- go for it.

point is, don't give up. no matter what you choose....this is only one dead end, if your even at one at all. there are so many more paths and possibilities out there! go explore, wander a bit, go investigate into something your curious about but never thought you'd actually like, maybe even read whatever inspired you to be an artist in the first place, whatever. just be flexible and don't give up.

now, enough of me trying to pretend to be some wise rarely-seen old master or guardian angel or whatever, back to lurking for me. your ruining my supposed absence.

[Grinner]

What's wrong with me?

I have a hundred-and-something page document on my computer, plus stacks of notes and a few wikis, and they're mostly just ideas. Ideas in various stages of development. It's gotten to a point where I've had to make an idea shortlist, of which I've only completed a few projects. None of them were particularly good, either.

Nothing's wrong with you. Making stuff is just hard. Really hard.

[BWR]

There is a saying about genius being 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
Ideas and inspiration and enthusiasm only get you started. The rest is seriously hard work. Ask just about anyone who works creatively for a living.
Neil Gaiman has said that the best advice he can give people who want to become writers is this: "Write. Finish what you start." This advice can be applied to any sort of creative effort.
Waiting for inspiration to get started doesn't always work. Relying on inspiration to finish what you start is likely to get you nowhere. The only way to learn, the only way get better, the only way to finish, is to do it when it's a pain, not when it's a pleasure.
If you get stuck the only thing to do is finish it. Screw inspiration, screw enthusiasm, it's now a chore, a slog, a boring job that has to be finished. Don't worry if it's basically plagiarism, just finish it. Put a proper end to what you start, even if it's unsatisfying.

As for the quality of ideas, new ideas are rare. Execution is in general far more important than novelty.

[Jay R]

An idea is the start of creation. It is not the end.

It's also the easiest part. Building it into a finished project is a lot of work, and it isn't easy.

And like every other skill, the only way to get good at it is to practice.

So don't say " nothing I do can be any good," and stop. Say, "I haven't learned to do this very well yet; I need more practice," and continue.

[Weimann]

Yeah, I can only echo what has already been said. Having ideas is just the first step. I'm not a writer by any means, but all I've ever heard is this:

1) Ideas are good and all, but they are also cheap. Write about your ideas all you want, but if it turns out that the idea doesn't sustain, it's better to put it down. View it as writing practice, and go on with a new idea. This isn't a failure, it's just the writing process.

2) Practice makes perfect, but you'll suck at the start. Don't expect something publishable, or maybe even readable, at your first try. Get a million words down, then you're starting to get a grip of it.

3) Don't give up. The only way to fail at writing is to stop writing. No one says it will be easy, but as you go along, it will get easier.

And, seriously, I'd advice you to check out some writing handbooks. If you're struggling, maybe a few tips will help you along, or it might just be heartening to know that the problem you're having is common enough that people make money writing books about how to tackle it.

[Grinner]

And, seriously, I'd advice you to check out some writing handbooks. If you're struggling, maybe a few tips will help you along, or it might just be heartening to know that the problem you're having is common enough that people make money writing books about how to tackle it.

If you have a little money to spare, the Story Bundle has a sale on writing guides for the next few weeks.

[valadil]

I'm assuming that most people here have noticed my adventure academy threads. I haven't had very much luck with brainstorming for it, maybe that's for the best anyway. Is it just me, or is every idea I come up with or every project I try, world-building and drawing, just a complete waste of time? I start a project just full of hope, enthusiasm and brimming with confidence, then I get stuck and I don't know where to go, or the computer crashes and I lose every thing I'm working on all because I forget to back it up. Maybe it's just that nothing I do can be any good and that wasting everyone's time even trying anymore. What's wrong with me?

I hadn't noticed them. I've been a lazy playgrounder lately.

Also, back your stuff up. Either use Google docs or get a Dropbox account. Both options are free and will save you so many headaches down the road.

Do you enjoy world-building and drawing? If so, do them for their own sake.

If you don't enjoy them, don't do them. There might be a payoff at the end, but why gamble your free time on something you don't enjoy?

[Weimann]

This thread actually inspired me to pick up some writing handbooks (admittedly not from Grinner's link), and I have to say it really does help to read some straightforward tips. I'm currently not writing anything (unless you count my bachelor's thesis, which I suppose is another kind of beast), but I find that picking up knowledge is always a good move. Writing can seem really enigmatic and ethereal, and it really helps when someone boils the ground rules down for you. Of course, you still have to walk the walk yourself, but now you have a map, and if the trail turns into a two foot wide mountain trail at some points, at least you'll have some railings.

[Agrippa]

Maybe I'll look for a writing handbook out there. At least you're more help on this topic than my mother is.

[SiuiS]

Inspiration is hard. Expression is hard. Sometimes this overwhelming sense of futility happens. The best thing to do is push through it. There's value in rethinking your process and praxes, look at the goal and how you execute it, but really relying on inspiration instead of discipline is intuitive but ultimately bad.

[shawnhcorey]

What pisses you off? What makes you scream at the TV? What makes you call someone on Facebook a @$%*&?

To write with passion, write about the things you care about. Put your protag in a situation where he must confront what you're most anger at. How does he cope? How does he overcome it? The reason you can't seem to find any ideas is because you are not looking at your own feelings.