Newsflash: Your Writing SUCKS

So, the bad news: your writing sucks and you need to fix it. Every single day Google brings writers to this blog using the search phrase ‘my writing sucks’. Supersadface.

Look, it’s not unusual to believe your writing sucks. It may even be true. While I am the first one to say writers need to believe in themselves, it’s also a good idea to be realistic. It’s not possible to write a perfect draft straight out the gate, plus writing craft is HARD. It takes a lot of practice!

So, here’s the good news: if you think your writing sucks, you’ve come to the right place to fix it. Ready? Let’s go …

1) You have a love/hate relationship with your draft

Whether it’s a messy novel or a bloated screenplay, clinging to that first version will kill your story. I get it, you love your story. That’s great! But you also have to temper that with the knowledge your first idea is rarely your best one. You’re unlikely to hit the nail on the head the first time you write something … whether that’s a draft or even a whole project! 

What’s that: you HATE your draft? That’s normal too. Look, writing gets romanticised online and by pro writers. You thought it would be a lot easier than this.  But you’re not the worst writer in the universe. Writing is just DIFFICULT. 

HOW TO FIX IT: Rewrite with purpose. Cut the filler. No one cares about your clever lines if they’re slowing the pace. And remember to LET GO. You – and your story – will not develop if you are resistant to the process.

MORE: ‘I Trust The Process’ – And 9 More Powerful Affirmations For Writers

2) You’re playing it safe

Writers tell me all the time about their ideas. But so often they will follow it up with …

• ‘But am I ALLOWED to tell this story?’
• ‘Yes, but I could NEVER write XYZ.’ 
• ‘But I’m SCARED of writing that.’ 

This might be about a particular character or trope; storyworld or genre; tone or style; even something they’ve lived through themselves.

In other words, absolutely ANYTHING. Writers will find every excuse in the book NOT to write something.  The most common these days is ‘Twitter might yell at me.’ 

But in fiction or film, safe = forgettable. Your novel ends up reading like everything else on Kindle. Your screenplay feels like a rejected Netflix pitch.

HOW TO FIX IT: Be braver. Go darker, weirder, funnier, messier. Whatever takes it up a notch. I double dare you! 

3) You’re telling, not showing

Visual writing is at a MEGA premium in the spec pile, whether novels or screenplays.

Unpublished novel manuscripts are awash with non-stop thoughts and feelings.

Screenplays are chains of dialogue, flashbacks and voice-overs.

Both will ‘info-dump’, laying out facts and figures believing that’s how exposition works.

Spoiler: it DOESN’T!

Whether we’re reading or viewing, never forget: we learn about a character from what they DO.

HOW TO FIX IT: Whether it’s prose or script, DRAMATISE it. Think about the physical realm. Make the reader *see* it. Let action and character behaviour do the heavy lifting.

MORE: Writing Adages Explained: ‘Show, Don’t Tell’

4) Your characters are cardboard 

If your protagonist is a cliché or your villain is just “bad,” readers and viewers will check out. Modern readers and audiences LIKE shades of grey. 

Real people are complex. LET your characters make bad decisions. They’re not meant to be perfect. So what if @internethandle4Millionand1 might have a problem with it in a review?? That hasn’t happened yet. 

HOW TO FIX IT: Let them surprise you. That’s where the magic is. And learn about tropes!

5) You don’t have the GUTS to finish!

This one is frequently connected to 1 and 2 on this list. Writers end up going in circles, making zero progress because they can’t LET GO.

Half a novel? An act one and a dream? Not enough. Finishing something – however flawed – is the only way to get better. I know it’s scary. No one said it was easy. But it’s gotta be done.

HOW TO FIX IT: Done beats perfect every time. You can’t fix what isn’t finished.

BONUS!

6) You’re SCARED to be authentic

This is probably the most difficult one. The thought of a viewer or reader of your work saying you SUCK when you’ve poured your heart and soul into it is frightening.

Plus as any produced or published creative can confirm: everybody is a ‘critic’ these days. The kinds of things people say about novels or scripts – and even their creatives! – can be unhinged AF in the digital era.

But here’s the thing to remember: every creator gets it. Literally all of us. There’s always, always some A-hole who thinks it’s so easy, or that we’re doing [WHATEVER] they’ve assumed about us, the process or anything else.

HOW TO FIX IT: Acknowledge the fear. Then do it anyway! I TRIPLE dare you.

Want even MORE script reading secrets?

My sell-out course, BREAKING INTO SCRIPT READING is back in June 2025!

If you’re interested in becoming a script reader, or finding out more how script readers may assess YOUR own writing – or both! – then this is the course for you.

Tickets are on sale now. GET THEM HERE, or click the pic on the left. See you there!