How to Defeat Your Fear of Failure in Writing: Strategies for the Fiction Author

Fear is a huge element of my life. I fight it, but sometimes I lose. It permeates every aspect of my life, it does not discriminate. Writing is where it can shine bright, though. It loves to have a voice when I’m writing, editing, prewriting, pitching, making narrative or timeline or structure decisions, you get the picture. Fear thinks it has good ideas for me, good reasonings. It thinks it’s helpful. 

There is a purpose for fear in life. I don’t ignore that. But for the majority of my life it has overthrown my rule and taken my stead. 

Do you relate? Has fear ever delayed your writing progress? Has it whispered that your story idea is not good enough? That you are not skilled or capable enough? Screamed that the time is not right—when the right time is, who knows, but it certainly is not now. Has it kept you in any way from writing your story? 

Think about that for awhile. Sometimes fear disguises itself as prudence or well-advised caution. It can traipse around as wisdom while it subtly damages all foundation of confidence in ourselves and in God. It sabotages and derails. 

How can we overcome it and take responsibility again for our decisions? My goal for this post is to provide some avenues fiction writers can use to navigate these negative thoughts and get to the other side—the brighter side where we get stories written and published. A path which fear cannot totally impede. 

Fear will always attack, but we don’t always have to listen. 

Strategy #1 — Make smaller daily word count/writing time goals

I usually have an “all or nothing” mindset. In writing, that translates to needing to write at least 1,000 words of a fiction project in one sitting or else it’s not worth writing at all that day. 

So when life is hectic or I’m mentally drained from social events, just the idea of tackling 1,000 words a day feels like hiking up a mountain (and I don’t hike). It’s the same with timed writing sessions—at least two hours or nothing at all. 

In theory, if I did manage to write at least 1,000 words every day for the rest of my life, or write two hours every day forever, I would make monumental progress. I’ve completed sprints like this before, but doing this in all seasons of my life forever is not realistic. 

Fear tells me I have to give all or it’s not worth giving anything and that I’m a failure. That is a bold-faced lie. 

I’ve said for years that writing for just ten minutes a day is incredibly productive, and I still believe that. I have lived it and it works despite Fear’s criticisms. 

If you repeatedly fail to meet your daily writing goals—or aren’t writing at all—and it’s beating you down mentally, I propose making your daily goals smaller. 

If that scares you, try it temporarily. In my experience, smaller goals are much more effective at battling fear when you feel like you are losing the war. Instead of berating yourself daily for not achieving all you think you should, set your goal lower. Writing a little everyday is better than writing nothing.

Ten minutes a day. 200 words a day. Start small goals and get words down because a little every day produces great long-term progress and increases motivation. 

Read my post “Drafting My Fantasy Novel: The Power of 200 Words a Day” for a better look at how I’ve applied this “less is more” mindset to my writing life. 

Strategy #2 — Try 20,000-word goals 

Facing down a 65,000+ word manuscript to draft is DAUNTING. That is a fact. Especially if you are like me and fear the unknowns in life. I prewrite a lot, but it’s impossible for me to know everything about the story and characters until I’ve written the first, second, and maybe even third draft of the novel. 

When I’m staring down that large drafting project, I get cold feet. Fear begins advising me that I need more time to prewrite, that I’m not in the right headspace to draft, or that I’m going to realize my book idea is riddled with plot holes and flat characters if I embark upon the writing journey now. 

There are unknowns, yes. My characters will probably start flat, but I can round them out. My plot will have holes, but I can fix them. If I set my mind to it, I can debunk everything Fear tells me. Most days though, my mind is clouded and I get exhausted constantly fending off these negative thoughts like a Beater in a Quidditch game constantly fielding attacks from the Bludgers. 

So instead of wearing myself out, I shrink the writing goal. Instead of a 65,000+ word goal, I’m focused on drafting only 20,000 words of the manuscript. 

At that 20,000-word point, I can stop and evaluate where this story has taken me and fix any massively problematic elements that will undoubtedly become worse later on. Then I can embark on another chunk of the manuscript and then repeat the same evaluating process or continue on to the end. 

See how fear is defeated? If I strategically plan my writing goals I can defend myself from attacks like those Quidditch players and score some goals. It just takes a little self-discipline to make the small strategic goals and stay consistent. 

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Strategy #3 — Find your support group and cheerleaders 

This strategic piece is vital. It’s important to surround yourself with one or more people who are excited for you to finish your book. That can be a spouse, family member, friend, critique partner, or members of your writing group. 

It’s not impossible to write your book in secret or with yourself as your only cheerleader, but having just one other person interested in your book to ask you how it’s going, bounce ideas off of, or encourage you when you think your writing sucks is extremely helpful. 

When Fear starts whispering negativity into your ear, having someone who speaks truth and light into your life can change your course for good. 

Strategy #4 — Listen to your fight songs

When my support person or group isn’t available, it’s helped me to listen to a song that can pump me up and inspire me to not give up. I’ve had a variety of songs like that over the years, but the artist that has provided me with the most fight songs is NF. He’s been a constant inspiration to me since 2015, and I predict for many more years. 

Open your Spotify or Amazon Music or wherever you keep your collection of favorite songs, and search for any you could use for inspiration. Keep track of the songs you find, maybe make a playlist. Listen when needed. 

Strategy #5 — Ask for help

This is a hard one for me. I want to do everything myself. If I can’t, I feel like a failure, and then I’m tempted to stop writing. 

When doing it all yourself is not working, there is no shame in asking for help. Maybe you need to hear that today. There is no shame in asking for help. 

It could be help with creative ideas from another writer, a pep talk from your spouse or friend, or a request for strength and words to come from God. 

I’m personally trying to remember to pray about my writing more often, especially as I sit down to write or edit. Most of the time I forget, but whenever I remember I ask for strength to battle the negativity fear feeds into my life and for words to reflect the story in my mind in a way that will glorify God, because that is my ultimate life goal. 

Plan Your Defense Strategy Against Fear

These five strategies have proven to help me through some formidable attacks from fear. I still lose battles, but I have my sight set on winning the war. Fear may be a squatter in our minds, but that doesn’t mean we need to make it comfortable in our home. Let’s make Fear want to leave. 

I’d love to know—

What strategy will you use to win your battle with fear? Scroll down and share in the comments.