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Everyone does it. Your thoughts circle in an endless loop – anxiety and doubt overtake your ability to move forward. Unfortunately, it's common. I don’t know how to eliminate it, but I can share ways I’ve found helpful to move past it.
1. Find your process. Whether you’re just starting or have written dozens of books, find a process that works for you and use it. This may look a little different for each writer, but I’m talking about how you go from idea to done. I rely on the process I’ve built to help get out of the overthinking cycle. Overthinking hits hardest for me in the first draft and self-edits–before anyone else sees the story. I remind myself to trust the process. That my critique partners and editors will help me flesh out the areas that don’t quite make sense yet. We have dev editors, alpha and beta readers, and writing critique partners for a reason. We’ve selected them because we trust them to give us honest feedback. Especially if you’re struggling with overthinking an early draft, trust that you’ll work through the details, but you must get the story out first.
If you’re just starting and you don’t have people like this, whether they are fellow writers you can critique swap with or paid partners like dev editors or beta readers, I highly recommend finding them. Not everyone uses every type of partner. Find the ones that work for you.
2. Have a plan. This is not a stand between plotters and pantsers. How you get your words on paper is your own business. I find overthinking to be circuitous, a cycle of worry that isn’t really productive. One way I move forward is by revisiting my plan for publication. If you’re familiar with sales, this is like internal objection handling. Your brain might create reasons to get stuck in a cycle, and you get to sell it on why you want to move forward. It could look like this:
Brain: this addition to the world-building would be great, but it needs to be in the beginning.Plan: Okay, Brain, I will write it down and address it in self-edits. Let's pretend that it has been there from the beginning for now.
I’ll admit this is less helpful when your brain loops on self-doubt, but that is also an area of overthinking that writers must confront. Not every story is for every reader, and I have to be okay with that to create something and put it out in the world. In those cases, I anchor myself around why I’m doing this. I love writing, and I love sharing my stories. I want to find readers who enjoy my brand of storytelling.
3. Trust yourself. Cliche? Sure. But still fundamentally a way to unstick yourself from the overthinking cycle. I can’t prescribe what will work for you, but you’ll find the things that do. For me, pushing through a draft helps. I make changes as I go and clean up for consistency in self-edits. Each writer has to find their own ways to deal with overthinking because it is a common struggle, and I don’t think it goes away the more you write.
I hope it helps to know you’re not the only one overthinking your writing. Find the people and the process that works for you. Many think of writing as solitary, but storytelling inherently needs others. Find the people who will support you but give you constructive feedback.
Jillian Witt reads more romantic fantasy than is strictly necessary and writes books she would love to read. Her stories unleash powerful women into fantasy worlds, usually turn enemies into lovers, and always offer an escape from reality.
When not reading or writing, she’s enjoying all four seasons in Michigan with her partner and their dog, Loki.
TT and instagram @mythandmagicbookclub
