It's a concept well known to writers and other artistic types.
Your Inner Editor is the one who keeps telling you you've made a mistake -- which isn't always bad. But the problem is that the I.E. often butts in when you're in the middle -- or even just starting -- to do something creative:
"That sentence is cliche!" "No one will believe this story!" "Stephen King told the exact same story -- and he told it better!" "This paragraph is way too long!" "What are you, 5?" "You're writing "said" too many times!"
Etc. etc.
(But it's also the part of your brain that criticizes how your body looks, or how you speak, or do anything.)
That's a big reason why writers can spend all day "Writing" and end up with a blank page by bedtime.
Nanowrimo fora are full of advice for shutting up your inner editor, so you can get to 50 K words in 30 days. I saw one suggestion from a woman who made the inner editor a character in her story, and wrote all its nagging into the dialog. ;-)
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Your Inner Editor is the one who keeps telling you you've made a mistake -- which isn't always bad. But the problem is that the I.E. often butts in when you're in the middle -- or even just starting -- to do something creative:
"That sentence is cliche!"
"No one will believe this story!"
"Stephen King told the exact same story -- and he told it better!"
"This paragraph is way too long!"
"What are you, 5?"
"You're writing "said" too many times!"
Etc. etc.
(But it's also the part of your brain that criticizes how your body looks, or how you speak, or do anything.)
That's a big reason why writers can spend all day "Writing" and end up with a blank page by bedtime.
Nanowrimo fora are full of advice for shutting up your inner editor, so you can get to 50 K words in 30 days. I saw one suggestion from a woman who made the inner editor a character in her story, and wrote all its nagging into the dialog. ;-)