Home For Fiction – Blog

for thinking people

New post every MondayHow not to miss one

experiencing

Impostor Syndrome and Writers

May 20, 2019

Experiencing

confidence, criticism, experiencing, impostor syndrome, writing

1 comments

Let’s talk about impostor syndrome and writers. I could here give you a quick definition of what impostor syndrome is (chances are you know already), but let’s start with some personal revelations first. This will take a while to build up, but hopefully your patience will be worth it.

So, here goes…

A List of Flawed Excellence

I’ve written over twenty novels. I’ve published several of them. One of my works is also published traditionally, by a respected publishing house.

I’ve put together the blog you’re reading (containing hundreds of posts). I’ve published a guide on writing better fiction.

I have a PhD in English literature from a fine Finnish university. I also have an MA from the same university, graded laudatur. If you check how academic grading works in Finland, you’ll discover that, at the university level, laudatur “is often reserved for exceptional students and it is typically awarded for a thesis only once in 5 to 10 years.”

I know how to program in HTML/CSS/JavaScript, and I have some limited knowledge of Python and PHP. I have published a few Android apps.

Besides English, I can speak Greek (at a native level) and Finnish – arguably two of the most difficult European languages. I have some basic knowledge of Italian and some very limited knowledge of Japanese.

On top of that, I play guitar/bass and a bit of piano. I have composed some songs, some shared online.

I’ve worked as a professional photographer. I’ve won some local photography awards, too.

I’m a very good chess player.

I have a bit of flying time on a Cessna C172.

New achievement: I can solve the Rubik’s cube in under a minute 😛

What else…

Oh yeah… A day doesn’t pass without me doubting myself and my skills, thinking that any minute now the entire surrounding world will consume me with laughter and taunting.

impostor syndrome and writers
Impostor Syndrome and Writers: a Dangerous Combination

Impostor Syndrome and Writers: or, how to Kill Your Creativity

Many people far wiser than me have described the key issue of the impostor syndrome. My favorite one is Bertrand Russell’s take on stupidity:

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

Bertrand Russell

This creates a very vicious loop. Perhaps, indeed, an infinite loop. No wonder some of history’s greatest thinkers have been so pessimistic.

(more…)

What Is Negative Capability

May 13, 2019

Literature, Philosophy

experiencing, Keats, literature, negative capability, philosophy, poetry, truth

2 comments

In today’s post I will talk about Negative Capability. In particular, I’ll try to answer the question, What is negative capability? There’s a reason I’ve used bold font. There’s also a reason I said that I’ll try to answer the question.

Honestly, few things in a literary context have troubled me more than negative capability. Can I give you a definition? Sure. That’s very easy. Let’s take the one offered by John Keats himself, who coined the term.

[S]everal things dovetailed in my mind, & at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in Literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously – I mean Negative Capability, that is when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason – Coleridge, for instance, would let go by a fine isolated verisimilitude caught from the Penetralium of mystery, from being incapable of remaining content with half knowledge.

The Letters of John Keats, ed. H E Rollins. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958.
what is negative capability
Negative capability is about the search for aesthetic, rather than philosophical meaning.

Giving a simple definition is relatively easy. Understanding the repercussions, is an entirely different story. Let’s try to unpack this.

(more…)