3 Types Of Fear Creatives Need To Overcome
- Jun 10, 2015
- 5 min read
I just finished reading a thriller novel about a group of soldiers that take a medical cocktail to eliminates fear. This medicine is supposed to make better, fearless soldiers.
Of course, in the book, this medicine is used for evil – the soldiers are used as suicide bombers – and it’s up to the good guys to stop it.
But it got me thinking about what that this could be used for in everyday life.
Broadly speaking, there are 3 types of fear that writers face. Creative fear, fear of failure and fear of rejection.
Creative Fear
Creative fear is the fear of putting your work out there.
Writers tend to be very private individuals. We don’t like standing in front of cameras or going on reality television shows. We don’t like public speaking.
In fact, if we didn’t have to make money, we probably wouldn’t allow anybody to read our manuscripts.
When we write we put all our creative effort into it.
We expose our souls and that can be scary. We put little pieces of ourselves into each character and if somebody is perspective enough and with a bit too much time on their hands they can truly understand us – both the good and the bad side of us. Our deepest, most embarrassing secrets.
I was petrified when I published my first book. My series is pretty dark and the characters reside in strip clubs and dirty bars. They drink a lot and have a lot of sex.
Raised in a Christian household where I was punished for swearing, I kept wondering what my parents would think when they read my book.
I exposed a part of myself that most people keep locked up inside of themselves. And now it's out there for good. There is no going back.
Fear of Failure
Fear of failure is the fear that our book won’t become a best seller or we won't meet our goals and dreams.
It is putting money into an online promotion and not having it bare fruit. It’s trying something you’ve never done before and the fear that you’ll fall flat on your face.
Part of this fear is financial. It’s not selling enough of your books to eat. Part of it is just living up to our own expectations.
This can often be the worst fear because it’s the most debilitating and long lasting.
Fear of failure prevents us from trying out something new. It prevents us from growing and that’s never a good thing.
Fear of Rejection
The internet has created this place where it is easy to judge other people.
There are thousands of different review sites.
You can now rate everything from whether a person is hot or not to how well your professor taught you Calculus 101.
It’s very easy to be scared by online reviews or even the casual social media comment. People don’t have to be nasty to your face. They just need to send a tweet in your general direction.
Have you seen Jimmy Fallon’s show where celebrities read mean tweets about themselves?
It’s funny and we laugh but inside we are scared.
Nobody, not even celebrities, are immune to fear.
Ben Affleck has dealt with a lot of rejection from moviegoers over his career. Do you remember Gigli, the film with the unpronounceable name? Or the equally terrible Daredevil?
Even those failures didn’t prepare him for the outrage over his casting of the Batman Vs. Superman movie. People stormed YouTube and created ten-minute-long videos on why Ben Affleck was a terrible choice.
As writers, like actors, we put ourselves in a position to be critised. Unfortunately. It goes with the territory.
But remember, if Ben Affleck wasn’t prepared to be critised then he would never grow as an actor, he always be stereotyped into the same roll. And for every terrible movie Ben Affleck has been in, he has also brought us some memorable films.
These problems are often characterized as self-esteem problems. If only we thought more highly of ourselves we wouldn’t worry about what others say about us.
The truth is no matter how high or low our self-esteem is, we always worry about what others say about us.
You can have all the self-esteem in the world and still be scared.
The Circle of Fear
The big question is how do you overcome this fear.
I wish I had a simple answer like the medicine the soldiers took in the thriller I just finished reading, however it isn’t that simple.
Everybody has a circle of fear, some are naturally larger than others, but everybody has it.
Try imagining, if you will, a light shining overhead. Where the light stops and the darkness begins is where your fear starts to take hold of you.
The good news is it’s possible to expand your circle of fear so the light shines brighter, but it’s never going to go away completely.
The only way to expand your circle is by doing something that scares you. I know that sucks, doesn't it?
The first step is being honest with yourself and knowing where your circle is. Is it a large circle or small?
It doesn’t matter either way, just so long as you know the boundaries.
Once you figure out your circle you need to take a small step across, and then come back to where it’s comfortable. You then need to take that step again until gradually it becomes second nature. That’s when you know your circle of fear has been expanded.
Once you’ve done this, repeat the process until your circle of fear is even wider.
A common fear is speaking in front of people. It’s a skill everybody should learn, especially authors and other creatives. You’ll need to speak for panels, for book launches and for interviews.
If this is a fear of yours, then don’t start out by speaking in front of hundreds of people. Try ten and then work your way up.
The best speakers of our time, people like Obama didn’t just one day step up in front of thousands of people and national television and bust out a speech.
He expanded his circle of fear just like everybody else.
The important thing is to keep in mind that it does become easier. Remember just a small step forward and then retreat back to your comfort zone.
We get stuck because we think we can’t change that first step, that it will always be scary but fear can be controlled, if not mastered.
Like any writer I was terrified of people being mean. Creative people are naturally more sensitive than others. We take everything in and it stays there.
I have had feedback that has hurt me. It’s not pleasant and it can be depressing.
Just recently I had one guy completely tore apart a synopsis I wrote for a television show. He basically told me I was a terrible writer and didn’t know anything.
It effective me deeply even though I didn’t know this guy and wouldn’t recognize him if I pumped into him on the street. As badly as it was, if he had written the same words a couple of years ago, I probalby wouldn't be writing this blog post. I would be hunched in some corner too scared to put another word down on paper.
It does get better.
The next time somebody criticizes you or tells you’re a crappy writer just remember it’s expanding your circle of fear.
Don't let people cyber bully you but don't let them stop you either.
I would love to hear what small steps you are taking to expand your circle of fear. Tweet me at @joelmarkharris and let me know how it turns out.
Joel Mark Harris is a writer, film producer and marketer. (@joelmarkharris) He is the founder of Story Laboratory which helps artists market their work. To get a free ebook on How to Make Money Blogging and a Content Marketing Tool Kit sign up HERE
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