The 7 Types of New Writer Part 4

🔁 Quick Recap:

So far, we’ve met:

The Eternal Outliner – stuck in planning purgatory
The Scene-Hopper – chasing the fun bits, avoiding the bridges
The Over-Editor – rewriting Chapter One into oblivion

This week: the writer whose creativity is held hostage by approval.

✍️ Post #4: The Praise Addict

Subtitle: You don’t write unless someone tells you it’s good—and that’s killing your momentum.

🧠 Who They Are:

The Praise Addict lives for validation. They crave feedback like oxygen.

They’re the ones constantly sharing snippets in writing groups, sliding into DMs for “quick thoughts,” refreshing for comments on their latest post.

The story isn’t real until someone says it’s brilliant. The sentence isn’t good unless someone loves it. The draft doesn’t count unless someone cheers them on.

They write for the dopamine hit—not the draft.

When the praise dries up, so does the writing.

💪 Strengths:

Eager to improve
Responsive to feedback
Highly tuned to audience response
Often great at dialogue and emotional pacing

⚠️ Pitfalls:

Paralyzed by silence or criticism
Starts chasing what gets applause instead of what matters
Edits to please others, not serve the story
Struggles to finish anything without external motivation

🔓 Why You Stay Stuck:

You’re not writing for the story—you’re writing for permission.

You’ve been trained to perform, not to create. To deliver mini-hits of brilliance instead of sitting with the mess and uncertainty of a long project.

But here’s the thing:

No one will cheer for the work that doesn’t exist yet.
And the best writing happens in the dark.

✅ Next Steps for the Praise Addict:

Go radio silent. Write for two weeks without sharing anything with anyone.
Create a “praise-free” draft. Literally label it: “No one gets to read this.”
Swap praise for progress. Celebrate word count, not compliments.
Build a quiet habit. Show up for the story—even if nobody claps.

🔖 Badge of Honor:

“Writing in the Dark. Applause Not Required.”

💬 Comment Prompt:

Have you ever been hooked on feedback? What helped you write without it?
👇 Tag your writing group—and then ignore their compliments for a week 😅

Writester