Writing only one piece of fiction keeps you from growing.
And while you’re not growing, there are people who are publishing books that are worse than yours. They’re writing blogs online. They’re sharing their flawed stories. They’re making money. They’re getting famous. More importantly, they are improving their writing skills.
You don’t need to polish one story endlessly. You don’t need to spend years on one novel. You don’t need to hide your writing from the world. You don’t need to stay in one place. You can cheat on your writing project – it won’t be offended.
Trying to write perfectly?
Many writers believe that their work has to be flawless and meet unrealistic standards. Perfectionism can hinder your creativity, productivity, and enjoyment of writing. Perfectionism is not serving you as a writer, but you can overcome it.
Many writers struggle with perfectionism. They want every word to be flawless and every sentence to flow smoothly. They might waste a lot of time debating over a punctuation mark.
Does that sound familiar? If you can relate to this, then listen up. Perfectionism is not helping you.
Writing a story that might get criticised for being imperfect can be scary. But if you wait until you have the perfect masterpiece to share your writing, you will never finish it. You will have some great ideas about how to write that amazing novel, but they will stay in your head.
What’s more, you run the risk of missing a ‘trend’. What if you’re the perfect writer for a particular genre or style of story but you miss the boat? (Werewolf / vampire romance, anybody?)
Working on the same novel for years, struggling to find the right words, is not the best way to write a great novel. The best way to write great work is to write frequently and to write different stories and scenes. Cheat on your novel.
Develop a writing habit. When you do this and also learn the craft of writing fiction, you will improve your storytelling, your structure and your style. That way, you’ll get the success you want.
DEANNE ADAMS – STORY COACH AND MENTOR
I care passionately about words and stories. As a Story Coach and Mentor, I help writers to tell irresistible stories. I offer courses, memberships and programmes to suit beginners, developing writers and those ready to become the writer they’ve been trying to be for years.
Learn how to ‘Show more than you tell’ in your writing with my free workbook – your guide to an engaging storytelling style. You can also follow me on Facebook for more tips to support your writing journey.
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