Writing Tips - Beating Perfectionism
1. Recognising writing perfectionism. Itâs not usually as literal as âThis isnât 100% perfect and so it is the worst thing everâ, in my experience it usually sneaks up more subtly. Things like where you should probably be continuing on but if you donât figure out how to word this paragraph better itâs just going to bug you the whole time, or where youâre growing demotivated because you donât know how to describe the scene 100% exactly as you can imagine it in your head, or things along those lines where your desire to be exact can get in the way of progression. In isolated scenarios this is natural, but if itâs regularly and notably impacting your progress then thereâs a more pressing issue
2. Write now, edit later. Easier said than done, which always infuriated me until I worked out how it translates into practice; you need to recognise what the purpose of this stage of the writing process is and when editing will hinder you more than help you. Anything up to and including your first draft is purely done for structural and creative purposes, and trying to impose perfection on a creative process will naturally stifle said creativity. Creativity demands the freedom of imperfection
3. Perfection is stagnant. We all know that we have to give our characters flaws and challenges to overcome since, otherwise, thereâs no room for growth or conflict or plot, and it ends up being boring and predictable at best - and itâs just the same as your writing. Say you wrote the absolute perfect book; the perfect plot, the perfect characters, the perfect arcs, the perfect ending, etc etc. Itâs an overnight bestseller and youâre discussed as a literary great for all time. Everyone, even those outside of your target demographic, call it the perfect book. Not only would that first require you to turn the perfect book into something objective, which is impossible, but it would also mean that you would either never write again, because you can never do better than your perfect book, or youâll always write the exact same thing in the exact same way to ensure constant perfection. Itâs repetitive, itâs boring, and all in all itâs just fearful behaviour meant to protect you from criticism that you arenât used to, rather than allowing yourself to get acclimated to less than purely positive feedback
4. Faulty comparisons. Comparing your writing to that of a published authorâs is great from an analytical perspective, but it can easily just become a case of âTheir work is so much better, mine sucks, Iâll never be as good as them or as good as any ârealâ writerâ. You need to remember that youâre comparing a completely finished draft, which likely underwent at least three major edits and could have even had upwards of ten, to wherever it is youâre at. A surprising number of people compare their *first* draft to a finished product, which is insanity when you think of it that way; it seems so obvious from this perspective why your first attempt isnât as good as their tenth. You also end up comparing your ability to describe the images in your head to their ability to craft a new image in your head; I guarantee you that the image the author came up with isnât the one their readers have, and theyâre kicking themselves for not being able to get it exactly as they themselves imagine it. Only the author knows what image theyâre working off of; the readers donât, and they can imagine their own variation which is just as amazing
5. Up close and too personal. Expanding on the last point, just in general itâs harder to describe something in coherent words than it is to process it when someone else prompts you to do so. You end up frustrated and going over it a gazillion times, even to the point where words donât even look like words anymore. Youâve got this perfect vision of how the whole story is supposed to go, and when you very understandably canât flawlessly translate every single minute detail to your satisfaction, itâs demotivating. Youâre emotionally attached to this perfect version that canât ever be fully articulated through any other medium. But on the other hand, when consuming other media that you didnât have a hand in creating, youâre viewing it with perfectly fresh eyes; you have no âperfect idealâ of how everything is supposed to look and feel and be, so the images the final product conjures up become that idealised version - its no wonder why it always feels like every writer except you can pull off their visions when your writing is the only one you have such rigorous preconceived notions of
6. Thatâs entertainment. Of course writing can be stressful and draining and frustrating and all other sorts of nasty things, but if overall you canât say that you ultimately enjoy it, youâre not writing for the right reasons. Youâll never take true pride in your work if it only brings you misery. Take a step back, figure out what you can do to make things more fun for you - or at least less like a chore - and work from there
7. Write for yourself. One of the things that most gets to me when writing is âIf this was found and read by someone I know, how would that feel?â, which has lead me on multiple occasions to backtrack and try to be less cringe or less weird or less preachy or whatever else. Itâs harder to share your work with people you know whose opinions you care about and whose impressions of you have the potential of shifting based on this - sharing it to strangers whose opinions ultimately donât matter and who youâll never have to interact with again is somehow a lot less scary because their judgements wonât stick. But allowing the imaginary opinions of others to dictate not even your finished project, but your unmoderated creative process in general? Nobody is going to see this without your say so; this is not the time to be fussing over how others may perceive your writing. The only opinion that matters at this stage is your own
8. Redirection. Instead of focusing on quality, focusing on quantity has helped me to improve my perfectionism issues; it doesnât matter if I write twenty paragraphs of complete BS so long as Iâve written twenty paragraphs or something that may or may not be useful later. I can still let myself feel accomplished regardless of quality, and if I later have to throw out whole chapters, so be it
9. Thatâs a problem for future me. A lot of people have no idea how to edit, or what to look for when they do so, so having a clear idea of what you want to edit by the time the editing session comes around is gonna be a game-changer once youâre supposed to be editing. Save the clear work for when youâre allocating time for it and youâll have a much easier and more focused start to the editing process. Itâll be more motivating than staring blankly at the intimidating word count, at least
10. The application of applications. If all else fails and youâre still going back to edit what youâve just wrote in some struggle for the perfect writing, there are apps and websites that you can use that physically prevent you from editing your work until youâre done with it. If nothing else, maybe it can help train you away from major edits as you go
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